2024 Tropical Weather Thread (7 Viewers)

[Madmarsha]

Just got power back a little while ago. About 12 hours without. Very surprised looking at our outage map that the people actually ON the coast had very few customers who ever lost power. But closer to us, looks like almost 50 percent ended up losing power. We were just among the earliest.

Listening on the radio in my car, lol, they were saying that it really took a more east rather than northest track once it was on land.

 

[Hubig]

We have a serious problem with radio stations. I was listening to the fox 8 broadcast and at some point around midnight, boom, it got cut off for music. I caught the NBC broadcast(WDSU) for about 30mins and then all of a sudden, it got cut off to music. Ended up putting ol trusty on, WWL. I waited a good 10+mins before changing the station each time. Commercials were cutting off Fox 8 in the middle of Bruce or Lee giving out info. This literally cannot happen during an emergency situation, Iheartradio or whoever is running things needs to be better.

 

[efil4stnias]

SWB has antiquated power requirements, and until that is fixed, they are playing wack-a-mole and things aren't going to get better. The only thing that will fix it is money, and no one wants to pay for it.

And the Katrina money built a brand new infrastructure to dump the water into the lake, but if you can't get the water TO those pumps, they don't do you any good.

Someone going to pay for it. Because my fear now is FEMA going to take a harder look at the GNO area ( again ) and we either get this resolved or residents will end up paying 3x more than what they are now for flood insurance.
FEMA isnt going to wait 10 years to adjust. And for many, flood insurance costs are untenable as they currently are. another 50-100% increase....you get the picture.


he ( Lee ) did mention something about the "electricity requirement" since they were built in the 40s/50s. ( im guessing 220 vs 110 or something along those lines ) and how the City has known this issue for over 30 years and how they should have asked the Feds for additional $$$s post Katrina to figure out a solution to that issue.

Bruce Katz kept saying "the folks paying that high property tax in New ORleans...." and followed with " i live in Jefferson, but have friends and family in GNO so i know what they pay"

 

[buzd]

he ( Lee ) did mention something about the "electricity requirement" since they were built in the 40s/50s. ( im guessing 220 vs 110 or something along those lines ) and how the City has known this issue for over 30 years and how they should have asked the Feds for additional $$$s post Katrina to figure out a solution to that issue.

It's worse than that. SWB pumps require 25Hz power (consider US power is typically 60Hz and European power is 50Hz). This means that the generators (or transformers) to power the pumps have to be custom, and fixing the generators and pumps requires specific expert knowledge.

So you have to replace all the pumps and generators (as I understand it) as it would be close to impossible (or equally expensive) to retrofit it all.

 

[Doug B]

Anyone in Marrero area? Have an elderly aunt who lives alone. She's way too stubborn to go stay with someone else during storms. She's off of Barataria not to far from Lapalco.
She never answers her phone either.
I know where my hard head comes from.

Effects on the West Bank were generally less than those in, say, Metairie or Kenner. Your aunt is likely OK. Below is the current Entergy outage map for that part of Marrero -- Ehret High School is the orange pin right below the magnifying glass icon at top.

 

[efil4stnias]

It's worse than that. SWB pumps require 25Hz power (consider US power is typically 60Hz and European power is 50Hz). This means that the generators (or transformers) to power the pumps have to be custom, and fixing the generators and pumps requires specific expert knowledge.

So you have to replace all the pumps and generators (as I understand it) as it would be close to impossible (or equally expensive) to retrofit it all.

LOL do we even have any "25Hz experts" living????

a google search led me to someone from Houma LA posting on a message board about converting 25Hz to 60Hz specific to "multiple pumping stations and legacy equipment"

I have to imagine this poster was, in some way, part of Terrebonne parish govt lol. And kudos to him for scouring the WORLD to attempt to find solution.

https://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/148446/25-Hz-Input-60-Hz-Output

 

[Nisey55]

Effects on the West Bank were generally less than those in, say, Metairie or Kenner. Your aunt is likely OK. Below is the current Entergy outage map for that part of Marrero -- Ehret High School is the orange pin right below the magnifying glass icon at top.

Thanks a bunch !!

 

[GrandAdmiral]

The guy on Fox 8 did the same, and also everything @bclemms said.

Also having watched these storms for years, it was pretty clear it was going to move east. The models have improved a lot over the years and I don’t think AI has much to add here since it’s just going to aggregate data that already exists.

I think a lot of senior, experienced folks have no problem bucking the trend of the NHC when they feel they need to.

I will never forget with Katrina, the official path had the storm going north into the Florida panhandle. This one guy from either Weather Underground or Accu-Weather said he thought the NHC was wrong and that after Katrina clipped South Florida/the islands, it was going to dip south and curve towards New Orleans. The local forecasters here picked up on it next. The NHC was the last to change course.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

ill just add- the "threat stress" and subsequent "claims/restoration/clean up stress" is reaching a saturation point for many.

I know we live near sea level. I know we have antiquated drainage/sewer pipes. I know we have to pump out water. With the obvious issue of climate change and storms producing ( not only tropical systems ) massive amounts of rain, coupled with the mass development of virtually every single piece of land available for development, we continue to play catch up on this issue. We never seemingly have gotten ahead of it and yet again, dealing with water levels in areas that havent seen this type of water ever.

Im not a civil engineer or hydrologist, but i have to imagine there are some bright folks out there that can come up with something that will alleviate SOME of the water pressures we face in the GNO area.

right???

we had a global pandemic/looming existential threat staring us in the face and socially, emotionally, politically we were unprepared and unable to adapt - and that was something that, essentially, required very little on our part
this?
this slow moving, non-obvious threat that's relatively easy to ignore with anecdote and bad science, I have no expectation that we will adapt until we are forced to in the 13th hour, which will be way too late for many of us

well. that was sobering to write
efil

 

[Madmarsha]

we had a global pandemic/looming existential threat staring us in the face and socially, emotionally, politically we were unprepared and unable to adapt - and that was something that, essentially, required very little on our part
this?
this slow moving, non-obvious threat that's relatively easy to ignore with anecdote and bad science, I have no expectation that we will adapt until we are forced to in the 13th hour, which will be way too late for many of us

well. that was sobering to write
efil

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

and sadly it's not my nature - I can pollyanna most any situation
but with this I've just seen too much evidence that we can't/won't change

 

[HoustonGold]

Interesting. Fox8 was right on the east shifts.

 

[Bayouboy]

As far as the hurricane fatigue, it's real. Here are the impacts Louisiana has experienced since 2019 -

Laura - CAT4
Delta - CAT2
Barry - CAT1
Zeta - CAT3
Ida - CAT4
Francine - CAT2

I know our geography has us at a disadvantage, but FORK! That's bad luck.

 

[Doug B]

I will never forget with Katrina, the official path had the storm going north into the Florida panhandle.

Same.

I still remember ... I was sitting in my office in Baton Rouge. Thursday, August 25th. The 2 PM model had just come out, and it showed Katrina heading straight for Pensacola. My wife and toddler daughter were visiting my in-laws in Gretna and I wasn't due to see them again until Sunday night.

After seeing that 2 PM model, I mentally eased up and figured we were going to miss another one. Not to be.

 

[Hubig]

National Hurricane Center really struggled with this one. Bruce Katz and Fox 8 called it right from Monday night onward with the eastward shifts.