How the hell do you deal with a CAT 4 hurricane in the midst of a Pandemic!!!

[joetheman]

Best hopes and prayers for my family in NO. Haven't heard from them since Thursday night when they were on their way north.

[SoCalDavidS]

1. Ignore It

The people of Louisiana ignore Covid, so why not just ignore the hurricane?

Maybe some prayers will do the trick. Pray the hurricane away, like they pray Covid away. Or perhaps the talking IDIOTS on Faux Newz have some recommendations, since they're so knowledgeable about how to fight covid.

Surely a house will protect them, just like their natural immune system protects them from the virus.

[Withywindle]

6. Don't slander everyone in a whole state please

NOLA is very diverse and very blue politically. There are MANY people who are vaxxed who have been put at risk since Delta by the shitbirds. Now they have to face this storm knowing damn well the hospitals don't have any room or staff for them.

I have friends in New Orleans, so this is personal to me. If New Orleans was big enough to override the electoral collage votes of people outside the city, LA would be blue. (I'm saying this as a Chicagoan who knows that if the rest of IL got to overrride our vote, IL would be as red as Indiana)

[SoCalDavidS]

7. You're Right, Nawlins' Is The Sane Part Of State

When you realize that Nawlins' has a decent vaccination rate, it demonstrates how utterly Pathetic the rest of the state is. There are probably areas with less than a 10-20% rate.

[Chainfire]

25. And I would reply, "Don't slander everyone in the Delta."

[Withywindle]

37. Agreed, and I'm sorry

for not acknowledging all the other good people in the Deep South, who are getting hit now. I wish the best for you and yours.

[catrose]

36. Madeline Odent has a twitter thread on how the Coast handles hurricanes, w/support from others

[link:

Link to tweet

?s=20=|]

madeline odent
@oldenoughtosay
23h
I’m gonna preemptively remind those of y’all who have never lived in a hurricane zone that the reason people don’t evacuate isn’t because they think they’ll be fine; it’s because they don’t have money to evacuate.
Reply
Gas costs money. Somewhere to stay out of town costs money. Harder+ pricier with pets and kids. The lower your income, the less likely your employer is gonna cancel your shifts in advance.

people aren’t staying in the path of danger just for fun. They can’t leave.
Reply
A mandatory evac order, with no support to make it happen, is political posturing.

So think about that next week when all the talking heads are wondering why people in NOLA didn’t get out in time. Again.

It goes on and on and on and worth reading, except for the conservative replies.

[RockRaven]

2. A very terrible aspect is the hospital/COVID situation on top of the storm...

a) they couldn't evacuate the hospitals because the whole region is overwhelmed with COVID patients... Even if you had the resources to move them, where would they be sent to?

But also,

b) consider all the deathly ill people who *should* be trying to get to the totally overwhelmed hospitals if it were not for the storm. Because of the storm they'll be stuck in place and just suffer/die without medical care...

This is all so sick and sad and depressing.

[monkeyman1]

5. there are no rules & reg's on this one ! just do the best ya can & try to stay safe !

[secondwind]

8. All hospitals are on lockdown, and will remain that way until the danger has passed.

[littlemissmartypants]

3. You don't. It deals with you. nt

[Liberty Belle]

4. California has been dealing with wildfires amid a pandemic;

it's made opening emergency shelters very difficult as it's hard to do social distancing in such situations; also the smoke agggravates lungs putting people more at risk if they get COVID.

[Cheezoholic]

10. If Ida maintains its current strength and track

It will be the strongest hurricane to hit NOLA in recorded history. I dont understand these comparisons to Katrina. Aircraft are reporting data similar to Maria in the last hour as to storm structure. Im watching news stations in NOLA and they are really not hitting the pedal on this storms potential. Ive been in over 20 canes including Hugo and Andrew. I hope im wrong but this is a wind cane like NOLA has never seen. This isnt a weakening cat3 like Katrina

[femmedem]

11. They're predicting a lower storm surge than Katrina, though.

Higher winds and more rain, but lower storm surge and better infrastructure to handle it.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/28/us/hurricane-ida-vs-katrina.html
But it looks like it will be devastating. I hope you are somewhere safe.

