Hurricane Workshop Hurricane Season Day one
I went and attended the Hurricane Workshop in Downtown Houston, at the George Brown Convention Center on Tuesday evening. I listened to Speakers from the Hurricane Center, the Mayors office and the Judges Office as well as a number of other learned speakers.
The format was workshops and then some Central gatherings where the Mayor and representatives from the Judges office Spoke alongside Weather experts.
The Convention Center is quite the place.Refurbished and big lots of conference rooms meeting rooms and enormous halls for conventions of all sizes.
The Press and TV were there in numbers.
I attended a couple of break out sessions.
Hurricanes 101.
The Story behind what happened to Beaumont after Rita and
Lessons Learned from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
I also made a visit to the Vendor sessions to pick up hand outs and free chocolate which was my supper until I stopped at IHOP on the way home for Grilled Chicken and Salad night time meal.
All the breakout sessions and the main sessions were all fascinating.
During Rita as I flew back to Houston from the UK to help secure the house and evacuate the family , alongside the other 2 million people heading to Dallas and Austin and San Antonio, I found it very real and relevant evening, full of facts and insights.
Would there likely be another strong hurricane to hit the US this year. Should we leave next time and
what is the county doing in preperation for this years season.
There was a lot of mind boggling facts thrown out. Here are a few.
800,000 to 1M people live in the Flood Surge zone. They HAVE to leave if a category 4 or 5 hits.
Most of the Louisianna and East Texas coastline where Rita actually hit was flattened by the storm surge which they alikened to a Tsunami that keeps rolling in for 24 hours again and again.
Tornadoes are most prevelant on the E side of hurricanes up to 100-300 miles east to north east of the Center. and hit often ahead of the hurricane as the outerbands hit landfall, 30% forming before the tropical storm force winds kick in.
Hurricane Alisha spawned 23 tornadoes and Rita Spawned 104.
260 miles inland from Hurricane Rita straight line wind gusts were recorded between 68 and 93 miles per hour and many 80 to 100 foot trees were brought down as a result crushing cars and houses and bringing down power lines.
Both New Orleans and Houston were spared the worst. Katrina or Rita were NOT worst case scenarios for the cities, despite the chaos and damaged caused.
Changes in the weather pattterns go in cycles . Active and non active cycles.
Hurricanes can be just as damaging in inactive cycles, but there are less of them on average per year.
The Active cycle kicked in around the mid late 1990's.The cycles are 10 - 20 years.
From 2003 storms have become more frequent and stronger each year so far.
The Atlantic waters are averaging 2-4 degrees warmer than several years ago, added to some other influences in the Gulf, hurricanes are forming closer to the Caribbean and Bahamas thus giving less warning.
When they form in the Atlantic you get a 5-7 day window to watch and plan.
If they form in the Gulf you get 2-3 days.
1400 people died as a result of Hurricane Katrina and 1000 connected to Rita, a number in cars and from over heating in the summer heat which in the case of Rita was the reason the Hurrican turned at the last minute.
The high pressure from the North West prevented the storm from continuing on its path through Houston and up the NW side of the city.
The worst hurricane on record aparently, was the size and formation of Rita at its most strongest when it hit landfall. It killed over 13,500 people in Bangladesh.
They zone the flood surge areas along the Texas / Houston Coastline for evacuation purposes, telling people when they suggest evacuations. Voluntary, Recommended and then Mandatory evacuations from each area.
Zone A could receive 20+ foot of storm surge , dirty filthy debree filled water full of sewage, sand, mud, home debris, fireants,snakes, animals dead and alive and potentialy human bodies.
Zone B 10-15 teet of water
and dependent on the category and landfall position of the hurricane, Zone C 10-15 feet of water and that reaches in the Eastern inner loop area of Downtown Houston.
In addition to that the rivers and creeks fill up with water from rains that has no where to drain,resulting in land localised flooding further in land but not the power and force of the Storm surge.
