History's Worst Hurricanes | Code Red | Earth Stories

"A giant, howling vortex of thunder and rain, spreading its spiral arms in a destructive embrace..." — Upvoted JUST for that opening line...

I don't understand why would anyone want to live near the ocean

Hurricane Fiona sure showed us in Nova Scotia who's boss. We are never going to forget it. The sound was like being on a jet plane taking off or in a vaccum. First storm that I ever even considered being worried about as I sat there wondering if my roof will hold. I've never seen anything like it.

As a trained storm chaser, if your area is under a mandatory evacuation warning for an extremely dangerous hurricane, please for the love of all things good and holy evacuate if you are able. Escape the area and let law enforcement and chasers do our jobs. We do this only to help

Let's not forget, the Pontchartrain levee broke open at 7:30 in the morning, an hour before the surge came in. No one "blew up" the levees (this time around). Second, the NO convention center was NOT a shelter of last resort, people were there for DAYS before officials knew that people were there. By the way, those reports of violence and rape and murder in the superdome and convention center were false. There were only 1 to 3 homicides total between the two IIRC, and as far as the looting and violence on the streets go, the NOPD had MORE than their fair share. Several cops were caught on tape looting, and there were a few incidents of cops killing civilians, and then covering up their crime. And let's also remember, for all the people who keep complaining about people who didn't evacuate, the government themselves A) had a responsibility to evacuate the citizens under their care that cannot evacuate themselves for whatever reason, be it health, age, or finances, and B) did exactly what many people who didn't leave feared: snatched their homes out from under them. The projects all over the city were "condemned", despite being some of the buildings that survived the best during the who ordeal. Residents protested in government meetings for the right to go back to their homes, and on the day the vote was made by the council, citizens, who have every right to be in the chamber, were barred and dragged out and a small riot occurred. These sections of public housing were torn down, leaving thousands homeless. The same happened in the poorer wards, especially the 9th ward. Lastly, the only public hospital in the city, the 2nd largest in the country, survived quite well also, and was also "condemned" by the city, so that they could build a new, private hospital in a more affluent part of the city, leaving the poor without quality care. It was the only place in New Orleans with inpatient mental health services, so when the hospital was closed, there was no where for mentally ill people to go. A man later shot and killed a female NOPD officer with her own gun after an episode where he had been taken to some facility, pumped full of drugs for a few days, and then released. On the day of the release, he had an altercation with the officer, got a hold of her gun, and shot her. Before Katrina, he had gotten regular care at Charity hospital. If the city had actually cared about the people, and kept the hospital open, that officer wouldn't have died. These are only some of the things that went wrong before, during, and after the storm, but does NOT take away from other areas hit directly and utterly demolished.

Every time I think about how Cat 5 storms have sustained wind speeds up near 200mph, i am absolutely flabbergasted. That’s EF5 tornado wind speeds. Over huge amounts territory, for hours and hours… Hurricanes really are the fiercest storms on the planet

In Suffolk, VA, I had a customer come in the store to shop. She had a cart full of groceries, when she went to pay her card was rejected. After a short conversation, I learned that she that she and her family had lived in New Orleans and she wanted to get groceries so she could make breakfast for her relatives. I called my assistant manager to service desk for help. She said she would handle it. The hot food and deli were closing, so she called hot bar and told them not throw anything away. The Assistant Manager 'went to the back and got food for dinner. I was ready to get my card and pay for the groceries but I was told no she would handle it. Their EBT card was not being accepted because of the devastation of phone lines in New Orleans. I went back to my job on the cashier line so I do not know exactly what happened but they did get some groceries. I was so happy that my store came to their aid.

We live in New Orleans. When Katrina came a lot of people left but we had no choice but to stay. However, we live in the French Quarter which is the highest ground in the city, our apartment was in an 1860's brick building that had weathered many storms and we were on the 2nd floor. We had pets and both of us had health issues. Like almost everyone we knew we had no car. There wasn't time to lay in supplies since no one knew the levees would go and everything would be destroyed. No water was the worst but no power was pretty awful too. People broke into empty apartments to find canned food or candles. People bailed the water out of toilet tanks both to drink and to try to flush their own toilets. The community of the FQ came together like one huge family. A couple of the local bars opened for distribution and just a place to go to see someone you knew or even a stranger to get a hug from. I won't go on. We were among the 5% of the city that didn't flood and even for us it was a nightmare. We lost friends. Some of them we still don't know what happened to them; whether they were bused out or drowned. Never underestimate the power of wind, and even more, water.

It just amazes me at how fast people descend into chaos after magnificent disasters. We’re not as civilized as we believe. Prepare

Why was hurricane Andrew not mentioned?

Who else is here during Hurricane Hillary?

Here during Ian YIKES

27:14 it’s crazy, because when 9/11 happened, those people were there for relief from all over the country quickly in New York but when Hurricane Katrina happen, it took over a week for relief and months for rebuilding smh

Watching this as Ian is gonna hit any moment

Even to this day… there’s still a slight grey cloud that’s always over the super dome 😞 rip to those who lost their lives in these storms and after in the disasters

Also, I remember when the remnants of Hurrican Ivan moved through our area here near Pittsburgh and we had TREMENDOUS flooding due to us being a rivertown. We had storm drains that were overflowing, we even had powerplants that were being flooded causing the reactors to shutdown. We were almost 20' above flood stage, but thank God we have hills here. My house was FAR above the level of the river. I first moved to Flaarda on Crummis day of 1994, and that was right after Hurricane Andrew struck Homestead. Seeing that area was heartbreaking.

Hurricane Katrina hit the Mississippi coast NOT New Orleans. They had hardly any winds, their levees failed cause the government fixed the stadium with money and not the levees like it was suppose to. That mayor still in jail and I hope he rots there, his greed and stealing city funds caused the death of thousands. The Mississippi coast was obliterated from 28 foot storm surge and 130 mph winds for 12 hours. By the way Storm Surge comes it like a tsunami NOT trickle in, it rushes in a huge wave and just keeps on coming. We had lost parts of our house and roof, 30 trees in our yard and went 4 months without electricity.

If you have to leave your home you might want a go bag or 72 hr kit that you make. I see people coming to shelters with nothing...when they leave they could have nothing when they find their way home. DO IT NOW

I was directly in the eyewall of Hurricane Charley some years ago. Living in Florida all my life, I thought I understood how dangerous a hurricane could be, but honestly, I really didn't have a clue until Charley paid us a visit. The most terrifying weather I've ever had the misfortune of experiencing. Charley may have been relatively small, but packed a punch that you had to live through to believe.

We here in Florida have gotten LUCKY that we haven't had too bad of storms since 2005. That year was a crap shoot.