[lbo-talk] ....as for the storm

[Eleutherios]

On 28-Oct-12 15:50, Wojtek S wrote:
> [WS:] It should not be worse than the derecho we got on June 29, no?
> We were four days without power and a few houses around got crushed by
> falling trees.  They rebuilt just in time for Sandy ;)
>
> As I see, the main problem is not the bad weather, but
> under-investment in infrastructure (i.e. private ownership of service
> delivery aka capitalism) - most of our power lines are above ground
> and thus susceptible to falling trees.
It is likely to be worse than the derecho 
http://climate.cod.edu/flanis/modflanis.php?type=12-GFS-US-850-spd&device=nomob 
, the winds may be at least as strong, will be more consistent in areal 
coverage, and *will* last much longer. 
https://nwschat.weather.gov/p.php?pid=201210281841-KPHI-NOUS41-PNSPHI 
That is generally speaking, how it'll compare for specific locations 
will vary. 50-60 mph winds with lake shore flooding are expected in 
*Chicago* by the nor'easter element of this hybrid system 
http://forecast.weather.gov/showsigwx.php?warnzone=ILZ014&warncounty=ILC031&firewxzone=ILZ014&local_place1=&product1=High+Wind+Watch 
.

There are some natural disasters of such magnitude that not much can be 
done or affordably mitigated, however, I overall agree with your 
sentiment. The calamity of Hurricane Katrina was more to do about poor 
infrastructure due to poor politics/society than it was about weather 
and storm surge. In terms of individual structures, hurricane, tornado, 
and derecho wind damage can largely be cheaply mitigated by building 
codes and such things as hurricane straps in roofing and proper 
anchoring to foundations.

It's also worth noting that certain areas will experience very intense 
snowfall rates with accumulations totaling several feet.