I went and attended the Hurricane Workshop in Downtown Houston, at the George Brown Convention Center on Tuesday evening. I listened to Speakers from the Hurricane Center, the Mayors office and the Judges Office as well as a number of other learned speakers.
The format was workshops and then some Central gatherings where the Mayor and representatives from the Judges office Spoke alongside Weather experts.
The Convention Center is quite the place.Refurbished and big lots of conference rooms meeting rooms and enormous halls for conventions of all sizes.The Press and TV were there in numbers.
I attended a couple of break out sessions.
Hurricanes 101.
The Story behind what happened to Beaumont after Rita and
Lessons Learned from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
I also made a visit to the Vendor sessions to pick up hand outs and free chocolate which was my supper until I stopped at IHOP on the way home for Grilled Chicken and Salad night time meal.
All the breakout sessions and the main sessions were all fascinating. During Rita as I flew back to Houston from the UK to help secure the house and evacuate the family , alongside the other 2 million people heading to Dallas and Austin and San Antonio, I found it very real and relevant evening, full of facts and insights.
Would there likely be another strong hurricane to hit the US this year. Should we leave next time and
what is the county doing in preperation for this years season.
There was a lot of mind boggling facts thrown out. Here are a few.
800,000 to 1M people live in the Flood Surge zone. They HAVE to leave if a category 4 or 5 hits.
Most of the Louisianna and East Texas coastline where Rita actually hit was flattened by the storm surge which they alikened to a Tsunami that keeps rolling in for 24 hours again and again.
Tornadoes are most prevelant on the E side of hurricanes up to 100-300 miles east to north east of the Center. and hit often ahead of the hurricane as the outerbands hit landfall, 30% forming before the tropical storm force winds kick in.
Hurricane Alisha spawned 23 tornadoes and Rita Spawned 104.
260 miles inland from Hurricane Rita straight line wind gusts were recorded between 68 and 93 miles per hour and many 80 to 100 foot trees were brought down as a result crushing cars and houses and bringing down power lines.
Both New Orleans and Houston were spared the worst. Katrina or Rita were NOT worst case scenarios for the cities, despite the chaos and damaged caused.
Changes in the weather pattterns go in cycles . Active and non active cycles.
Hurricanes can be just as damaging in inactive cycles, but there are less of them on average per year.
The Active cycle kicked in around the mid late 1990's.The cycles are 10 - 20 years.
From 2003 storms have become more frequent and stronger each year so far.
The Atlantic waters are averaging 2-4 degrees warmer than several years ago, added to some other influences in the Gulf, hurricanes are forming closer to the Caribbean and Bahamas thus giving less warning.
When they form in the Atlantic you get a 5-7 day window to watch and plan.
If they form in the Gulf you get 2-3 days.
1400 people died as a result of Hurricane Katrina and 1000 connected to Rita, a number in cars and from over heating in the summer heat which in the case of Rita was the reason the Hurrican turned at the last minute.
The high pressure from the North West prevented the storm from continuing on its path through Houston and up the NW side of the city.
The worst hurricane on record aparently, was the size and formation of Rita at its most strongest when it hit landfall. It killed over 13,500 people in Bangladesh.
They zone the flood surge areas along the Texas / Houston Coastline for evacuation purposes, telling people when they suggest evacuations. Voluntary, Recommended and then Mandatory evacuations from each area.
Zone A could receive 20+ foot of storm surge , dirty filthy debree filled water full of sewage, sand, mud, home debris, fireants,snakes, animals dead and alive and potentialy human bodies.
Zone B 10-15 teet of water
and dependent on the category and landfall position of the hurricane, Zone C 10-15 feet of water and that reaches in the Eastern inner loop area of Downtown Houston.
In addition to that the rivers and creeks fill up with water from rains that has no where to drain,resulting in land localised flooding further in land but not the power and force of the Storm surge.
posted by texbrit at
7:54 PM
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