[Cheezoholic]

16. In a hotel about 20 miles from Baton Rouge

Thx. Drove down Thursday to get my 93 year old uncle out of Grand Isle because he's stubborn. Thats why I said this is a wind cane. Surge shouldn't be anything like Katrina. The planes just went through the eye again and are now recording 151 mph in the NE eyewall. Noticing the local news stations are getting a little more serious this morning. Amazing how people don't trust science. There's going to be a swath 20 miles wide thats just flattened somewhere similar to what Michael did in the FL panhandle, hopefully west of NOLA. If those winds barrel right into NOLA look out. This thing is still in a strengthening phase and any cane in a strengthening phase is twice as bad as a steady state or weakening cane. I was in Katrina when it hit the east coast of FL as a strong strengthening cat 1 and it was one of the scariest wind canes I was ever in.

[femmedem]

18. Your uncle is lucky to have you looking out for him!

it's not easy to convince a stubborn 93-year old to do something. Grand Isle? You likely saved his life, even if he never acknowledges it.

And I'm glad you were able to get a hotel room instead of having to take him to a shelter during a pandemic. Smart, going down on Thursday instead of waiting.

Where are you getting such good updates?

[Cheezoholic]

20. The irony is he's why I got stuck in Andrew

30 years ago! He lived down around Homestead. My mom, his sister, was worried sick so I drove down there from Tampa. Finally got him to leave about 6 hours before it hit. We rode the storm out in the lobby of a little motel about 50 miles inland. I told him this was the last time lol. He's a Korean war vet and got kinda messed up over there so we look out for him.

I'm a weather nerd. Get airplane info from Tropical Atlantic but ya kinda have to be a nerd to read the data on there. The NHC is the best source.

[BumRushDaShow]

22. A perhaps simpler place to see the recons (for both the NOAA Hurricane Hunters and the AF) is here

https://www.tropicaltidbits.com/recon/

It has near "real time" updates and you can see the dropsonde data for each flight there too.

(I have a kajillion bookmarks for stuff since it's also one of my hobbies )

[Cheezoholic]

23. I love Levis site

But from nerd perspective Chris's Tropical Atlantic site has a better interpretation of recon data at least for me. But anyone who wants to learn anything about these systems Levi's daily tropical updates are the bomb. He really describes whats going on in a way most people can understand. he rocks.

Yeah, it's a hobby that comes with 10k bookmarks lol.

[BumRushDaShow]

24. I'm a "visual" person

vs so much a "model hugger" and that is how Levi does his videos, which is why I love his stuff!

I have used Tropical Atlantic before and have it bookmarked but like looking a the dropsonde data.

Another "catch all" site I bookmarked was this -

https://spaghettimodels.com/

I know today is "chaser" day so will probably end up hunkering down with some of them.

We are expected to possibly get 4" - 6" of rain from the remnants of Ida here in the Philly area. I've already had just over 11" of rain for the month of August so far so it's really wet around here.

[malaise]

12. It won't be the levees this time

It will be power cuts - ventilators will stop working.

[zuul]

13. Yes, the improved levee system and pumping stations should make the outcome of this storm different.

For those of us inside one of the levee systems, we should be fairly safe from storm surge (unless a levee fails somewhere.) The new pumping stations should help with the rain, but they're predicting 10" - 15" for the metro NO area. There will be flooding.

There's nothing anyone can do about the wind. We're just now starting to feel wind gusts. Later today it will get pretty wild. We will lose power without a doubt. The question is for how long. After Isaac, which was a relatively mild storm, I was with out power for 7 days. After that storm, Entergy made a lot of improvements. We'll see.

It's supposed to get above 90 degrees for several days after this hurricane passes through. I'm not looking forward to day after day with 105 degree heat indeces and no air conditioning.

[malaise]

14. Stay safe

This is the big one

[Cheezoholic]

17. It takes a couple days for the great stench to hit

When everyones powerless refrigerators turn into rot boxes, its terrible!. Be safe hunker down.

