Mild Peril!

[andygates]

Crumbs.  It takes a lot for an official agency to use "certain death" in a release:

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/wwamap/wwatxtge ... gx&wwa=all

SHORELINE OF MATAGORDA AND GALVESTON BAYS...15 TO 20 FEET
(that's the coast forty miles either side of the eye's expected track)

GULF-FACING COASTAL AREAS FROM MATAGORDA TO HIGH ISLAND INCLUDING
GALVESTON ISLAND...12 TO 16 FEET

LIFE THREATENING INUNDATION LIKELY!

ALL NEIGHBORHOODS...AND POSSIBLY ENTIRE COASTAL COMMUNITIES...
WILL BE INUNDATED DURING HIGH TIDE. PERSONS NOT HEEDING
EVACUATION ORDERS IN SINGLE FAMILY ONE OR TWO STORY HOMES WILL
FACE CERTAIN DEATH. MANY RESIDENCES OF AVERAGE CONSTRUCTION
DIRECTLY ON THE COAST WILL BE DESTROYED. WIDESPREAD AND
DEVASTATING PERSONAL PROPERTY DAMAGE IS LIKELY ELSEWHERE. VEHICLES
LEFT BEHIND WILL LIKELY BE SWEPT AWAY. NUMEROUS ROADS WILL BE
SWAMPED...SOME MAY BE WASHED AWAY BY THE WATER. ENTIRE FLOOD PRONE
COASTAL COMMUNITIES WILL BE CUTOFF. WATER LEVELS MAY EXCEED 9 FEET
FOR MORE THAN A MILE INLAND. COASTAL RESIDENTS IN MULTI-STORY
FACILITIES RISK BEING CUTOFF. CONDITIONS WILL BE WORSENED BY
BATTERING WAVES. SUCH WAVES WILL EXACERBATE PROPERTY DAMAGE...WITH
MASSIVE DESTRUCTION OF HOMES...INCLUDING THOSE OF BLOCK
CONSTRUCTION. DAMAGE FROM BEACH EROSION COULD TAKE YEARS TO
REPAIR.

Certain death, y'hear?  Crikey!

Comments

[thudthwacker.livejournal.com]

Gadzooks. Further down the page, they're talking about tornadoes and water spouts, too.

[andygates.livejournal.com]

It's a veritable smorgasbord of apocalyptic delights. Oh, and the South Texas nuclear power plant? It's in Matagorda. I trust they built it 'cane-proof when they thought to site it on the Gulf!

Even the survivalists are getting out of Dodge.

Mind you... it'd be a beauty to watch. That's on my Bucket List: stormchasing.

[thudthwacker.livejournal.com]

I trust they built it 'cane-proof when they thought to site it on the Gulf!

Well, that kinda depends; is it possible to make something hurricane-proof on paper, and charge for doing so, without, as you might say, actually making it hurricane-proof? Because if there is, that's where my money is going to be on this particular roulette table. And I'm glad they're spinning the wheel a thousand miles away from me.

[andygates.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, tender and profit, twin nabobs of safety negativity. Arse.

On the bright side, the lagoon's 5 miles from shore and the plant almost 8, so once the apocalyptic certain-death battering has passed, the 9-foot persistent salt flood probably won't reach that far. If Google Earth is to be believed, the lagoon's bermed up 10m or more over the surrounding incredibly-flat marshland.

I never knew Texas had such a flat coast. Thought I'd turned off the terrain for a minute! Bad place to be when a storm hits.

How was Hanna's little excursion up your way?

[thudthwacker.livejournal.com]

How was Hanna's little excursion up your way?

Much rain, for several hours, which alas turned up some new holes in the roof.

[andygates.livejournal.com]

Nice of her to point that out.

Ooh! Here's mashup for you: Google Earth just added Ike webcams to the Weather > Hurricane Season layers. I went off for a cuppa and came back to see the at Galveston (high, messy, blown out). That's really nice joined-up thinking: weather radar, tracks, cams, all in one vicarious package.

I wonder if there are Rule 34 implications for Google Earth?