TRAIN FALLS OFF TRACKS IN HIGH WIND AT THE NEW ORLEANS

[nawlins]

Yes John, there's no doubt that there was plenty of warning that the front was coming through. Thing is that most of the time the really bad weather occurs north of Lake Pontchartrain. Often, for weather coming from the west, the lake acts as a moderator for New Orleans and the South Shore.

No doubt that someone will get into serious trouble for allowing the train to be on the bridge at that time, but they were aware of the problem and were in the process of getting the train off the bridge. This isn't easy since there were trains preceding it which were on the surface tracks ahead.

I live about 4 miles from the trestle where the train derailed and I didn't have those winds at my house, but a tornado hit the ground and caused considerable (but very localized) damage about half a mile from me, so it was quite exiting. It was a dark as midnight.

Hurricanes are a different matter entirely since they tend to come up from the Gulf of Mexico. Since Katrina in 2005 the levees have been considerably strengthened. A huge sea wall has been constructed by the Corps Of Engineers and some channels closed to try to prevent surges from reaching into the Greater New Orleans area.
Additional pumping stations have been built with shelter in place capability for the operators.

One of the problems after Katrina was that the pump operators had been evacuated so when the surge put water into the lake, the non running pumps acted as giant holes in the levee and let water into the containment area.

Anyway, while I would never say never, I think that we who live within the levee system have been made reasonably safe from all but the worst of the worst storms. I certainly hope so.

There are of course many who choose to live outside the levees. God Bless them.

Cheers

 

[JCitron]

Yes John, there's no doubt that there was plenty of warning that the front was coming through. Thing is that most of the time the really bad weather occurs north of Lake Pontchartrain. Often, for weather coming from the west, the lake acts as a moderator for New Orleans and the South Shore.

No doubt that someone will get into serious trouble for allowing the train to be on the bridge at that time, but they were aware of the problem and were in the process of getting the train off the bridge. This isn't easy since there were trains preceding it which were on the surface tracks ahead.

I live about 4 miles from the trestle where the train derailed and I didn't have those winds at my house, but a tornado hit the ground and caused considerable (but very localized) damage about half a mile from me, so it was quite exiting. It was a dark as midnight.

Hurricanes are a different matter entirely since they tend to come up from the Gulf of Mexico. Since Katrina in 2005 the levees have been considerably strengthened. A huge sea wall has been constructed by the Corps Of Engineers and some channels closed to try to prevent surges from reaching into the Greater New Orleans area.
Additional pumping stations have been built with shelter in place capability for the operators.

One of the problems after Katrina was that the pump operators had been evacuated so when the surge put water into the lake, the non running pumps acted as giant holes in the levee and let water into the containment area.

Anyway, while I would never say never, I think that we who live within the levee system have been made reasonably safe from all but the worst of the worst storms. I certainly hope so.

There are of course many who choose to live outside the levees. God Bless them.

Cheers

Chris,

This is very typical of residents becoming "lazy" when it comes to weather warnings. Seriously because they don't always get bad weather because it's buffered by the lake is a really bad excuse. This is how people get killed when tornados come through. They ignore the warnings, even the sirens blaring full blast, and go about their business because "they never get the storm".

As you found out, the little 'nado that touched down near you was part of that same storm front I was discussing above my book. That same 'nado could have touched down on the north side and gone across the lake and hit the bridge. Just because a tornado hits water it doesn't mean it will weaken, especially if it was formed from a super cell thunderstorm.

This front was warned ahead of time and the severe storm warnings for your county were issued before the storm front arrived. Interesting you mentioned the midnight sky. Did everything become black and white? What I mean is the light becomes white so all the shadows and everything else becomes jet black. I've seen that a few times during storm chases and there's no other way to describe it. The greater NO area was hit by what are called discrete super cell thunderstorms. They can look like this and are the most dangerous of thunderstorms.

http://www.extremeinstability.com/stormpics/2009/2009_07_13_5481sm.jpg

This one happened to be from near Dupree, SD and wasn't tornadic. The big inflow band on the right is sucking in the moisture while the rest of the storm is whipping around from its 50,000 foot or more top down to its 5000 foot base. This one was captured by a friend of mine, Mike Hollingsworth. Pretty scary!

I'm glad NO and the government have started fixing the region. There's a lot more to be done, but they do have to be careful with the water. Perhaps the rebuilding is a good thing because it will undo the damage done by the previous uninformed work done in the 1930s and 1950s when so much building damage was done to our seacoasts and to that region in the Gulf.

John

 

[norfolksouthern37]

actually there were a few tornadoes that touched down on the lake that day.

also they didnt just start fixing the region. it has been an ongoing process for many many years.