Irene gone! Now concentrate on diving vacation

[RickyF]

Wish I could help you, but I have no idea either. Wish you the best!!

 

[RonFrank]

Sadly, I think some of the lives lost in the USA can be attributed to ignorance - there were adequate warnings given. Our Cat 4 (250+kmph winds) claimed less lives - even though this is a third-world country without great communications or rescue services. People heed the warnings though and take it seriously (i.e. nobody went surfing!)

I have not read about every death, but the ones I have read about were not due to ignorance or foolishness.

'The number of storm-related deaths is now at least 44. The ages of the fatalities ranged from an 11-year-old boy in Newport, Va., who was killed when a large tree crashed through his apartment, to an 89-year-old woman in Prospect, Conn., who was killed early Sunday when a falling tree limb pulled power lines onto her house and started a fire.'

I don't put this in the same category as the surfer deaths in FL which they are not counting seeing that the hurricane missed that area. And would you know how many were killed in a 3rd world nation without the technology or communication grid of a modern country?

44 deaths so far, lets hope for no more. My thoughts go out to the folks that are dealing with the aftermath of this storm.

 

[Heatheroe]

"And would you know how many were killed in a 3rd world nation without the technology or communication grid of a modern country?"

Yes, and the answer is zero deaths.

 

[Rescue Diver68]

Wow this thread derailed right down the sh!tter.

 

[DevonDiver]

"And would you know how many were killed in a 3rd world nation without the technology or communication grid of a modern country?"

Yes, and the answer is zero deaths.

Northern Philippines was hit by a Cat 4 (>165kmph winds) at the same time as Irene (barely a Cat 1) visited the USA. There were 14 deaths in the Philippines. Those were inland deaths, mostly caused by landslides in the mountain regions.

Flooding was terrible in many regions, and there was little/no emergency assistance for those communities. They handle it locally and everyone pulled together. People don't take risks for the sake of their property - even though they don't have insurance, support or any welfare when that property gets destroyed.

I saw CNN reports that showed Americans refusing to evacuate "because of the quality of shelter accommodation provided". Here in the Philippines, people slept on concrete shelter floors, with whole families curled up, sharing a single blanket for comfort. No complaints, they were glad to be safe.

People here evacuated immediately to shelters, when warned, without resistance or reluctance. People didn't drive around (and get hit by trees). People didn't stay in their houses (and get hit by trees/collapses). The vast majority of these people don't have cable tv (or any tv!) - a few might have radios - but the community spreads the word and helps each-other to evacuate.

Nobody here questioned the authorities, doubted the advice or 'thought they knew better'.

Begs the question, how a 3rd World country can suffer a storm 4x greater, but receive less than 1/4th of the casualties as a major superpower nation.

It's a shame that the American media agencies didn't really cover the Philippines typhoon. It would have put things into perspective.

 

[Centrals]

"And would you know how many were killed in a 3rd world nation without the technology or communication grid of a modern country?"

Yes, and the answer is zero deaths.

I bet you never paid any attention outside the confine of USA!!!!

eg. Hurricane Stan Oct 2005

 

[Heatheroe]

Sorry I was talking about the Bahamas. They suffered no loss of life during the storm, despite entire homes being blown away. They also heeded the warnings and moved to shelters or left the islands. Irene was a strong cat 3 when it hit with gusts up to 140 mph and 10 foot storm surge. I agree, the US media sucks. I prefer to watch BBC to get world news.

 

[fjpatrum]

No it wasn't a bad storm, but lives were lost and quite a bit of damage was done. No storm is a good storm.

As I've said in several other forums, lives are lost every day for all sorts of reasons. The hype surrounding Irene was so out of proportion as to be comical.

Yeah, it was a storm that did a lot in damages and has taken lives. Compare that to the hundreds or thousands of lives lost in storms overseas and you begin to realize just how out of touch we are with the way the rest of the world lives. Or even the lack of lives lost in much larger storms as others have mentioned here. Either way there's something seriously amiss with the way we do things here in the US with respect to storms like this.

We here in the USA just don't pay attention or learn how to deal with things like this properly because we expect other people to hold the responsibility. Many (perhaps all??) of the deaths attributed to Irene are from flooding and let's face it, that's not hard to plan for and avoid but people don't pay attention when they're driving or they don't understand the nature of a "flash flood" or don't heed the warnings.

I'm not trying to say people deserved to die, just that education about how to deal with these things is sorely lacking in this country. Consider that this storm was a "tropical storm" by the time it hit the area that has received the most loss of lives and property damage. Basically it was a really fast hard rain with some strong winds.