Irene over hype

Charles_Main

AR15 Owner
Jun 23, 2008
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Michigan, USA
So I understand after Katrina nobody wants to understate a Hurricane, and we should error on the side of Caution.

However I have a beef with FOX, CNN, the National weather Service and several other news out lets.

What is the beef?

Well I heard experts and reporters say repeatedly that even though Irene was only a cat 1 or 2, we should remember that Katrina was only a cat 2 and it devastated New Orleans.

Not one of these people mentioned the fact that unlike any of the areas Irene hit. New Orleans is a large city, Situated on the Mississippi River Delta, and MUCH OF IT IS BELOW SEA LEVEL.

I have to give kudos to CNN, Once it was clear Irene was no where near as powerful as they said it would be. CNN returned to normal Programing and just gave updates on the storm. FOX on the other hand continued to do wall to wall Storm Coverage for 12 hours longer, and frankly looked like Idiots standing in NYC talking about the Fierce, storm that was hitting them. Yes, I know there was a storm surge, but again, none of NYC or anywhere else Irene hit is BELOW SEA level. an 8 foot surge is going to flood some roads and houses and the like, and then quickly receed. I even heard one idiot female Reporter say something about the Storm Surge Flooding Receded quickly and how she didn't get it, and started talking about Katrina. I mean are fluid Dynamics that hard to understand? City sitting a bowl that is below Sea level, on one of the largest rivers on earth, which is held back by levies gets flooded. It will take a very long time for the water to recede. In fact some of it won't recede on it's own. However a city like NYC, which at it's lowest point is 7' above sea level, Is not going to be effected by a 8 foot surge in the same way New Orleans was.

I am sorry but a top wind gust of 58MPH isn't SHIT. lol, here in Northern Michigan we have winter storms in which the wind gusts over 58 MPH 2 sometimes 3 days straight.

And what is this shit in NC the 911 people telling people if winds are over 40MPH they can't help you?

When I lived through Charlie in Florida they said if winds are over 70 they wont help you. 40 Mph? My god there would be weeks at a time here in Michigan where you could not get help if you called 911 if we had that same rule.

I mean I get it, we have to be Careful, we have to assume the worst, But my god people. Anyone that knew the first thing about New Orleans, and NYC. Should have known a Cat 1 or 2 Hurricane hitting NYC is not going to come close to Katrina in loss of life.
 
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Even with all the preparation and work..some people did die.

All in all, however, a well done job by the Federal government, and the governments of the states that were hit. Special kudos go to Christy, Cuomo and Bloomberg..all who did outstanding jobs.
 
To you, and the other 7,000 threads on this very topic.

The storm was not as bad as anticipated. Thanks for pointing it out.

What. The fuck. Is your point.
 
Nate Silver has a piece (How Irene Lived Up to the Hype - NYTimes.com) where he compares Irene's coverage level to its monetary and human damage. He finds that it was the tenth-deadliest and eighth most destructive storm, and that it received the tenth most media coverage of all US hurricanes since 1980. The best information about Irene also suggested that it menaced population centers that do not usually experience hurricanes, enhancing Irene's newsworthiness.

One could argue that hurricanes in general get too much coverage, but based on Silver's piece Irene doesn't seem to have gotten too much relative to other hurricanes.
 
Even with all the preparation and work..some people did die.

All in all, however, a well done job by the Federal government, and the governments of the states that were hit. Special kudos go to Christy, Cuomo and Bloomberg..all who did outstanding jobs.

yup, the tragedy/sensation whores were out in full force and they jumped right on. I am glad they were on it, but lets face it, this was a real piece of Goebbels theatre.
 
I believe that if one cable news channel had had the guts to minimally cover the hurricane and in place of the overkill gone ahead and covered the rest of the news, like any normal day,

they could have cleaned up in the ratings. I know I'd have watched them.

What we need is for a hurricane to occur on election day, and then we can watch the cable news channels go insane, live and in color.
 
Best moment of the coverage,

some idiot chick from one of the cable channels out on an abandoned beach with the storm going full blast, when some lone guy comes wandering along, and she goes over and asks what the heck he's doing out here....
 
Even with all the preparation and work..some people did die.

All in all, however, a well done job by the Federal government, and the governments of the states that were hit. Special kudos go to Christy, Cuomo and Bloomberg..all who did outstanding jobs.

I agree

This is not a game, it is peoples lives. If you are a governor and you are told there is a ten percent chance the storm could cause significant harm, would you evacuate even though you would be wrong nine out of ten times?
 
Well, you know, when you have three full time news networks and a full time weather network, they've got to talk about SOMETHING, don't they?

Probably a bit too much hype, but no one was forcing you to watch if you weren't in the storm, and people who were in the storm were probably happy for the information.
 
Nate Silver has a piece (How Irene Lived Up to the Hype - NYTimes.com) where he compares Irene's coverage level to its monetary and human damage. He finds that it was the tenth-deadliest and eighth most destructive storm, and that it received the tenth most media coverage of all US hurricanes since 1980. The best information about Irene also suggested that it menaced population centers that do not usually experience hurricanes, enhancing Irene's newsworthiness.

One could argue that hurricanes in general get too much coverage, but based on Silver's piece Irene doesn't seem to have gotten too much relative to other hurricanes.

I think this got more coverage because it was hitting NYC. All the networks are based in NYC, and they really do think the whole world revolves around them.

For instance, in 2003 when the blackout hit New York, the news talked about nothing else. Would a blackout in Chicago merited the same coverage? I doubt it. (Keep in mind, a black out that didn't kill anyone or cause any deaths.)
 
From what I read somewhere else, Ru$h hyped this non-story up. That Charles_Main listens to him is no big surprise :rolleyes:
 
Personally, I appreciated the information

I wanted to know what was going on and where the storm was. They also gave useful information on how to prepare

What else should I have been watching on TV?
 
To you, and the other 7,000 threads on this very topic.

The storm was not as bad as anticipated. Thanks for pointing it out.

What. The fuck. Is your point.

My point was to criticize not the government but the press. The Press severely over dramatized through out the storm.

I also wanted to point out how crazy it is that 911 will not respond in NC if winds are over 40mph. As I said in Florida they will come out up to 70MPH and here in Michigan where we commonly have winter storms with winds over 40mph and sometimes over 70 MPH I have never once heard them say they will not come if you call, nor have I ever heard of a time that someone called and nobody came.

I mean seriously 40mph? That's outrageous.
 
I think it WAS pretty damned bad, actually.

The flooding in NJ and VT.

Have you seen the road near Hatteras, NC????

2 dozen dead.



How much more were you expecting???
 

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