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The Weather Thread

  • Thread starter Thread starter nycfan
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I've spent about 5,000 more hours in the NC mountains than in the Texas Hill Country so I'll acknowledge my view is skewed on this, but I am struggling so much to understand why there are still 160 people missing one week after the floods hit. I get that it's 60 miles or so of river that has to be searched and it's a massive mess. But one week after Helene, there were only 75 or so people still missing, and most of those were accounted for over the second week. And Helene impacted more than 10,000 square miles of rugged mountains.

I'm not saying this to blame anyone, but this disaster is just mindboggling to me. How do we not yet have a better sense of how many people actually died?
 
lawtig02 said:
I've spent about 5,000 more hours in the NC mountains than in the Texas Hill Country so I'll acknowledge my view is skewed on this, but I am struggling so much to understand why there are still 160 people missing one week after the floods hit. I get that it's 60 miles or so of river that has to be searched and it's a massive mess. But one week after Helene, there were only 75 or so people still missing, and most of those were accounted for over the second week. And Helene impacted more than 10,000 square miles of rugged mountains.

I'm not saying this to blame anyone, but this disaster is just mindboggling to me. How do we not yet have a better sense of how many people actually died?
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I don't know how much of a factor it is, but there are a number of articles out there about how how under Trump, DOGE, and Kristi Noem FEMA's ability to quickly and fully respond to these types of disasters has been significantly scaled back. For example, Noem now requires FEMA to get personal approval from her for any expenditure over $100,000, which considerably slows down their ability to send rescue and recovery teams into the affected areas. She didn't approve FEMA search and rescue teams for the Texas flooding until 72 hours after the flood. So I would think that has probably affected the ability to recover and account for missing people. There were statements from some former FEMA folks who were surprised at how "limited" FEMA's response was compared to previous disasters of this type. DOGE and Project 2025 wanted massive budget cuts, and when necessary things are cut this is what you get.
 
lawtig02 said:
I've spent about 5,000 more hours in the NC mountains than in the Texas Hill Country so I'll acknowledge my view is skewed on this, but I am struggling so much to understand why there are still 160 people missing one week after the floods hit. I get that it's 60 miles or so of river that has to be searched and it's a massive mess. But one week after Helene, there were only 75 or so people still missing, and most of those were accounted for over the second week. And Helene impacted more than 10,000 square miles of rugged mountains.

I'm not saying this to blame anyone, but this disaster is just mindboggling to me. How do we not yet have a better sense of how many people actually died?
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Much different terrain than the NC mountains - which has far more foliage. Most of the missing are buried under mud; mangled in debris fields.

Camp counselors that were aware of their cell phones were able to move campers to higher ground.
 
Mulberry Heel said:
I don't know how much of a factor it is, but there are a number of articles out there about how how under Trump, DOGE, and Kristi Noem FEMA's ability to quickly and fully respond to these types of disasters has been significantly scaled back. For example, Noem now requires FEMA to get personal approval from her for any expenditure over $100,000, which considerably slows down their ability to send rescue and recovery teams into the affected areas. She didn't approve FEMA search and rescue teams for the Texas flooding until 72 hours after the flood. So I would think that has probably affected the ability to recover and account for missing people. There were statements from some former FEMA folks who were surprised at how "limited" FEMA's response was compared to previous disasters of this type. DOGE and Project 2025 wanted massive budget cuts, and when necessary things are cut this is what you get.
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Yet this asshole was going to save the mountains of NC from Bidens disastrous disaster response. When I think of any Republican I’m reminded of Sucession. These are not serious people. Fucking buffoons .
 
lawtig02 said:
I've spent about 5,000 more hours in the NC mountains than in the Texas Hill Country so I'll acknowledge my view is skewed on this, but I am struggling so much to understand why there are still 160 people missing one week after the floods hit. I get that it's 60 miles or so of river that has to be searched and it's a massive mess. But one week after Helene, there were only 75 or so people still missing, and most of those were accounted for over the second week. And Helene impacted more than 10,000 square miles of rugged mountains.

I'm not saying this to blame anyone, but this disaster is just mindboggling to me. How do we not yet have a better sense of how many people actually died?
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I was just thinking the same thing regarding the number of people still missing.
 
