Alabamian at Red State Diaries has compiled a list of opportunities to help the victims of the Enterprise tornado. Rebuilding and recovery take time and other resources, and the people there will need all the help they can get. Check it out and do what you can. Thanks!
We had what looked like a couple of close calls late yesterday, but in the end, the tornadoes that ravaged the midwest and southeast missed us here (thanks for checking on us, KathyF). Unfortunately, the city of Enterprise, in southeast Alabama, was not so fortunate. The high school was hit and destroyed early yesterday afternoon, and eight students were killed. I can’t imagine the anguish of their families; I can only be grateful that our local school officials chose to dismiss for the day at 11:30. I know they’ll take flak because we weren’t hit, but I’d much prefer to have my family at home in the basement on a day like yesterday.
My prayers and sympathies go out to those who lost loved ones.
Allstate Insurance has stopped writing homeowners’ policies in Connecticut, Delaware, and New Jersey, citing the increased risk of hurricanes brought about by — wait for it — global warming. So I guess global warming is real, if you’re a business that might lose money because of it.
Good.
U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon’s ruling sharply criticized the Federal Emergency Management Agency for illegally cutting housing funding and subjecting storm victims to a convoluted application process he called “Kafkaesque.”
…FEMA, criticized for responding too slowly to the storm, said in a statement Wednesday that it sent letters outlining the program changes, explaining why some people were ineligible and describing the appeals process.
Leon, however, said those letters contained only program codes and agency jargon and did not explain anything. Some evacuees got multiple letters with conflicting information, he said, leaving families unable to understand why their aid was being cut.
Until FEMA explains itself and allows victims to appeal, Leon said the government must keep making housing payments.
We have a gentleman attending our church right now who is a Katrina refugee. He was a bank trust officer on the Gulf Coast, but he lost everything to the hurricane. And you can’t buy a banking job in Birmingham right now — two big mergers in the past couple of years have resulted in huge layoffs. His aid was cut off, and he’s been spending fourteen days a month at the Salvation Army and the rest of the time living in his car. Till someone stole the car last week. Which not only takes away his shelter but also his ability to get around the city and look for work (no public transit worth speaking of here). Something is wrong with this picture.
“It is unfortunate, if not incredible, that FEMA and its counsel could not devise a sufficient notice system to spare these beleaguered evacuees the added burden of federal litigation to vindicate their constitutional rights,” Leon wrote.
That may be the understatement of the week.
Today, remember those who lost their lives; those who lost family, friends, neighbors, colleagues. Remember those who were injured and are still recovering. Remember those who lost homes, treasured possessions, livelihoods. Remember those who lost faith in the government that failed them. Remember the government officials, those who have learned from this horrible disaster and those who remain clueless. Remember those who are struggling to rebuild the Gulf Coast, who have overcome the loss and grief and disappointment to move forward and make new lives. Remember those who can’t.
Hold them all in your hearts today.
The National Weather Service is issuing a hurricane warning for parts of Florida as tropical storm Alberto gains strength in the Gulf of Mexico. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to use the “storm watch” category quite so soon this year.
The warning from Longboat Key near Sarasota to the Ochlockonee River south of Tallahassee means Tropical Storm Alberto was expected to produce hurricane conditions within the next 24 hours.
…At 11 a.m., Alberto’s sustained wind had increased to 70 mph, up from 50 mph just three hours earlier, the National Hurricane Center said. The minimum wind speed for a hurricane is 74 mph.
The storm was centered about 190 miles south-southwest of Apalachicola and was moving north-northeast at about 7 mph.
Alberto’s core wasn’t expected to reach Florida until Tuesday, but with tropical storm-force wind stretching 230 miles from the center, powerful gusts may be felt long before it makes landfall.
The Florida peninsula desperately needs rain, but it would be nice if it could come without a hurricane attached.
I missed tropical storm Alpha this weekend. It’s now weakened to a tropical depression and is expected to be absorbed by Wilma as she passes over Florida.
Twenty-two tropical storms and hurricanes in the past five months, the most ever in a single season. A tropical storm that formed Saturday in the Caribbean was dubbed Alpha because the last letter left in the tempest alphabet went to Hurricane Wilma….
….By July, one month into the season, there were already seven named storms — tropical storms Arlene, Brett and Cindy, hurricanes Dennis and Emily, and tropical storms Franklin and Gert….
….The end of August brought Hurricane Katrina, whose damage statistics are still being tallied. The National Hurricane Center says Katrina may be the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States. It will take a very long time to decide that….
….There was more. Five more. September brought hurricanes Maria, Nate, Ophelia, Philippe and Rita.
Only five weeks to go.
This is just beyond unbelievable! Michael Brown couldn’t respond to urgent requests for help from his staff on the ground in NOLA because, according to his press secretary, the Baton Rouge restaurants were busy and he needed much more than 20 or 30 minutes to eat. FEMA official Marty Bahamonde’s response is priceless: “Oh my God! Just tell her that I just ate an MRE and [went to the bathroom] in the hallway of the Superdome, along with 30,000 other close friends. So I understand her concern about busy restaurants.” Crooks and Liars has the video.
I am staring at the Weather Channel website in disbelief. Wilma is now the most intense storm on record.
It’s been confirmed: Hurricane Wilma, with a pressure of 882 mb, is the most intense hurricane on record in the Atlantic Basin. Wilma, after undergoing a stunning intensification overnight, is now a catastrophic Category 5 hurricane packing sustained winds of 175 mph. The eye of the violent storm is now following a wobbling WNW track through the western Caribbean with a turn toward the NW expected within the next 24 hours.
Fluctuations in intensity are likely, but Wilma is forecast to remain an extremely dangerous Category 5 hurricane through Thursday. The projected track of the storm takes it through the Yucatan Channel into the extreme southern Gulf of Mexico Friday night. After that, Wilma is expected to come under the influence of westerly winds aloft blowing across the Gulf. That should hurl the hurricane toward the Florida Peninsula, probably the southern part of the peninsula, this weekend. Wilma is expected to be weakening by then, but weakening is a relative term and Wilma may still be a major hurricane (winds over 110 mph) when it makes landfall.
Evacuations are starting in the Florida Keys. The people of Cuba, right in the path of the storm, have nowhere to go. This is a nightmare.
