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Old 10-06-16, 04:18 PM   #1
stevehull
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Default a sad day . . .

Like many of you, I am watching the development of a killer hurricane. Tomorrow (Friday) at this late afternoon time, the storm will be hitting - and those individuals not off the barrier islands or out of the storm surge will likely die.

How many? It is hard to say, but FEMA hopes that 98% of those east of I-95 will evacuate. But of this 1.5 million, this means that some 30,000 will remain.

I just listened to a TV interview of an elderly couple off Jupiter Inlet (on a barrier island) that "have weathered many storms and the house has always been here for us". But here was the kicker when they were asked if they didn't believe the many people including FEMA and NWS, their reply was; - "well, you know that you can't trust those people in charge".

Why the feeling that these people know more than FEMA, the Weather Channel, the National Weather Service, NOAA, the National Hurricane Prediction Center, etc?

The wave of anti science, anti rational thinking (anti-intellectualism) is simply astounding. I don't trust you because you have "X" degrees or understand a polynomial . . . . .

Note that < 200 people died due to Katrina - and sadly I believe at least an order of magnitude more will die in the next 48 hours. We blamed the Katrina deaths on the poor and unfortunate that could not get out. But those on expensive beach front homes/condos, etc are NOT the inner city urban New Orleans unfortunates.

But what of this next TV interviewed couple that had two little kids. They said that they could not find a hotel within two-three hours driving time of Daytona but "didn't believe that the storm surge was going to be as bad as predicted and we have lived here for seven years". "After all, we are more than 1/2 mile from the beach . . . . "

They are predicting 10 foot storm surge with hurricane height waves on top of that!

Am I the only one that sees this tragedy unfolding before my eyes? All these people are not stupid, but somewhere they have drunk the cool aid . . . .


Steve

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Old 10-06-16, 10:31 PM   #2
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Florida has been lucky this last decade. A fairly large number of people living in the storm track have never seen anything like this in their lives. I don't trust the government much either, but in an event like this, I would leave on my own accord. Those who choose to stay and try to ride it out can brag all they want, if they survive. But this is a gargantuan storm...
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Old 10-07-16, 07:54 AM   #3
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If sympathy is a human condition, then we should be concerned with the devastation in Cuba.

Photos: Hurricane Matthew's destruction in Cuba | Miami Herald

...and here:

Quote:
Ahead of the storm’s approach, the US evacuated 700 military spouses and children from the notorious Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. Sixty-five pets of service personnel were also evacuated, according to Reuters, but the prisoners being incarcerated at the prison were not. The base lost power shortly before noon on Tuesday.
https://www.rt.com/news/361630-hurri...ew-cuba-haiti/

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Old 10-07-16, 08:21 AM   #4
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and Haiti and the Bermudas . . . .

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Old 10-07-16, 08:49 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stevehull View Post
...
I just listened to a TV interview of an elderly couple off Jupiter Inlet (on a barrier island) that "have weathered many storms and the house has always been here for us". But here was the kicker when they were asked if they didn't believe the many people including FEMA and NWS, their reply was; - "well, you know that you can't trust those people in charge".

Why the feeling that these people know more than FEMA, the Weather Channel, the National Weather Service, NOAA, the National Hurricane Prediction Center, etc?

The wave of anti science, anti rational thinking (anti-intellectualism) is simply astounding. I don't trust you because you have "X" degrees or understand a polynomial . . . . .


Am I the only one that sees this tragedy unfolding before my eyes? All these people are not stupid, but somewhere they have drunk the cool aid . . . .


Steve
While I agree that this storm may well be much worse than most storms these people have ever seen, I completely understand their thought process. In this day of sensationalism in the news it is extremely difficult to figure which experts are telling the truth and which ones are trying to sell newspapers or books. Everyday things that used to be considered normal are now referred to as incredible, awesome, unbelievable, deadly, or choose your outstanding adverb.

However, addressing the science issue, I do remember back in the 90's when
I lived in Southern Illinois that a world famous scientist predicted that the New Madrid fault was going to rupture and cause a huge earthquake on such and such a specific date. That still hasn't happened. And Y2K was supposed to crash all computer systems and cause chaos around the world. Nope, that didn't happen either.

So I don't believe that the mistrust due solely to the fact that the experts are scientists but more so due to the combination of sensationalism and previous supposed experts incorrect predictions.

Just my $.02.
JJ
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Old 10-08-16, 11:23 AM   #6
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I live East of I-95, less than 2 miles from the ocean on a canal with ocean access, and have all my life (40+ years). I get my weather reports from NOAA, and leave the hype on TV off. Due to the eye wobble, I barely saw tropical storm force winds, but I am sure some people will say "I lived through Hurricane Matthew, and hurricanes are nothing more than a rainy day." I had a friend from Colorado text me yesterday morning if we were OK, because the news media made the expected devastation in my area to be similar to that of a war zone. That friend is familiar with what post-hurricane destruction looks like, she lived in Homestead prior to Hurricane Andrew and was with me in Homestead 6 months after Andrew doing volunteer cleanup. Even 6 months after the storm, there was plenty of clean up to do!

Certainly, I have neighbors (renters) who don't have impact windows, who didn't bother to put up plywood, or panels over their windows on Thursday. They may also falsely presume an air bag will save them from any and every type of car accident. Thursday morning when my wife and I left at daybreak to go install hurricane panels on a friend's rental property, the neighbor with impact glass windows living adjacent to home with nothing over the windows was installing his hurricane panels over his impact glass windows. One can never be too prepared. Weather is only mildly predictable, at best.

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