The Hurricane Thread | Hurricane Otis

Drifter

American
Joined
Jan 27, 2004
Messages
68,399
In the end it was a bad storm,but not as bad as the media portrayed. American News channels have become entertainment channels chasing ratings
 

Hernandez - BFA

The Way to Fly
Joined
Jan 5, 2011
Messages
17,330
In the end it was a bad storm,but not as bad as the media portrayed. American News channels have become entertainment channels chasing ratings
True. The film Nightcrawler is a good portrayal of this. American news channels love a disaster.
 

Organic Potatoes

Full Member
Joined
Dec 2, 2013
Messages
17,172
Location
85R723R2+R6
Supports
Colorado Rapids
It was quite close to being as bad as they portrayed, to be fair. The track it took was favorable to the coastlines.
 

jojojo

JoJoJoJoJoJoJo
Staff
Joined
Aug 18, 2007
Messages
38,432
Location
Welcome to Manchester reception committee
In the end it was a bad storm,but not as bad as the media portrayed. American News channels have become entertainment channels chasing ratings
We don't know how bad it's been yet.

But if loss of life has been minimal then I'd say that's because people were warned that it would be bad. People evacuated, others moved to shelters. Buildings that were supposed to withstand strong winds did so. We're also looking at a storm where a route deviation of 50 miles would have had massive consequences.

After the 2000/millennium bug warnings, so little happened on the night that people talked about it as if it had all been a giant con trick. Maybe there had been some of that. But there had also been massive amounts of absolutely essential work done in the build-up, without which we could have had major trouble.

Sometimes being prepared does what it says on the label.
 

FCBarca

Mes que un Rag
Joined
Oct 19, 2010
Messages
14,246
Location
La Côte, Suisse
Supports
Peace
In the end it was a bad storm,but not as bad as the media portrayed. American News channels have become entertainment channels chasing ratings
Perhaps for Americans but the apparently irrelevant islanders took a beating with catastrophic consequences sure to reach the billions. Moreover, this is the nature of natural disasters (Aided by human interference with nature) - they are unpredictable, especially hurricanes. They can change course, dissipate or strengthen in seconds and if FEMA and disaster preparedness in the US taught them anything, being unprepared is a recipe for disaster
 

langster

Captain Stink mouth, so soppy few pints very wow!
Scout
Joined
Jun 28, 2014
Messages
21,597
Location
My brain can't get pregnant!
In the end it was a bad storm,but not as bad as the media portrayed.
I don't think that's fair or accurate and is certainly the wrong wording. It wasn't as bad as predicted. However, that was simply because of the sheer size of the storm and that it hugged the Cuban and then Floridian coastlines and lost some power, and that it unexpectedly changed course at least twice. Over 30 people (in total) still lost their lives and countless more have lost their homes and millions have lost power and will have their lives disrupted for what could easily be months.

Irma as easily have gone entirely as predicted exactly like hurricane Harvey did a couple of weeks ago. They were almost 100% accurate with Harvey, right down to the exact amount of rainfall it would drop. IF Irma had gone as predicted then I think you would be looking at untold death and destruction, so I think everyone should be extremely grateful that the best predictions were slightly off and that the storm wasn't as bad as it could easily have been.
 

Suedesi

Full Member
Joined
Aug 3, 2001
Messages
23,884
Location
New York City
In the end it was a bad storm,but not as bad as the media portrayed. American News channels have become entertainment channels chasing ratings
In a sense, it was lucky it hit Marco Island / Naples which have great infrastructure, drainage etc as opposed to Tampa or Miami where it would have been flooded and caused a lot more damages.
 

SteveTheRed

Full Member
Joined
Jun 3, 2009
Messages
2,586
My old man was giving updates yesterday in Miami Dade County, they lost power about mid day though so not heard to much. Don't think there was much damage, he showed me a few trees had fallen down in his area. Worst is over now.
 

