Obama takes charge

[BT]

I don't know how the man finds the time.......



Obama takes charge at hurricane command center

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama visited Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters on Saturday to keep a close eye on preparations for Hurricane Irene as it charged north along the U.S. East Coast.

Obama, who cut short his vacation on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, by a day because of the hurricane, said it would be a "tough slog" getting through the storm but praised the federal effort so far.

U.S. officials, mindful of the widely criticized slow response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, have been out in full force urging residents in the path of the hurricane to prepare and take heed of local warnings.

http://news.yahoo.com/obama-takes-charge-hurricane-command-center-172139005.html

[Christians4LessGvt]

[Kramer]

I guess that was what was needed to scare Irene away. The Messiah finally does something extraordinary.

[BT]

Apparently it wasn't a huricane when it hit landfall in  NC.

When Did Irene Stop Being a Hurricane?
On Sunday morning Anderson Cooper of CNN was asking about the strong winds that were being forecast and this brings up something that has really bothered me about the storm: there is really no reliable evidence of hurricane-force winds at any time the storm was approaching North Carolina or moving up the East Coast.

http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2011/08/when-did-irene-stop-being-hurricane.html

[hnumpah]

Apparently it wasn't a huricane when it hit landfall in  NC.

When Did Irene Stop Being a Hurricane?
On Sunday morning Anderson Cooper of CNN was asking about the strong winds that were being forecast and this brings up something that has really bothered me about the storm: there is really no reliable evidence of hurricane-force winds at any time the storm was approaching North Carolina or moving up the East Coast.

http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2011/08/when-did-irene-stop-being-hurricane.html

Forecasters: Irene?s sustained hurricane-force winds of 80 mph smash into North Carolina coast
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/irene-takes-aim-on-northeast-2-million-ordered-out-people-may-die-nyc-mayor-warns/2011/08/26/gIQAlG6qgJ_story.html

Hurricane Irene Smashes Into North Carolina's Coast
http://www.foxnews.com/weather/2011/08/25/hurricane-irene-tightens-aim-on-east-coast/

Center: Hurricane-Force Winds Slam Into NC Coast
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=14390546

Did media go overboard hyping Hurricane Irene?
http://www.nola.com/tv/index.ssf/2011/08/did_media_go_overboard_hyping.html

I've been around hurricanes here in hurricane land long enough to know the difficulties forecasters have predicting exactly what a hurricane is going to do. Computer models are getting better, they are getting better at predicting the path, but it is still very difficult sometimes 24 hours out to predict what a hurricane's intensity will be at any given point. Irene could have come off the Carolina coast and restrengthened over the water before hitting NYC; instead it began to weaken and spread out. After Katrina, no one wants to be underprepared.

Was it overhyped? I don't believe so, given the information that was available at the time. I still don't believe so now, when I have friends on Long Island I still haven't heard from. From the reports I'm getting, power may be out in some areas for weeks.

[Christians4LessGvt]

the media is always hungry for the "biggest ever"
so anything short of Katrina will be a let down in terms of news

it's like Michael Jackson's "Thriller" (the best selling album of all time)
sold around 110 million albums......so when the followup album "Bad"
"only" sold 30 million...it was like "whats wrong?.....when
in reality most recording artists never have a 30 million seller & would
be ecstatic about selling 30 million albums in an entire career.

[Xavier_Onassis]

With hurricanes, they always err on the side of safety.

It is better to get several million to stockpile on water and batteries they do not need right away than to have a serious hurricane and people unprepared.