As Laura was moving ashore over Lake Charles, she brought back vivid memories when Katrina was heading right towards NOLA. John Snell and I were the last of the on-air people to evacuate Ch. 8, not because we wanted to, but because 2 Jefferson Parish Sheriff deputies were there to remove us to their West Bank Headquarters. a sturdy, safer 7 story structure (Old LGS building) where we resumed broadcasting. Less than an hour into the broadcast, the communications tower on top of the roof crashed down and water started pouring into the building. Our remote live truck also lost the ability to get our signal out due to the intense rainfall and so there are my last painful memories as FOX 8 shifted broadcasting out of our sister station in Mobile. Soon thereafter our transmitter in Chalmette flooded from storm surge knocking FOX 8 off the air and we stayed dark for 10 days.
As you can see, the eye passed just east of New Orleans with the greatest surge (28-31') along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. A large fuel storage tank from the Diamondhead Marina floated up onto I-10's east bound lanes. That told me the surge had to be at least 30'. It was a Cat. 3 wind-wise (125 mph) at landfall, but it carried a Cat. 5 surge that remains the greatest on record for the Gulf of Mexico. Fortunately after Laura, we have no such Hurricane to follow yet.
The wave train continues coming off of Africa as I've circled 4 weak disturbances riding westward under a large plume of Saharan Dust. NHC has only 2 of those highlighted as areas to watch with the one closer in given a 30% chance to develop while the 2nd one has a slightly higher chance (40%).
Closer to us, the Caribbean is totally quiet while the Northeastern Gulf has a cluster of storms moving into the Florida beaches. The soupy, tropical air from Laura lingers over us and look for widespread storms to bubble up this afternoon during day time heating. Enjoy the last weekend of August as we all say good riddance! Stay tuned!
2 comments:
Bob.. remember it well.doc Muller and I were part of the emergency team at NorthShore.... wife and I spent 13 days there.
yep remember it well pretty rough here in Long Beach,Ms as the weather channel said it hit that land mass between N.O. and Mobile
Post a Comment