Drifter

American
Joined
Jan 27, 2004
Messages
68,399
Don't get me wrong. The Hurricane overall was a bad one and my heart goes out to those Caribbean islands that got the worse of it. But the coverage when it hit Florida was hyped to the max including dramatic music going into a break. Fox,MSNBC and CNN were all responsible.
 

Simbo

Full Member
Joined
Oct 25, 2010
Messages
5,238
Don't get me wrong. The Hurricane overall was a bad one and my heart goes out to those Caribbean islands that got the worse of it. But the coverage when it hit Florida was hyped to the max including dramatic music going into a break. Fox,MSNBC and CNN were all responsible.
Of course they hyped it to the max like they do with anything and those reporters in the field were loving every minute of it.

In this instance though, it probably saved lives.
 

iKnowNothing

Full Member
Joined
Jul 2, 2014
Messages
2,847
Location
hangin in there
The American news channels went into overdrive and though it appears that the majority of Florida did not bear the brunt, this sort of constant coverage of the potential damage meant that the real damage that happened in Caribbean islands ended up being a footnote.
Here's hoping they will bring enough attention to the places that were actually damaged, so that people can donate towards rescue and relief efforts in those islands.
 

starman

Full Member
Joined
May 14, 2007
Messages
7,092
Location
Under a tree.
Seems like the worst is over, Florida has been lucky considering what the Caribbean islands suffered.

Jose seems to have diverted a bit and now heading towards east coast
 

Florida Man

Cartoon expert and crap superhero
Joined
Jan 24, 2014
Messages
13,940
Location
Florida, man
Checking in here. Never lost power the whole night and the winds weren't even that strong with 19mph average per Ventusky. Irma dodged Tampa.
 

sglowrider

Thinks the caf is 'wokeish'.
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
Messages
25,232
Location
Hell on Earth
Ye.. Scarry when people are worried about nuclear strike while all it takes is a few napalm bomb in the key points in the artic and we'd have armageddon in our hand.

Hurricanes and rising temperatures are only a minor worry. I'm worried if the artic melts into 2 then we're literraly and properly fecked
Solution: We then need to learn to be better swimmers!
 

adexkola

Doesn't understand sportswashing.
Joined
Mar 17, 2008
Messages
48,650
Location
The CL is a glorified FA Cup set to music
Supports
orderly disembarking on planes
Every time I turned on CNN I switched it off within 15 minutes. The level of glee from the likes of Cooper and Cuomo was nauseating.

The islands were hit really bad. A friend of mine is stuck in the Virgin islands. He probably won't get back to the states until Wednesday/Thursday.

Tim Duncan is raising money to assist the Virgin Islands, so hopefully that sheds light on their plight and more money can be raised to help them recover.
 

Penna

Kind Moderator (with a bit of a mean streak)
Staff
Joined
May 1, 2012
Messages
49,709
Location
Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.
The Pope has something to say to the climate change deniers:
Pope Francis has said the recent hurricanes should make people understand the need to address the threat of climate change. Speaking to reporters as he flew back to the Vatican from Colombia, the Pope said those who denied the science on global warming would be judged by history. He said humanity would "go down" if it did not change course on climate change, and everyone had a moral responsibility to do their part.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-latin-america-41177350
 

JustAFan

The Adebayo Akinfenwa of football photoshoppers
Joined
Sep 15, 2010
Messages
32,377
Location
An evil little city in the NE United States

starman

Full Member
Joined
May 14, 2007
Messages
7,092
Location
Under a tree.
Eh, is Richard Branson seriously asking the government for a recovery plan for his own private island hes using as a tax haven?
 

JustAFan

The Adebayo Akinfenwa of football photoshoppers
Joined
Sep 15, 2010
Messages
32,377
Location
An evil little city in the NE United States
Seems like the worst is over, Florida has been lucky considering what the Caribbean islands suffered.

Jose seems to have diverted a bit and now heading towards east coast
It's been downgraded to a Cat2 also, last I heard. Still if it brushes up against those islands already hit by Irma, then that is still a lot more wind and rain that they do not need.