RE: Georges!

From: Mellard, David (dam7@cdc.gov)
Date: Mon Sep 28 1998 - 06:14:20 PDT


Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1998 09:14:20 -0400
From: "Mellard, David" <dam7@cdc.gov>
To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
Message-Id: <aabcdefg3132$foo@default>
Subject: RE: Georges!


>Hey! I've lots of people I care about in southern States. So how
about you
>Americans posting a note on how badly our Florida friends were hit
by Georges.
>I may be a brit but I do care about my USA cousins (even if they
did have the
>nerve to reject a proper cup of tea!).

>Paul (We remember Boston!)

        Gosh, our government now taxes so much more than you Brits ever did.
But they don't dare tax tea.

        Being four hours inland in Atlanta by speeding car, it won't get
here for a couple of more days and then will be a tropical store
(hopefully). The news last night showed 50 mph (sorry, the US is still way
behind the world in measurements) in Pensacola and those probably went
higher during the night. The hurricane was heading for New Orleans but
seems to have veered a bit north so that NO will now be on the weak (ha!)
(west) side of the hurricane and coastal Mississippi and Biloxi (AL) and the
far western panhandle of Florida will get the brunt of the winds, storm
surge, and rain. Georges is a category 2 hurricane (as of my last TV
viewing), which is a good thing since there's 3 more categories above that.
I think top winds are around 100 mph but gosh I've heard so many numbers
recently I distrust my memory on that.

        In addition to wind damage, what's being talked about is rainfall
and flooding. The hurricane is moving about 5 mph, which is very slow, and
therefore rainfall is expected to be upwards of 20 inches in some areas on
the east side of the hurricane. That means coastal Mississippi, Alabama,
and the far western Florida panhandle are in for some major flooding.
Pensacola had 10 inches of rain by midnight last night and Georges was still
150 miles offshore.

        New Orleans is below sea level and TV says that the city is capable
of pumping out floodwater if rainfall is very low. High rainfall and the
city has flooding problems. Since they're on the west side of hurricane,
though, rainfall is far less; so, we'll have to wait and see what happens.

        I was planning a trip to coastal Miss, Alabama, and the Florida
panhandle this past weekend to collect seed but am now obviously having to
rethink that trip. I imagine this is a good way for cp's to get spread
around.

        As for Key West and the other keys, the TV says that there wasn't as
much damage as one might expect. I haven't heard much about the remaining
part of south Florida and so assume that damage was not extensive.

        The personal address book on my computer is vanished so I am slowly
adding people back as I see them make comments. For those of you that I was
recently talking to, that's why you haven't heard back from me.

        David
        Atlanta



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