Lack of Preparedness

[Aenlic]

It's not just the Gulf Coast. The Atlantic coastal areas are asking for trouble as well.

The last time the area from New Orleans to Gulfport experienced a storm this big was 36 years ago. Since then, the entire area has exploded in terms of population and business development. The same is true for the entire seaboard from Brownsville, Texas to New York City, massive development with little to no thought given to the inevitability of hurricanes along that entire coast. It's like building on a fault line in California. It's not a matter of if it happens; it's a matter of when.

The situation in New Orleans was going to happen eventually, just because of where the city was located. The devastation along the rest of the central Gulf Coast was bound to happen. It's going to happen elsewhere too. Maybe next month, maybe year, maybe next decade.

We're only halfway through the hurricane season and tomorrow tropical depression 14 will become the 13th named storm of the season as Maria. Historically, the worst storms occur in September. Later in the season is when storms typically turn north earlier and hit the East Coast. The most tropical storms in one year for the Atlantic basin was 21. At the current rate, we could hit 26.

Mayors in places like Savannah, Charleston and Cape Hatteras had better be paying attention; because they will get hit - eventually. People who have purchased their lovely over-priced homes with a view on barrier islands all along the coast had better be paying attention as well. They really seem to act as if they're immune.

[Kongamato]

This is on the "showing weakness to our enemies" comments...

Over the last few years, several large and disturbing cracks in this country's infrastructure have appeared. The massive East Coast blackout, yearly devastating wildfires, 9/11, and now the Katrina disaster all show that there are many unguarded "targets of opportunity" in the US. After this disaster, anyone with a terrorist agenda has now pondered seeking the ability to rapidly strike these targets once they present themselves.

I might also be paranoid as well. Let's see. Ichi, if you happen to be reading this, what kind of destruction could a team of terrorists achieve by starting coordinated wildfires during the western dry season? Are people capable of this, or does this require more than just a matchbook? Do the fire departments have a plan for this kind of thing, or does it just get laughed at?