Katrina may not have been the storm it was supposed to be, but the damage is still horific. So much to say, too hungover to do it. Go see Michelle Malkin. She has some of the best coverage.
For those who have never lived through a hurricane, hungover is a good allegory. Living in North Carolina, I have been through many hurricanes/tropical storms. The worst that I wen through was Fran, in 1996. It is hard to describe if you haven’t been through one. I could replay the experiences, but not the "flavor." One thing I remember was the horrendous headache, caused by the pressure drop. The eye of Fran passed just a few miles west of me, over Cary, NC.
When Fran came through, she was a wind and rain event. She was packing sustained winds of 50-60 mph, with higher gusts. She dropped something like 10-14 inches of rain here. And we didn’t even get the bad parts, which hit the coast around Wilmington. There were trees down everywhere, the Crabtree Creek flooded, filling the Crabtree Valley Mall with 9 inches of water. Powerlines down, no cable, no phone, no cell.
The folks in Katrina’s path faced much worse, and still do. As I watch the coverage, I am reminded also of Floyd, in 1999, which soaked much of Eastern NC. Parts of NC east of 95 were impassible. Fires burned, and nothing could be done. Like in the areas in Katrina’s path.
I saw some loons on the DU, who I refuse to link at this time, complaining about Bush not doing enough. What else is new? There is only so much he can do with a disaster of this magnitude. You cannot even get into some of these water logged areas, at least not easily.
One of the complains was about phone service. I rarely talk about what I do for real, but I work in the cell phone industry. So why can’t people communicate? When the landline phone lines go down, communication goes down in the cell systems too, almost completely. Any cell call that goes beyond local is dependent on the landline system. With no power, cell towers can only last so long on backup power. Even where power and phone are available, there is a heirarchy of connection. Last time I checked in the Raleigh area, it was emergency, local connect landline, outgoing long distance, Cingular cell service, other cell service, inbound LD. So, even if folks can get communications, talking to friends and relatives out of area is damn difficult.
It’s just terrible watching as more and more of the damage is shown, and as more and more deaths are announced.
It all sounds really bad. People ask us about earthquakes, but it is *nothing* like having a hurricane go through, or a tornado either.
So you aren’t in the path of the now down-graded-to-tropical-storm Katrina?
I wondered if cell-phones worked. I had no idea that outside of local it went to landline. But then…
(I’m sure that mine wouldn’t. I bought a new one… a Motorola instead of Nokia and was switched from AT&T to Cingular. Yes, I know should be the same, but now I have crappy coverage… or maybe a crappy phone.)
I’m doing some heavy praying for it all.
Thanks for the explaination about the cell service. I wondered about that! I haven’t had a land line in my home since internet cable service came available here. It was never a problem until the hurricanes hit us last year.
Julie, check with Cingular, ask them to check a tool called MiTi Map, make sure your coverage is good. Depends on the phone, too.
Jay, me too. I have been throough it, but nothing like this.
Janette: you’re welcome. The systems can go wonky big time. Of course, internet phone is subject to the internet, power, cable. During Fran, we had no electric, no cable, no phone, and even intra-cell service barely worked, if at all.