Hurricanes Are Serious but are Not for the Paranoid
I could not venture to guess how many hurricanes I have been through. I went through Alma‘s eye. I have been without electricity and water service for ten days in the aftermath of one back in the 80’s. Every year brought some sort of contact.
Camille in 1969 was heading directly toward us – but drifted just west of us – which meant we got the the most ferocious side of the force of that category 5 storm.
Agnes in 1972 caused the most damage than any hurricane up to that point in history. Mainly because it hit dead on Panama City Beach and we again got the worst side of it. It lost strength before it ran into Georgia.
Agnes cut St George Island in two during the storm and removed all the big dunes off of the island forever. It must have been hundreds of tons of sugar white sand lost. Coastal highway 98 was missing long sections from Turkey Point all the way to Apalachicola. The landscape along the Gulf Coast was very different after Agnes.
It wasn’t the hurricane that was terrifying as much as the tornadoes that would be spawned. A close relative’s house in the late 80s was impaled by several dozen pine trees like a dart board that were snatched up and tossed like darts into the house.
Category 1 wasn’t a huge worry. But once one got up to 100 mph sustained winds it would be time to take real caution. Every year would be a mystery. Where would they go this year?
We would know a few days before that one was coming – we first would hit the beach while the hurricane was still out at sea … SURF’s UP !!!
Then we would get canned food to last a couple of days – fill up the bathtub with water for a drinking reservoir – make sure we had kerosine for the lanterns – playing cards and board games to pass the time – and gas for the portable cook stove.
Then ride it out.
Only fishermen actually lived at the beach. They came inland if it got rough. Just like the seagulls do.
Now it’s all condos and big pleasure boats all along the coast – and who cares if a hurricane destroys them. Insurance pays to buy a new boat or rebuild the condo – so bring it on !
Hurricanes are serious business.
And yet – I find it quite strange that only since Hurricane Katrina that struck New Orleans a few years ago that the media make such hay out of hurricanes these days.
The answer is simple – “if it bleeds it leads”.
Also – with several channels with 24 hour a day news competing with each other, a LOT of tension and sensation have to be created to get an keep viewers.
It is POTENTIAL DISASTER that is most “reported” on.
Take for example the tropical storm that barely made hurricane status that “threatened” the RNC Convention in Tampa this week.
Waaaaaay out in the Atlantic – many days away from the Gulf of Mexico – the broadcast media began their paranoia campaigns. What it would do if it hit Tampa – when it will hit the city – how it will affect the Presidential election … HOLY COW !
We have some very amazing equipment and weather experts these days – yet predicting the path of a hurricane four or five days out is alchemy at best.
Television forecasts that show seven or ten days out is complete guess work.
That’s just the pure facts. TV weather reporters would have a better chance on a Monday predicting what the weather will be on the coming weekend if they flew up on a broom with a crystal ball.
It was an entire lifetime ago that a hurricane hit Tampa. Surely the odds were not in favor of it this season either.
But now it’s all about sensationalism – creating paranoia.
The saying in the news media USED TO BE “if it bleeds it leads”.
NOW its “if it MIGHT bleed it leads” !
Broadcast news has become either Chicken Little proclaiming that the sky is falling, or a willing mouthpiece for political propaganda as it suits their own leanings.
Where is today’s “Walter Cronkite”?
Just the facts please. We are sick of the paranoid commentaries tossed about all to easily.
Category: Tony Rollo Blog
