Lest we forget (as if that were possible)…
Only twice in California history, a fire official says, have wildfires burned from one side of the Sierra Nevada mountains to the other. Both erupted this summer, and the latest is bearing down on Lake Tahoe. https://t.co/UsovI7gmIw
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 31, 2021
As ever, BJ community — check in when and how you can. Suggestions on how to help, with donations or by volunteering, always welcome.
Better-than-feared news:
It’s just hitting me now that a category 4 — wouldn’t surprise me if it’s a 5 on post-evaluation — hurricane just hit us and the levees held. And let me tell you: this sudden sense of relief. Whew.
— ?? b r a d l e y ?? (@bpwarsh) August 30, 2021
Officials said a $14.5 billion system of levees, flood gates and pumps worked as designed and stood up against a lashing from Hurricane Ida, sparing New Orleans from the catastrophic flooding seen 16 years ago in the wake of Katrina https://t.co/Ot46CbiZLn pic.twitter.com/88j1DYNNUU
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 31, 2021
‘By the grace of God,’ no deaths in St. John after 800 rescues https://t.co/7bhrbtTsxe
— wdsu (@wdsu) August 31, 2021
Not so comforting:
Hurricane Ida knocked out all eight transmission lines that deliver power to New Orleans, leaving the entire city without electricity. Some of the hardest-hit areas won’t see power for weeks. https://t.co/705yoiWm8O
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 31, 2021
No power. Sewage out. No water. Nearly 1 million structures in Louisiana affected. It’s 89 degrees there as I type this. Jefferson Parish estimates 20 days to restore power. We haven’t heard from any crew member west of Orleans Parish. No cell/internet. Why isn’t this trending?
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) August 30, 2021
OzarkHillbilly
I wonder how I am going to deliver a generator and 1000 gallons of gas to my son.
WaterGirl
@OzarkHillbilly: Maybe you can deliver your son and son’s family to you?
Ken
In related news, at yesterdays WH press conference, the reporters did not ask a single question about Hurricane Ida or New Orleans.
Kay
@Ken:
They should brush up on it. It’s soon going to dwarf all other news.
Flanders Other Neighbor
I rode my motorcycle through the Seirra on three separate trips this summer, and stopped quite a few places on the way just to try and take it all in. The scenery along Hwys 80, 50 and 88 is stunning. I fear much of what I saw will just be memories and photos.
RSA
24 hours ago we were afraid of massive flooding and death. Maybe this isn’t trending just yet.
S. Cerevisiae
Up here in northeast Minnesota we are also in an extreme drought, there are several wildfires burning and the BWCAW is closed. Thankfully we got an inch or two of rain a few days ago but there is still a lot of dry fuel in the woods.
I have friends down near Houma, one checked in as ok a couple days ago right after the storm went through, hoping everyone is ok.
Nora Lenderbee
AllNational Forest land in California is closed to visitors from now through September 17.We didn’t do our annual hiking/scrambling trip last year because of the fires and bad air (and Covid). Not looking good for this year. I really miss the mountains–and I’m not going to be able to do this kind of trip forever. I hate missing another year.
(First-world problem, yeh.)
Edit: Nine National Forests are closed, not all of them.
Eunicecycle
@Ken: Did you see Biden making his statements about Hurricane Ida on Saturday, I think? He wasn’t supposed to take questions, but he said he’d take one. So the reporter starts to ask about Afghanistan! He waved her away and walked off. I don’t blame him a bit!
MobiusKlein
@Flanders Other Neighbor: Fear not, the views and vegetation will come back. Maybe not on the timeline we desire, or looking just like it did.
WaterGirl
@Ken: @Kay:
I am nearly halfway through Jen Psaki’s press briefing from yesterday, and there has already been at least one question about the hurricane.
WaterGirl
@Eunicecycle: If I am understanding the cryptic description of Biden’s planned speech today, it will not be open to the press.
Unless there is some other way to interpret “closed press”?
NotMax
No internet service = no access to Twitter.
Gin & Tonic
I saw a story late Sunday or early Monday about people living on Grand Isle, LA, who defied/ignored a mandatory evacuation order. I wasn’t immediately familiar with that area, so took a look on Google Maps. Ho Lee Shit. That doesn’t seem like a smart place to try to ride out a Cat 4 hurricane/
Brachiator
Sigh. The California wild fires are also adding fuel to the recall effort. A bunch of lies and oversimplifications heaped up on the governor and the Democrats.
Meanwhile…
Is it maybe time to abandon New Orleans, shut it down and re-establish the city elsewhere?
Baud
@Brachiator:
Because of a power outage?
Chris Sherbak
@Brachiator: I was going to propose that as a thought problem at the very least. However I think there are large shipping and oil processing there so even if you moved out the residents, you’d still need the state for all that. I mean, aren’t we mostly agreed that with sea rise most of southern Florida will be under water at some point?
trollhattan
@Nora Lenderbee:
To unedit the edit, the original closure was for nine national forests in northern California and intended to expire by Labor Day. Today’s order extends the closures to all national forests in California.
