Posts from — October 2017

Position: 22.3N 86.4W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: North-Northwest [340°] near 22 mph [35 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 70 mph [110 kph].
Wind Gusts: 85 mph [135 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 125 miles [205 km].
Minimum central pressure: 990 mb.

Currently about 500 miles [ 800 km] South-Southeast of the Mouth of the Mississippi River.

I am now under Tropical Storm & Storm Surge Warnings, and a Hurricane Watch. The storm is currently about 560 miles [ 900 km] South of Cinco Bayou, Florida.

A Hurricane Warning is in effect for Grand Isle, Louisiana to the Alabama/Florida border; Metropolitan New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula and the adjacent islands from Punta Herrero to Rio Lagartos; Pinar del Rio province, Cuba; Lake Maurepas and west of Grand Isle to Morgan City, Louisiana; East of the Alabama/Florida border to the Okaloosa/Walton County Line

A Storm Surge Warning is in effect for Morgan City, Louisiana to the Okaloosa/Walton County Line, Florida including the northern and western shores of Lake Pontchartrain.

A Hurricane Watch is in effect for west of Grand Isle to Morgan City Louisiana; Lake Maurepas; east of the Alabama/Florida border to the Okaloosa/Walton County Line.

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for East of the Okaloosa/Walton County Line to Indian Pass, Florida; west of Morgan City to Intracoastal City, Louisiana; Isle of Youth, Cuba.

A Storm Surge Watch is in effect for East of the Okaloosa/Walton County Line to Indian Pass, Florida.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Position: 15.8N 84.7W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: Northwest [325°] near 12 mph [19 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 40 mph [ 65 kph].
Wind Gusts: 50 mph [ 80 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 60 miles [ 95 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1000 mb.

Currently about 355 miles [ 570 km] South-Southeast of Cozumel, Mexico.

This morning the track has shifted West to take aim at New Orleans. At 10PM CDT I’m in the Tropical Storm Watch area.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for the coast of the Caribbean from Honduras/Nicaragua border to Punta Castilla, Honduras and for the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula and the adjacent islands from Punta Herrero to Rio Lagartos.

A Hurricane Watch is in effect for the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula and the adjacent islands from Punta Herrero to Rio Lagartosand from Morgan City, Louisiana, eastward to the Mississippi/Alabama border, including metropolitan New Orleans, Lake Pontchartrain, and Lake Maurepas.

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for the Mississippi/Alabama border eastward to the Okaloosa/Walton County Line in Florida and west of Morgan City to Intracoastal City, Louisiana.

A Storm Surge Watch is in effect for Morgan City, Louisiana, eastward to the Alabama/Florida border, including the northern and western shores of Lake Pontchartrain.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Position: 12.8N 82.7W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: Northwest [310°] near 6 mph [ 9 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 35 mph [ 55 kph].
Wind Gusts: 50 mph [ 80 kph].
Minimum central pressure: 1004 mb ↓.

Currently about 95 miles [ 155 km] South-Southeast of Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua.

The initial track has it coming ashore East of me around Apalachicola, Florida as a hurricane on Sunday.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for the coast of the Caribbean from Sandy Bay Sirpi, Nicaragua to Punta Castilla, Honduras.

A Hurricane Watch is in effect for Punta Herrero to Cabo Catoche, Mexico.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

If he were a drunk and not the President of the United States, you could ignore the fact Trump has absolutely no social skills. He has no discernible interpersonal skills at all. Why did he tell the people of Puerto Rico that their problems aren’t a real disaster, like Katrina?

First off, everyone who looks at the situation knows that the number of official deaths, 16, wildly understates the real situation. Officials are trying to save the living and will account for the dead later. Anyone in an ICU when the storm hit is probably dead. Anyone who depended on dialysis is probably dead. Anyone who depended on oxygen is probably dead. It has been reported that the morgues at the hospitals are full, and that in some rural areas they have been burying their dead as they have no way of preserving the bodies. Doctors are too busy saving the living to fill out death certificates. Authories won’t do anything until the next of kin are notified, and without telephone services that isn’t going to be possible.

Trump ordered flags flown at half staff for the victims of Las Vegas. Puerto Rico and Virgin Island victims had a golf trophy dedication. Nowhere near the same level of respect for two different groups of Americans.

Accountant, property manager, gambler – audit his books for a motive…

The gun manufacturers saw a 7% stock rise.

The so-called doubling of the standard deduction to $12,000 in the Repub tax plan is actually an increase of $1,600 to the combined standard deduction plus the personal exemption currently at $10,400.

St. John and St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands got nailed and Puerto Rico got sideswiped by Hurricane Irma on September 6th, and St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands was leveled by Hurricane Maria on September 19th, just before it slammed into Puerto Rico.The response for the Virgin Islands has not exactly been ‘world class’. Both Irma and Maria followed their predicted tracks, so there is no justification for the slow response. There was plenty of time to preposition resources to come in as soon as the winds died, not days later.

I will be updating the site later tonight, so I might be down for a while.

Update: “Warmest condolences” … Trump Tweeted that to family and friends of the Las Vegas victims. Get the man an editor or an English tutor. Regards are ‘warm’, condolences are ‘deep’. He needs to send someone to get him some sympathy cards so he knows what to say as he obviously never learned how.

FEMA is much more “efficient” these days. During the aftermath of Hurricane Opal back in 1995, FEMA hired people with pickups to drive around neighborhoods to distribute ice, water, and food to people. Other FEMA workers canvased the neighborhood to see if anyone wanted to file the paperwork for other assistance. People cleaned up their neighborhoods, and FEMA debris haulers carted it away.

This was before gas stations had generators to pump gas, so people couldn’t go driving around.

Under the Shrubbery everything changed and FEMA became “efficient”. FEMA didn’t deliver; you had to find a way to get to a distribution point, and a single vehicle could only pick a single ‘ration’. You couldn’t pool your gas and send a pickup for supplies for the neighborhood, each family had to drive to the distribution point.

If you wanted other assistance you had to register with FEMA by calling an 800 number, or going to their web site. As we didn’t have electricity or communication lines after Ivan, we had to go to the FEMA office, which had power and phone service to call the 800 number or sign on the web site to get an appointment at the FEMA office. No walk-ins allowed, by appointment only under the more “efficient” FEMA system.

The word is that FEMA is going to set up 9 distribution points on Puerto Rico. That means that each point will cover an area of about 390 miles² and approximately 378,000 people. People don’t have reliable phone service and there is no Internet at this time, so I guess they will have to walk to the points to sign up.

The disaster preparedness material for hurricanes says to have food and water for 3-7 days. It is more than 10 days since Maria smashed into Puerto Rico, and longer for the Virgin Islands. Obviously if you are not in a state that voted for Trump, you should make it 2 weeks to a month.