I think that the estimated winds for the Galveston Hurricane were only about 120 mph, versus 190 for Camille.

Message to Corps:

Spend less time at the River Ridge Country Club
and their trees.

spend more time at the 17th St Canal painting those rusting pipes:

"The two areas highlighted in red are what I'm interested in.

The top area shows...

duct tape.

The bottom area shows...

Rope suspending hoses which convey hydraulic fluid to and from the pumps. Not steel, but rope. I hope those knots are tied tight.

My guess on the reason those ropes are there? Two winters ago, the Corps pulled the pumps to install extended piping on them which moved the previously submerged hose connections out of the water (to prevent further rusting of the fittings as captured in the pictures above). They probably decided to reuse the same hoses.

Before, those hoses ran from the deck above down to fittings which were underwater. With the extended piping, there was a shorter distance between the pipe on the deck and the new connections on the pumps. But they still had the old hoses, which were now too long and heavy, and they needed to make sure the hoses were not pulling down on the new fittings. So they roped them up. Hardly the best solution, and one has to wonder how well the ropes will hold up in extended storm conditions with the pumps running for eight or twelve hours."

The above from Update 6/12/08.

So to recap:

All hydraulic piping/bolts(non stainless steel) Corps installed is unpainted. And duct tape/rope is
being used to hold them together.

http://fixthepumps.blogspot.com/2007/04/more-on-pipes-and-rust.html

Perhaps that is why I highlighted the description of the damage outside of Galveston. In any case, we also have a vastly higher population density along the Gulf Coast

It sounds like you're saying 'We shouldn't have a disaster, because we have all these alarms now. So why do you all have to keep ringing those loud and scary alarms all the time?'

The alarms are there to say 'This MIGHT be a wolf. In the past, when we didn't prepare, wolves were deadly and scary. Stay Tuned, be prepared.'

These days low lying areas are evacuated long before any storm arrives.

I can't believe you actually wrote that sentence this close to the anniversary of Katrina's landfall.

Hurricanes are very unpredictable. It is not feasible to order people to leave the entire possible strike area far enough in advance for people to actually get out, and authorities don't do that. If a major hurricane makes an unexpected turn just as it nears land, the odds of major loss of life are actually quite high, depending on where it hits of course.

Barrier islands like Galveston's are especially susceptible. The storm surge can overwash the island, which is what happened in 1900. There isn't much of a high ground - low ground distinction in that case. The only thing to do is get off the island. And because of population density and a limited number of bridges, you need to start the evacuation days in advance.

Galveston didn't have enough warning to evacuate in 1900 because of the state of weather forcasting back then. But the same thing can happen today if a hurricane were to make an unpredictable move.

I spent some time in Cali and Hawaii so I have some experience with earthquakes too. (We even had an earthquake here in Florida a few years ago. I was afraid it was a sinkhole opening up under the house!)

The biggest trouble with hurricanes is they take FOREVER. Fay gave us rain for four days. The anxiety buildup is terrible. The Weather Channel goes into 'hurricane mode' two days before landfall and everyone's nerves are set on edge. Our house got a direct hit by the eyes of Charlie, Francis, and Jeanne in 2004. Now, my wife is super-sensitive to any storm with a name. (I will admit, I don't like them either).

I just checked the NOAA site and Gustav appears to be repeating Katrina/Rita's path of 2005. Everyone might want to fill up a couple spare gas cans before Sunday.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/index.shtml

I'd rather be in earthquake country...

Wimp! Florida resident here :-)
Seriously though, not exactly looking forward to the next couple of weeks...

"Accu"-Weather usually gets hysterical about hurricanes and snowstorms.

It might be a Cat 5. Also, it might not. :-)

Sort of like their snowfall forecasts: "up to 10 inches or more".
If you think about it for just a second, you realize that statement covers anything from zero to infinity.

NOAA are saying potential wind speed of 135-140 miles per hour. They expect it to remain mostly over water, missing both Cuba and the Yucatan peninsular which accounts for the higher category as it enters the Gulf.

The tone of the Gustav posts in the forums at Storm2K is strikingly serious. It seems like there's something about this storm that has unnerved the long-time storm watchers.

I hope the folks who have been praying for a deluge to wash out Obama's outdoor speech Thursday night switch to praying that Gustav doesn't become the story at the GOP convention.