[zuul]

19. I thought you meant me! I'm about to take my last hot shower for who knows how long.

I just cleaned out my freezer, tossed a bunch of stuff I know I will lose. Better to get rid of it now.

Stay safe!

[LeftInTX]

31. Ugh.......No power......Some people were saying there were gonna leave

There is gonna be horrible flooding of coastal areas. I hope everyone evacuated......Those areas were under mandatory evac.

I hope there is no levee breech.....praying....

I can see leaving if no power, but lots of people stay behind for clean up...

Hunker down..Fortunately, the wind rarely kills...It's the water...

[brewens]

15. You don't. You beat the virus down any and every way possible, so when something

like Ida happens, it kills as few people as possible.

[BumRushDaShow]

21. CDC actually posted some guidelines regarding diaster shelters and COVID-19

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/php/eh-practitioners/general-population-disaster-shelters.html

CDC’s Interim Guidance for General Population Disaster Shelters During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Updated Aug. 4, 2021

Access to safe shelter from disasters is critical even during community spread of COVID-19; therefore, shelters should accept all people seeking safety regardless of vaccination status.

People housed in general population disaster shelters may be exposed to crowded conditions that can make it easier to spread COVID-19. Although the risk of getting sick with COVID-19 is lower for people who are fully vaccinated, everyone staying at a disaster shelter should still take precautions regardless of vaccination status, including wearing masks correctly and maintaining physical distance (at least 6 feet).

This interim guidance is based on current information about the transmission and severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will update this guidance as needed and as additional information becomes available. Please check the CDC COVID-19 website periodically for updated guidance. Because conditions vary from community to community, disaster shelter managers should look to their state and local health officials for information specific to their location.

Key Points

Alternatives to opening disaster shelters, such as sheltering in place, should be considered during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hotels/dormitories and small shelters (fewer than 50 residents) should be prioritized over larger shelters. Large congregate shelters should be a last resort.

Officials should demobilize large congregate shelters as soon as possible after the emergency phase and relocate residents to hotels/dormitories or small shelters for better social distancing.

Shelter managers should maintain contact with state and local public health agencies and emergency management for updates on local COVID-19 information.

Shelter health staff should monitor residents daily for symptoms of COVID-19 and other illness, including mental health concerns, and provide a daily status update to the local health department and other relevant agencies. View resources on daily life and coping .

Body temperature monitoring should be conducted for all persons entering the shelter and in food distribution areas.

Shelters should provide separate areas, including restrooms, to isolate residents with symptoms of COVID-19.

Shelter staff and residents should wear a mask at all times except when not practical, such as when eating or showering. NOTE: Masks should not be placed on babies or children younger than 2 years of age or anyone who has trouble breathing or is unconscious, incapacitated or otherwise unable to remove the covering without assistance.

All shelter residents, even those without symptoms, may have been exposed to COVID-19 and should self- quarantine after leaving the shelter in accordance with state and local recommendations.

If testing for COVID-19 is available, shelter staff, volunteers, and residents should be tested in accordance with state and local health department guidelines.

During disasters, resource availability may limit the ability to apply this guidance. Best efforts should be made to implement this guidance to the extent possible.

[2naSalit]

27. Perhaps this should be its own OP?

This is important information and should have its own thread so more people can see it.

Thanks for posting this!

[BumRushDaShow]

28. I could do that

although stuff moves so fast in GD it would probably sink real fast.

I'll give it a shot though!

[2naSalit]

29. Thanks.

[BumRushDaShow]

30. Just posted!

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100215795698

[LeftInTX]

32. You could also post in the Louisiana group....

[BumRushDaShow]

33. I'll go ahead and do that too!

Thanks!

(am watching a couple of my favorite chasers driving around the Metairie area at the moment)

[Chainfire]

26. Hurricanes are a fact of life on the Northern Gulf Coast. The time to prepare for the interface

of Hurricane and Covid was eight months ago.

[Iggo]

34. We'll see.

[ananda]

35. How the HELL exactly!

It is hell.