Ken
@WaterGirl: Ah. Apparently I shouldn’t believe everything I read in the Balloon Juice comments.
VOR
@S. Cerevisiae: Think about how strange that is. Minnesota, the Land of 10,000 Lakes, source of the Mississippi River, bordering Lake Superior, the world’s largest (surface area) freshwater lake, has 88% of it’s land area in a “Severe Drought” or worse condition. That’s just wrong. http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/climate/journal/drought_monitor.html
Baud
@WaterGirl:
@Ken:
I thought the accusation was about Biden’s press conference, not Psaki’s.
Scout211
We are all worried here in NorCal. The Caldor fire is raging and the red flag weather is here for the next few days.
https://www.kcra.com/article/caldor-fire-el-dorado-county-aug-31-evacuations-tahoe/37442715
They have worked very hard at containing the fire lines to the west (toward most of the population centers), for which most of us are very grateful. But the eastern lines are harder to contain.
https://www.kcra.com/article/caldor-fire-outlook-thom-porter-cal-fire/37435501
trollhattan
Today’s Cal Fire briefing encapsulates why the Caldor Fire (and others) is so difficult to contain, when it notes embers are starting fires as far as three-quarters of a mile from the main fire itself. This is the mechanism its using to cross the Sierra crest, counter to typical fire behavior and directly attributable to two years of drought. September 13 the latest prediction for full containment, currently 16%.
https://twitter.com/CALFIREAEU/status/1432712033296953360/photo/1
WaterGirl
@Ken: Hard to believe, isn’t it!
WaterGirl
@Baud: I don’t think Biden had a press conference yesterday. It wasn’t on his schedule and I didn’t hear anything about Biden speaking yesterday.
Did I miss it?
Baud
@WaterGirl:
I don’t know. I never trust anything I read here anyway.
Eunicecycle
@WaterGirl: I hope it is closed. You know ahead of time the questions will include bullshit framing. Joe’s pretty good at rejecting the premise of the questions but the bullshittery is still laid out there.
Scout211
@Brachiator:
I read comments occasionally in the online “news” site (really, mostly advertising) in my county and I was surprised to find out that Newsom is actually responsible for everything that goes wrong in our county and our state! He’s even responsible for cattle that wander onto the highway and and cause traffic problems! I did not know this.
The voters who believe that nonsense would never vote for Newsom (or a Democrat) in any election, so I choose to ignore them. My county is full of them. Sigh.
Ken
@WaterGirl: It shakes my faith in the doctrine of PayPal infallibility.
Eunicecycle
@Baud: maybe I added to the confusion by talking about the Saturday (or maybe Sunday?) event where FEMA made some comments and then Joe made some, too. It wasn’t supposed to be a press “conference”, I don’t think. He kinda laughed and said he was told not to take any questions but he took one anyway. And it was about Afghanistan, so he walked away. And probably got yelled at by Jen for taking a question!
Just Chuck
@Scout211: It’s Newsom’s fault for not having the forests raked.
Nora Lenderbee
@Scout211: @trollhattan: Thank you for the updates. If only we could trade with Louisiana somehow.
zeecube
@Brachiator: WTF? No A.C. in New Orleans, but we lived through worse (Katrina). Plus, not just N.O. without power. No power in my neck of the woods for at least 2 weeks. We can still rub 2 sticks together to start a fire. Plenty sticks lying around …
Kelly
Climate Scientist Daniel Swain
https://twitter.com/Weather_West
has good twitter list for following the California fires
https://twitter.com/i/lists/1233483798433673216
trollhattan
@Scout211:
Newsom’s personal wolf pack continues to ravage the state’s northeast.
https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/fires/article253770843.html
Ken
@trollhattan:
Traditionally this should be “about the size of a fox terrier”. (Stephen J. Gould, “The Case of the Creeping Fox Terrier Clone”, collected in Bully for Brontosaurus.)
Scout211
So this is unfortunate. I guess this is combining the disaster thread and the COVID-19 thread:
https://www.sfgate.com/california-wildfires/article/Caldor-Fire-Tahoe-COVID-outbreak-firefighters-mask-16425706.php
Note in the photo in the linked article: None of the firefighters from that team are wearing masks–not even N95 masks to protect their lungs from the dangerous, unhealthy air.
Hmmm.
Azelie
Mostly a lurker – no power in Baton Rouge and the energy company is telling my neighbors who’ve called that it may be three weeks. Schools are closed through Labor Day at least. Going to stay with relatives about an hour away who have power and we’ll see how it goes.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Gin & Tonic: I saw a later story which reported some of those folks later called 911 and wanted help to evacuate and had to be told, “sorry, it’s too late” for rescuers to safely reach them until the storm has passed. It reminded me of some non-vaxed people sick with COVID wanting to (finally) get vaccinated when it is too late for them, too. Sigh.
S. Cerevisiae
I know nobody actually knows me but I mentioned my friends in Houma and they are all safe but no electric, I have a feeling they will be able to cook whatever critters without it…