Differences, Similarities and Aftermaths

It didn't happen all at once, I'm sure.

Another difference from Katrina.

San Diego is not LA, nor is San Bernardino. Malibu is about the only area where fires have taken place that can be classified as LA.

Some of the areas in San Diego area that have been affected by these fires head down towards the border of the state which isn't as heavily populated or urban an area as LA is.

Yeah, because Katrina just suddenly showed up in the gulf with no warning.

OMG there's a hurricane outside the window!

^Or people were assured by their government officials that the levees would hold.

Some would like to attribute the success of some of the preparation for this type of disaster on Katrina. I'm sure some information was gleaned from Katrina, but the majority has been through studies and looking at what went right after the last set of major fires in this part of the state as well as what went wrong.

Some areas like LA County took the recommendations made by the commissions that studied the fires and ran with them. Some of the counties like Orange did not. They purchased two Vietnam era helicopters and that was it. A lot was learned though and has been put into practice over all. That is why we are seeing a lower death rate from these fires than the last time we had this type of emergency. In 2003 we saw 15 deaths. This time around we have seen about what 4 or 5?

^Was Orange County strapped for tax revenues, or did they just try to do things on the cheap?

(Patiently explains what he means to the farmboy)

Okay. You have a hurricane coming. You call for evacuation.

No matter how early you give the warning, in civilized places that are not entirely deserted prairie, you have lots of people, who have lots of cars, who end up going in the same direction at once, causing something called a "traffic jam", which was the exact point under discussion..."it's hard to believe that many people COULD evacuate in Southern California".

To whit, my reply: The fires weren't happening everywhere at once. Unlike a hurricane. Unlike Katrina. So the entire region wasn't paralyzed, and since the fires weren't coming down at the same time in a vast, whirling, Category 4 storm of flame, well, things were a lot more orderly and organized because hundreds of thousands of people weren't running around and screaming in panic.

Does that make things clearer?

Now...

If you want to see Southern Californians killing and beating each other and descending into savagery and eating their children like during Katrina, hit 'em with a 9.0 earthquake that clogs up the streets with rubble and which will cause those who manage to get to the stadiums to rape and pillage and pollute the place with their filth.

Either that, or let the Lakers win the championship.

You do realize we essentially had a category one hurricane here in Oklahoma two months ago, right phantom?



Pa Flow seen here pulling emergency vehicles out the next mornin... (That WWII truck floated off the highway)



And it was sudden, only known to have happened two other times in recorded history, the Flows even suffered a few thousand in damage.

Still, no FEMA.....

So tell me more stories about the perils of hurricanes granpa phantom....

He will as soon as you do a 500-word essay on the concept of "traffic jam."

I'm still trying to figure out why W won't use his weather machine that he used to destroy New Orleans, to help create rain to put out the fires for those nice white folks in Kalifornia.

I blame Eisenhower.

Not trying to put down the situation, but a TD is two steps away from a Cat. 1. (Although for it to be named it must have at some point been a TS, was that over OK?)

It was a TS when it hit Texas, weakened, then reformed over Oklahoma, the storm cranked up with winds close to 100mph and began dumping inches of rain all over the place. Notice the distinct eye over Oklahoma. We got 12"+ in a matter of hours.

I don't burden you people with my presence. Be thankful.

PS If I pull the tractor over to let you by, hit the gas and go, my patience wears thin.

What did people do when there was a natural disaster that wiped out everything they owned BEFORE the Federal Government decided to take care of everything?

So every home should now have wood burning stoves, hand pump wells and basement full of last years preserves?

You do realized we have progressed a little bit since those days, yes?

So as technology progresses, government should take more and more of an active role in protecting you from the world?

Is that a true/false question?

Died usually.

What country do you live in?

There were 150 years worth of hurricanes, droughts, earthquakes, floods, fires, mudslides, rock slides, tornados, Indian attacks, and wars that didn't require the Feds to bail everyone out. People just picked up the pieces and did what was necessary to rebuild their lives on their own. Why can't we do the same?

I think they tried to do things on the cheap. OC has had some rather questionable priorities. The county isn't all that well off even after their restructuring in the aftermath of their bankruptcy several years back.