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marie2 -> RE: Individual Responsibilities for Storm Preparedness (11/6/2012 7:55:50 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Brainonhold
This sort of explains things. You really ought to get out and see the world beyond New Jersey. I was in New Jersey, traveling through, just last Wednesday, on my ride back from Louisiana. Did New Jersey get knocked around. Yeah. But the mess in New Jersey, with all due respect, is quite honestly, "Child's Play," compared to some of the "friggin national disaster areas" in other parts of the country.
Ever been to a place called Waveland, Mississippi ? I know it's hard to find. It isn't on a lot of maps. Well, it use to be on every map, but in 2005, it was pretty much wiped off the map. It was hit with a 26 foot tidal wave on top of high tide which averages 2.2 feet. Altogether, a 28.2 foot storm surge. The term that was used to describe the area within 3 miles of the Gulf was "obliterated." Literally, 100% of the buildings, including the Town Hall and Public Library, and 100% of the homes in Waveland within 3 miles of the Gulf of Mexico, were GONE. Just GONE. The houses weren't "knocked down." They were knocked down and sucked away into the Gulf of Mexico by the receding tide. Even the damn asphalt was ripped off the ground. That's right, the damn streets were even gone ! The rest of the town of Waveland, that was just flooded.
Yeah. Waveland had a population of 6,674 for the 2000 census. The town of Waveland took their own count in July 2002 and came up with 6,737. They don't have any really hard numbers for the town for the 2010 census. They think the population was about 3,000 in 2010. Nobody is really sure how many people live there now. You could probably build a house there pretty cheap. Heck, you could save a ton of money if you bought a lot that already has a foundation, but just had it's house ripped off it back in 2005.
You don't have a clue !
Yeah. Then there was the town of Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Bay St. Louis had a population of 8,209 for the 2000 census. (8,143 in July 2002). Well, the storm surge there was only 30.3 feet. Hey .... here's a link to a FEMA photograph of the "Main Drag" in and out of town back in October 2005. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:FEMA_-_16964_-_Photograph_by_John_Fleck_taken_on_10-04-2005_in_Mississippi.jpg Have any roads that look like that in New Jersey ?
You don't have a clue !
The Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans, on average, is about 20 feet below sea level. That's not a big deal usually, except when the levee failed during a Hurricane back in 2005. Heck, most of the houses in the Lower 9th were single story, so the roof of most homes were only submerged 10 feet underwater. Heck, the folks who had scuba gear, well, they could eat three square meals a day, sitting right at their kitchen tables 20 feet under water.
Nobody's car in the Lower 9th Ward got completely submerged under water. Those folks all drive around in used Double-Decker Buses that use to be part of the transit system in London, England. Well, truth be told, the first floor of the buses were flooded, and the second floor was a little damp. But if you stood on the roof of the bus, you were only in water waist deep.
You don't have a clue !
Mount St. Helens, out in Washington State; back in 1980, heck, the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in the history of the United States. Fifty-seven people were killed; 250 homes, 47 bridges, 15 miles of railways, and 185 miles of highway were destroyed. The volcanic eruption was so violent, reducing the elevation of the mountain's summit from 9,677 ft to 8,365 ft. Poof ! 1,322 feet of mountain gone ! The eruption only completely flattened every tree, bush and blade of grass for 230 square miles. Only 3.9 million cubic yards of mud flowed 17 miles into the Columbia River. It was no big deal .... really.
The Weyerhaeuser people only lost about 60,000 acres of trees out there. Nothing compared to New Jersey I'm sure. And they weren't able to recover a lot of lumber from the trees that were knocked down. It was only enough to build 85,000 three bedroom homes. A drop in the bucket I'd imagine compared to all the catastrophic damage in New Jersey. Then, the Weyerhaeuser people had to replant they 60,000 acres they lost. Heck, that only took 18.4 million trees.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, somewhere between 150,000 and 250,000 were killed instantly. Nobody really knows for sure because there were so many people that were just vaporized by the explosion. 100% of all buildings in both cities were reduced to rubble, instantly. Hiroshima had a population of 419,000 in 1942. After the "big bang" the population dropped to about 137,000. Today, the population is only something close to 1.2 million people.
Bad things happen to good people everyday for all kinds of reasons. It's very regrettable honestly. It would be terrific if we lived in a perfect world where no bad stuff ever happened, but that isn't reality. But the folks who make out best after these "friggin disasters" (to coin a phrase), in the long run are the folks who roll up their sleeves and get to work at improving their lives, instead of telling everyone "how bad it sucks."
So really. Quit your crying and go find a decent broom. You've got a lot of sweeping that needs to done down there in New Jersey. And learn some lessons while you're cleaning up the mess. As much as you hate to admit it, maybe you should consider living on higher ground. As much as you hate to admit it, maybe you should consider a little preparedness. Consider just for a minute, this "friggin disaster" provides you folks in New Jersey the opportunity of a lifetime. Let's face it, you now have the opportunity to show the rest of us jerks in the other 49 states what jerks we really are. You can just put that State completely back together without our help. And then, then you'll have all the bragging rights.
Come to think of it, it would be really nice to hear the folks from New Jersey bragging about what great work they did, rather than pissing and moaning about what jerks everyone is.
Batterings from Mother Nature to Hiroshima? You forgot to mention the holocaust too. You're slipping way off track here and comparing apples to oranges. No one has said that this has been the worst tragedy known to mankind.
The topic was about personal responsibility for having prepared for storm Sandy. And a bunch of self-righteous blowhards like yourself sat in judgement, with insane claims that people didn't prepare, they're not self-reliant, they were wasting gas watching TV, and their demise and the losses they suffered are their own fault. And those of us who lived through it, have the facts, and the visuals of the actual extent of the damage, tried to explain to you that there is only so much you can prepare for some of the horrors that some people have experienced in this tragedy. No one was looking for your pity, but the outright blame and bitterness towards the victims is really offensive to those of us who actually know what happened here.
And no, not everyone from the other 49 states are "jerks"; just the uninformed ones like yourself who sit in judgement standing on your "high ground", blathering your pomp and circumstance.
Your "arguments" and robotic mantras have gotten boring. I'm done with you.
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