Orr: A few lessons I've learned since I stood in the eye of Betsy

Published On: Sep 09 2013 07:19:07 PM CDT   Updated On: Sep 09 2013 07:32:16 PM CDT

I stood in the eye of Betsy, looked up and saw stars in a clear sky, and thought, ‘How can this be?’ I felt like I was wrapped in a wet blanket. It was that humid and still. My father then grabbed me, and we ran inside as all hell broke loose again.

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Betsy was bad. It was like the world was coming to an end the way the house was swaying back and forth. It was blowing so hard that my father opened the windows and doors and let it all just blow through the house. Now we know that was the wrong thing to do. The wind blows in, and then up and takes the roof right off. No wonder we lost part of the roof that night! Lesson learned. Make sure your house is protected from windows and doors being blown out.

Betsy was the first billion-dollar storm. The winds in New Orleans gusted to 135 mph. Levees failed, and a large area flooded. The storm surge at Grand Isle was 15.7 feet and 10 feet in New Orleans. People died trying to escape the floodwaters in their attics. They just couldn't get high enough, and then they couldn't get out. A friend's father rescued the ones who made it to the rooftops. They had an axe.  Lesson learned. If you are staying during a hurricane, keep an axe in the attic.

The Corps of Engineers built the levee protection system as a result of Betsy, and it basically lasted until Katrina. Another lesson: Build a strong levee system.

I've seen a lot of depressions, storms and hurricanes. The good news is you can see them coming. The bad news is a lot of people think, 'It's not going to hit me.'

Camille was a category 5 when it hit the Mississippi coast August 17, 1969 with 200 mph winds and a storm surge of 25 feet. It was a small hurricane in size. When Katrina came along August 29, 2005 it had diminished just before landfall to a category 3 with winds of 125 mph.  Some people thought, ‘I survived Camille. I don't have to worry about Katrina.’ So they did not evacuate, and some did not survive. Katrina was a bigger storm and created a higher storm surge and destroyed areas that survived Camille. Lesson learned. Size matters.

Isaac came along last year as a category one with winds of 80 mph. People thought they were safe because it was a minimal hurricane. It stalled just west of New Orleans. The geography of southeast Louisiana and coastal Mississippi forms a funnel. Gulf water was funneled right into southeast Louisiana and into our lakes and over land areas where water had never been before. Because it stalled, it dumped a lot of rain on already saturated grounds. The rain water quickly flowed into the rivers but couldn't flow into the lakes because of the onshore flow.  The rivers overflowed, causing massive flooding. Lesson learned: The speed of the storm, the direction of motion and the geography of your area play a major role in the impact of the storm. There will also be a greater impact if the ground is saturated from earlier rains.

The National Hurricane Center's forecasts are getting better and better every year. Some of you may say, "Well, what about that fiasco with Debby?" The NHC had Debby going west then made an about face and had it going east. It's all about steering currents. If the steering currents are weak, it's hard to say where a storm is going to go until something moves in to make it move out. If the spaghetti models are all over the place, that tells you the steering currents are weak. If the spaghetti models are all pretty much pointed in the same direction, steering currents are strong, and you have a good idea where a storm is going. 

If you live on the coast, and a hurricane is forecast to make landfall near you, leave. The worst place to be is on the east side of a landfalling hurricane on the coast. That is where the storm surge is the highest. The forward motion and the counter-clockwise flow of the storm push water onshore. As a hurricane moves towards the coast, it creates large waves ahead of it. These waves run up on the coast, but they cannot roll back out because the storm is moving forward. Over time the water level begins to increase. Hurricane Ike was just a category two as it approached Galveston. People thought they had time to evacuate.  But Ike was a large storm, and created a large surge, which was enhanced by the funnel effect of the Texas and Louisiana coasts.

Look at the rain bands in a hurricane. As each band moves toward the coast, there will be an increase in surge. The main surge will come with the eye wall. I once had a frantic phone call from someone calling about his sister who was trapped by rising water. I never heard what happened. Once a hurricane is in full swing, it's impossible to send a boat out to rescue people. How many times have you seen footage of people trapped in homes with rising water. Lesson learned: Do not put you, your family or your pets in harm's way. Leave. Hopefully all will be well when you return.



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