In the year 1900, the entire city of Galveston, Texas was destroyed by a hurricane, which killed nearly 10,000 people.
As bad as it was, the Galveston Hurricane was in no way comparable to the massive devastation that struck DC this week – which unequivocally proves global warming.
Storms leave millions without power in mid-Atlantic region – US news – msnbc.com
That fallen tree looks pretty nasty…
Time to start thinking about putting power lines underground. Telephone poles with above ground power distribution nodes and terminals are an artifact of the last century, and events like last week’s storms should be a national wake-up call to clean up our infrastructure.
The “Grid” is also a candidate for connectivity improvements!
You’re right of course in theory, but strangely enough the wire manufacturers and the unionized workers that dig the holes expect a paycheck, so who will pay all this money? It’s bad enough that utility rates are at all-time highs right now, can you imagine the increase for something optional like replacing all the working lines? If we tell the government to do anything like this they will ensure it costs 5x what it should.
Here is a fix for the national grid: disconnect it, that means no National grid at all. Each state is made responsible for its own power. If a state has a surplus and wants to sell power to another, fine. But no mandatory coverage from state to state. This solves two big problems …
[1] No single problem in one state can bring down the entire eastern seaboard like in 2003. They should be firewalled from each other. WTF kind of crazy idea is it to let a blackout cascade across state lines!
[2] No state will shirk its responsibility to its residents like up here in NY where the crazies are trying to shut every form of energy from Indian Point nuke, to coal, to shale development. Shoreham nuke plant was actually built and ready to run but never even opened thanks to the previous Cuomo. They think they can just stop them all and energy will magically appear from the ‘grid’ anyway.
Socialized Energy is a bad idea. It allows stupid people to affect other people like you. They get to take your energy when they shut off their own. The solution is for those areas with stupid people, like NYC and vicinity, to go dark. Eventually they will show up at the politician’s house (or Greenpeace HQ, or Clearwater Sloop) with tar and feathers to fix the problem.
or 200 years before that:
“26 November 1703 – A catastrophic 80 mph hurricane ripped across East Anglia, decimating villages from Northamptonshire to Suffolk and killing between 8,000 and 15,000 people. Hundreds of vessels were sunk, homes destroyed and animals drowned in floodwater. It has since become known as the worst storm in British history. ”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1581283/Britains-worst-storms.html
Allowing for inflation, 8-15k people in 1703 would probably be equal to double that in 1900!
One of the worst of all – 1287:
“St. Lucia’s flood (Sint-Luciavloed) was a storm tide that affected the Netherlands and Northern Germany on December 14, 1287 (the day after St. Lucia Day) when a dike broke during a storm, killing approximately 50,000 to 80,000 people in the fifth largest flood in recorded history. Much land was permanently flooded in what is now the Waddenzee and IJsselmeer.
Although not known by the name of St Lucia, the same storm also had devastating effects on the other side of the water in England. The city of Winchelsea on Romney Marsh was destroyed (later rebuilt on higher ground). Nearby Broomhill was also destroyed. The course of the nearby river Rother was diverted away from New Romney, which was left a mile from the coast, ending its role as a port. ”
http://timelines.com/1287/12/14/st-lucias-flood
Galveston in 1900 was the SECOND largest city by population in the state of Texas.
The death toll was 33% of the population.
The roar of the wind woke me up out of a dead sleep. By Washington, DC standards is was a pretty good storm.
But by contrast, this is what a strom did to DC back in 1896
Thousands of trees downed, some snapped 10-15 feet of the ground
Most houses had shattered windows and shutters blown off
West wall of Albert Building on Pennsylvania Ave blown out showering surrounding buildings with toms of brick. Also on PA Ave, Pullman Bulding had roof blown off and front wall destroyed.
7th and P Sts, four story building had roof taken off and upper floor blown off.
Several other large downtown buildings partially unroofed.
Church steeple on NY Ave was blown off, with nose hurled straight down into the ground.
Tower at Grand Opera house blown down.
Roof collapsed where street cars were housed, burying 50 street cars in debris.
Rows of houses on H and I St had roofs taken off.
Hundreds of boats at local wharves were destroyed.
In Montgomery County, Maryland at least 5 separate incidents of homes collapsing, causing fatalities.
Bridge over Susquehanna River blown down
(Source: “Washington Weather” 2002)
Read it here:
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/84461589
~3 Oct 1896
That felled tree in Washington looks like it was dead before it hit the deck.