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Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,891
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

I think that the ranking system for hurricanes has its limitations as it doesn't or can't show or predict the amount of rain or storm surges or flooding and doesn't say how many people died from them.

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,264
Registered: ‎04-10-2012

@willdob3 wrote:

@AngusandBuddhasMom wrote:

@millieshops wrote:

My opinion?   No matter the category or the ranking -  the worst storm is the one that hits you.


Exactly. The devastation of Sandy on NY and NJ is still being felt 5 years later. So this list means nothing since Sandy is not on it.


Exactly. Having been through 4 or 5 of them, I can say that from experience.  A category 1 can be devestating if it hits where you are. 


You are exactly right...

Honored Contributor
Posts: 18,987
Registered: ‎11-08-2014

It's  good to know the history of these things, especially since I heard some celebrities were dispensing some false information.   It's a bit staggering to think a huge chunk of the people who would be old enough to remember the 1935 one, are now gone.  I've read some accounts of it, bits and pieces over the years, and it gives you chills.  I think nobody ever forgets being in a natural disaster of any kind-- in addition to threatening your life, it can shake you to the core of your previously "secure" world...

Honored Contributor
Posts: 17,228
Registered: ‎06-09-2014

@Oznell wrote:

It's  good to know the history of these things, especially since I heard some celebrities were dispensing some false information.   It's a bit staggering to think a huge chunk of the people who would be old enough to remember the 1935 one, are now gone.  I've read some accounts of it, bits and pieces over the years, and it gives you chills.  I think nobody ever forgets being in a natural disaster of any kind-- in addition to threatening your life, it can shake you to the core of your previously "secure" world...


I can high five that @Oznell.  I went through Andrew and I was prepared for Irma a week ahead of time.  I couldn't even speak of Harvey when my employer did a conference call about our properties out that way.  I refused to stay and listen because I just can't hear about what people go through when you are caught in the midst of a hurricane.  

 

A tornado or earthquake do tremendous damage but they are over within minutes.  Being scared out of your mind for hours with your home trying its best to come apart in front of your eyes and toss you out into the storm definitely had a profund impact on me and it's 25 years later.  

Honored Contributor
Posts: 18,987
Registered: ‎11-08-2014

Laura14, I can well imagine your feelings, although you went through so much worse than I ever did.  During the period I lived in New Orleans, it was one of those years-long periods when hurricanes threaten, but you don't really get them, or they are comparatively minor.  This year I heard a meteorologist say that the last 12 years were kind of like that too, and that we were due for some walloping ones..

 

When I lived in N.O. every time one threatened we stockpiled, boarded up, filled the bathtube with water, etc. etc., but there was only one storm that really scared me with its ferocity and destructiveness.  It was "low-level" scary for a novice like me, not "major" like yours--  but it was enough.

 

Sorry you had to go through that.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 17,228
Registered: ‎06-09-2014

@Oznell wrote:

Laura14, I can well imagine your feelings, although you went through so much worse than I ever did.  During the period I lived in New Orleans, it was one of those years-long periods when hurricanes threaten, but you don't really get them, or they are comparatively minor.  This year I heard a meteorologist say that the last 12 years were kind of like that too, and that we were due for some walloping ones..

 

When I lived in N.O. every time one threatened we stockpiled, boarded up, filled the bathtube with water, etc. etc., but there was only one storm that really scared me with its ferocity and destructiveness.  It was "low-level" scary for a novice like me, not "major" like yours--  but it was enough.

 

Sorry you had to go through that.


@Oznell  I went through Andrew in LA.  I was in college up in Baton Rouge.  They herded everyone up there because they were scared to death about what eventually happened with Katrina.  Andrew missed NO and ran us over but good.  I will never forget that night, ever.  

Respected Contributor
Posts: 4,665
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

I think the big difference is there usually is less loss of life now than many years ago when they often had only very short notice, with no time to prepare or evacuate.  Also, we have learned a lot from past mistakes, and structures are built to withstand so much more.

Laura loves cats!
Super Contributor
Posts: 338
Registered: ‎11-09-2016

@Oznell wrote:

It's  good to know the history of these things, especially since I heard some celebrities were dispensing some false information.   It's a bit staggering to think a huge chunk of the people who would be old enough to remember the 1935 one, are now gone.  I've read some accounts of it, bits and pieces over the years, and it gives you chills.  I think nobody ever forgets being in a natural disaster of any kind-- in addition to threatening your life, it can shake you to the core of your previously "secure" world...


 

Ah the ulterior motive. What celebrities would those be?

 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 9,305
Registered: ‎06-08-2016

@willdob3 wrote:

@AngusandBuddhasMom wrote:

@millieshops wrote:

My opinion?   No matter the category or the ranking -  the worst storm is the one that hits you.


Exactly. The devastation of Sandy on NY and NJ is still being felt 5 years later. So this list means nothing since Sandy is not on it.


Exactly. Having been through 4 or 5 of them, I can say that from experience.  A category 1 can be devestating if it hits where you are. 


 Agreed!

Been there, done that and will never do it again!