Hurricane Catagories ( Archived) (5)

Hurricane Categories are primarily assigned by the maximum sustained wind speed. Hurricane Isaak which is now heading north out of the Gulf Coast area and weakening down to a storm was a Category 1 Hurricane 74 to 95 MPH. Katrina was a Cat 5, 157+ MPH.
Isaak did not do 1/5 of the damage done by Katrina, it did nearly as much, due to the fact that it was so slow moving allowing a tremendous amount of rainfall to cause massive flooding. This caused flood water to go over the top of a levy which added more water to the equation. An old couple actually drowned inside their kitchen because they couldn't get out of the house as the water rose so fast from going over the levy.

The problem is that wind is not the only component of a Hurricane. There is also Rain and the speed of the Hurricane itself. Katrina was devastating due to the wind velocity but is swept across the land much faster and if the levies hadn't failed in at least 2 places, The damage from Katrina would have been much less.

My recollection of the news coverage leading up to Katrina was a disgrace. It seemed like they were treating it like just an ordinary storm for some reason. I distinctly remember a news reporter talking about some gambling barges on the Mississippi river that could be disconnected from dockside electric power as well as be allowed to be take on enough water so they could sink to set on the bottom for safety. They said they would disconnect them but decided not to sink them. Do you know where both barges wound up? In a parking lot!
Isaak was being downplayed the same way as Katrina. I guess they figured that being only a Cat 1 Hurricane it was no big deal.

Anyway, I think wind speed shouldn't be the only measure of the power of a Hurricane. How slow a Hurricane moves across the land is just as important.

The thing that makes it so dangerous when that part of the country floods is the water is infested with poisonous snakes and freakin Aligators.