[Note, no more updates to this story as of 1pm Tuesday; there is an updated story here .] ...so said the chief executive of Kerr County, Texas, Rob Kelly. He went on to say, "We had no reason to believe that this was going to be anything like what's happened here, none whatsoever." I'm sorry to report that he is probably correct. The flood was underforecast and the "emergency" warnings were later than they could have been. In fairness, as of the time of this update, 1:30pm Monday, the U.S. Geological Survey has determined this was the highest crest on the Guadalupe River at Hunt, Texas, since the river gauge was installed. As of 1p Tuesday , 105 have been confirmed to have been killed and "dozens" are missing. Those numbers imply a total death toll near 130. This past autumn, Hurricane Helene killed 249. In 2011, a single tornado killed 161 in Joplin. We must stop these mega-disasters! This is another tragic example of why America desperately n...
Yes, but how well are warnings disseminated? Here in Estonia for example you pretty much have to rely on what you can grab from the web because there will not be live media coverage. For example there was severe thunderstorm outbreak this summer and public radio's host on air was completely out of touch from the latest weather info. Instead of reporting a la "according to EMHI the storm is currently over county X and last hour a wind gust of Y was reported. People in area Z should be especially careful within next hour", they basically sticked with wire reports. I could get far more timely info from Internet than from broadcast media as the situation unfolded. If there are any readers from Central Europe here, I myself would love to hear how well are warnings disseminated. But I think the assumption that "all dangerous storms happen in America" could also be an issue.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Tarmo. Yes, any readers in Europe: Welcome and please comment.
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