We’re Hitting the Limits of Hurricane Preparedness – By Robinson Meyer (Defense One) / Aug 30 2021
Cities simply don’t have enough time to run from a storm like Ida.
Seventy-four hours.
That’s roughly how much time separated the moment that Tropical Depression Nine formed in the Caribbean from the moment that the storm, transformed into a ruthless Category 4 hurricane named Ida, made landfall at Port Fourchon, Louisiana. Even less time—perhaps 60 hours—separated the storm’s promotion to hurricane strength and the first arrival of tropical-storm winds in Louisiana, the latter of which marks the moment that any official evacuation must be nearly complete. That’s when drivers need to start getting off the roads, and when local services are shut down until the storm passes.
It wasn’t enough time. While Ida was a well-predicted storm, 60 hours of warning was too short for New Orleans officials to issue a mandatory evacuation order in the days before it landed. The limits of the city’s highways mean that the city must issue an evacuation order at least 72 hours before tropical-storm winds hit land. Officials said last year that the coronavirus pandemic means they may need 82 hours of warning, to account for the increased difficulty of moving and sheltering people.
CONTINUE > https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2021/08/were-hitting-limits-hurricane-preparedness/184940/
