Hurricane Ernesto hits the Carolinas
It's certainly no Katrina, but still a reminder that this is hurricane season:
Unfortunately, the current administration is more concerned about playing politics with terror and doling out corporate subsidies than it is with strengthening public infrastructure, assessing emergency readiness, and bolstering disaster preparedness efforts at the local level.
Tropical Storm Ernesto made landfall on the southern North Carolina coast late Thursday, coming ashore with heavy rains but sustained winds that fell just short of hurricane levels.Our friends at AccuWeather, Pacific Northwest Portal's offical weather partner, say Ernesto made landfall near Long Beach, North Carolina, at 11:30 p.m. EDT Thursday with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph:
The storm's official arrival near Long Beach in Brunswick County came near the end of a long day of rain in the eastern half of North Carolina.
Ernesto dumped more than 8 inches of rain on the Wilmington area — a record for Aug. 31, according to the National Weather Service.
And it sparked fears that even in a state that has seen widespread drought this summer, the rain might be too much of a good thing.
"We need some rain around here — just not all at once," said Jean Evans, a convenience store worker on North Carolina's Holden Beach.
Ernesto will bring heavy rain and the threat of flooding from the Carolinas to the Great Lakes states into the Labor Day Holiday weekend. At 2 a.m. EDT Friday, the center of the storm was centered about 20 miles north-northwest of Wilmington, North Carolina, with maximum sustained winds of 65 mph. Ernesto was moving to the north-northeast at about 15 mph.Meteorologists also report that Category 2 Hurricane John is bearing down on the tip of Baja, Mexico. Though the U.S. has had a respite from costly storms like Dennis, Ivan, and Katrina, it's only a matter of time before we're hit again. And hurricanes aren't the only natural disasters that could happen either. The West Coast is susceptible to earthquakes, the Midwest to tornadoes, and so on.
Unfortunately, the current administration is more concerned about playing politics with terror and doling out corporate subsidies than it is with strengthening public infrastructure, assessing emergency readiness, and bolstering disaster preparedness efforts at the local level.
