Why does this look similar to the tsunami in Asia ?

[kentuck]

The photos look very similar. I hear reports of a storm surge of 25 foot that came in very quickly along the Mississippi coast. It has covered hundreds and hundreds of miles of coastline. Do we even have an idea of how bad this is going to be? Do we know how many people and animals were left behind. None of us is immune from disaster.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

1. I think the storm surge was actually higher than 25 feet....

...Jim Cantore of The Weather Channel was located in a facility that is 27 feet above sea level. They were driven out of the first floor by the rising storm surge, and all of the vehicles in the adjoining parking lot were swept away. My guess is that the water had to have reached a minimum of 30 feet.

[tanyev]

2. Is Cantore OK?

I saw a couple threads wondering about him yesterday. I don't have cable anymore, so I can't turn to TWC and find out.

[malta blue]

3. Cantore appears to be okay

http://www.weather.com/index.html

There is a video report from him there...

[tanyev]

8. Thank you!

[JHB]

4. We're not in the tsunami ballpark yet...

...though much of that is thanks to the advance warning we have of hurricanes and the evacuation.

The tsunami inundated much broader stretches of coastline with less warning in areas with far less capacity to devote resources to rescue and recovery.

[KharmaTrain]

5. Corporate Media Packaging

They even had special graphics and theme music. One disaster looks like the next and the next.

I didn't hear of 25 foot surges coming ashore...the most I was hearing was 15 feet, but that's bad enough. The storm came in fast and was still so well defined when it made landfall that the strongest surges were compressed and that's what made a real mess of Biloxi, Gulfport and Port St. Louis.

While it's sad there's any major loss...and that apartment building that killed 40 is a shame, but thank goodness many more got away and that there was adequate warning for so many to get out. Imagine how this storm would have been had it crept up on NOLA like the 1900 Galveston hurricane.

My concern was how many people were still stranded on roads...taking I-90 and I-10 east out of NOLA and running smack dab into the worst of the storm along the Mississippi and Alabama coasts. Hopefully everyone got off the road and into shelter.

[wli]

7. any footage of highways? n/t

[KharmaTrain]

9. They Just Showed Biloxi

I stand corrected...there was a 25 foot surge that hit there. Someone caught it on video...really did remind me of the Tsunami.

The road beds below were all washed out and I know many sections of the roads were underwater. There was one bridge I saw where the lower section was submerged.

Sounds like most who got out, did...or at least to safe harbor. Now how long it'll take for them to come back is another story. My hopes are will them all...

Cheers...

[SoCalDem]

10. Water-borne flotsam & jetsam all looks alike

the scope of the hurricane was big, but nothing like the tsunami.. The hurricane was expected, predicted and watched for days.. the tusnami jus "happened" ..mostly with out warning. and it affected several COUNTRIES and 3 continents

[KharmaTrain]

11. Good Points...

There were no real sensors in the Indian Ocean and it took hours for the word to get out...deadly hours. PBS did an excellent program on this.

But even if there was warning, most of these people were sitting ducks as there was no Superdome or place to really escape to...most sitting in grass and tin shacks.

I think the OP was more about the scope of the wave and devestation...especially since most of this destruction wasn't covered until after most of the heavy storm coverage had let up.

Cheers...

[Bridget Burke]

6. The results of the Tsunami looked like Storm Surge to me.

A while after Hurricane Carla, the family took an afternoon drive to the Bay (Galveston Bay). Any building within reach of the water had been reduced to a pile of rubble. I still wonder why people build nice houses right on the water.

It will take a long time to count the dead. And every part of the world is vulnerable to some kind of disaster--earthquakes, tornados, etc.