1moretimeagain said:
I was just thinking the same thing regarding the number of people still missing.
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I mean, we're almost a week out now. This is what Trump was saying THREE DAYS after Helene hit 10,000+ square miles of the NC mountains --

apnews.com

Trump slams US response to Helene. His own disaster-response record is marked by politics

Former President Donald Trump is criticizing the Biden administration’s response to widespread devastation caused by Hurricane Helene, even as his supporters call for cuts to federal agencies that warn of weather disasters and deliver relief to hard-hit communities.
apnews.com apnews.com

Former President Donald Trump criticized the Biden administration’s response to the widespread devastation caused by Hurricane Helene, even as his supporters have called for cuts to federal agencies that warn of weather disasters and deliver relief to hard-hit communities.

As president, Trump delayed disaster aid for hurricane-devastated Puerto Rico and diverted money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency in order to finance an effort to return undocumented migrants to Mexico. And Project 2025, backed by Trump supporters, would restructure FEMA to limit aid to states and says that the National Weather Service, which provides crucial data on hurricanes and other storms, “should be broken up and downsized.”

Trump claimed without evidence Monday that the Biden administration and North Carolina’s Democratic governor were “going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas.” And Trump adviser Stephen Miller said President Joe Biden “failed to evacuate or rescue” U.S. citizens, “just like you failed in Afghanistan.’'
 
Trump and MAGA - using right-wing media as both a delivery and a reinforcement system - have quite successfully turned the application of double standards into a very effective weapon. It's equal parts frustrating and amazing to behold.

Unrelated, but this is also why I'm okay with being on board with folks' statements about the biased media until someone tries to assert that MSNBC or CNN or Bloomberg or whatever is the political equal but opposite of Fox. It's not even close, and it sure as hell isn't using the same rulebook.
 
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korgguy1971 said:
Trump and MAGA - using right-wing media as both a delivery and a reinforcement system - have quite successfully turned the application of double standards into a very effective weapon. It's equal parts frustrating and amazing to behold.

This is also why I'm on board with statements about the biased media until someone tries to assert that MSNBC or CNN or Bloomberg or whatever is the political equal but opposite of Fox. It's not even close.
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I had an epiphany sometime around 2015 (which was far later than it should have been) that the GOP was just constantly gaslighting me, and nothing they said could actually be supported by fact or justified by principle. I'm not the smartest guy in the room. But it's astounding to me that we're now a decade later, the gaslighting is exponentially greater, and millions of people are still unable to see the ethical and moral rot at the core of the GOP.
 
lawtig02 said:
I had an epiphany sometime around 2015 (which was far later than it should have been) that the GOP was just constantly gaslighting me, and nothing they said could actually be supported by fact or justified by principle. I'm not the smartest guy in the room. But it's astounding to me that we're now a decade later, the gaslighting is exponentially greater, and millions of people are still unable to see the ethical and moral rot at the core of the GOP.
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I largely agree with you, particularly the gaslighting stuff, but I have a slightly darker take on why it seems to those of us who can think critically anyway, that people still aren't seeing it a decade later.

There are certainly scores of dumb ones out there, but by the same token, I think a lot of them absolutely know better but just don't care. They've been taught to hate non-MAGA so completely and been made to think that there is some sort of enemy out there which needs to be vanquished that they're fine with getting there by any means necessary.
 
1moretimeagain said:
I know nothing about searches like this, but could dogs not detect the odor of decay if the missing are indeed deceased victims?
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For sure. In the story photos, you can see search dogs. And the 160 missing number will come down, too, as some people may not even know they are on a missing list.
 
Calheel said:
For sure. In the story photos, you can see search dogs. And the 160 missing number will come down, too, as some people may not even know they are on a missing list.
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I think there are actually a couple of issues:
1. With it having been a holiday weekend, there are people being ADDED to the missing list who weren't known to have been in the area originally
2. The search dogs are also dealing with the scents of dead animals as well as dead humans
3. Given that some of the victims are being found 15-20 miles down river, I'm not sure everyone will end up being found
 
Raining cats and dogs in Southern Orange County and Northeastern Chatham County again today.

Just what we need after Saturday/Sunday (8 inches) and yesterday (1.1 inch in about an hour).
 
The only positive is today's storm came when it was still light out and I could see how that kind of rainfall and recent landscaping I've done ... are not compatible. I recently cut a narrow path through some ivy on the slightest of slopes - you'd think I was trying to replicate Yosemite Falls the way it looked today.
 
McAdooSmackinYou said:
The only positive is today's storm came when it was still light out and I could see how that kind of rainfall and recent landscaping I've done ... are not compatible. I recently cut a narrow path through some ivy on the slightest of slopes - you'd think I was trying to replicate Yosemite Falls the way it looked today.
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I have sizable puddles where I’ve never had damp spots before.
 
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