Was hurricane Gustav really the worst storm that we will experience for the rest of the 21st century?

Question

New Orleans Mayor Nagin seems to think so. I'm glad to have that one behind us!!

"NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered the city's more than 239,000 residents to evacuate on Sunday in the face of powerful Hurricane Gustav, which he called "the mother of all storms."

The evacuation order issued on Saturday was the first in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina devastated the historic Southern city in August 2005.

"This is the mother of all storms," Nagin said of Gustav, a monstrous Category 4 storm that could approach the central Louisiana coast just west of New Orleans on Monday.

"You need to be concerned and you need to get your butts moving and out of New Orleans right now," Nagin said at City Hall. "This is the storm of the century."

Answer 1

No. Mayor Nagin was trying to just get everyone to evacuate. At the time he said that it was devastating cuba as a CAT 4. But it did die down to a CAT 3 by landfall. This was still a major hurricane.  

Answer 2

I feel Mayor Nagin made a mistake by saying that, since there is still over 90 years left of the 21st century. And like the story of the boy who called wolf too many times, eventually the people of New Orleans won't heed the warning and a bigger storm than Katrina could hit the city and wipe out thousands again. I realize he was basing this on what NOAA was telling him, but even with my untrained eye I could tell the storm was breaking down and not getting bigger. I told my honey on Sunday evening that it would be a category 2 storm when it hit Louisiana and I was right. And for those of you who thought it was a category 3 storm when it hit land I'm not sure what news channel you were watching Monday morning.

http://www.weather.com/newscenter/hurric...

Answer 3

It is just another example where exaggeration is the rule.  I wouldn't be that surprised if it wasn't the biggest storm of the month.  It seems like New Orleans is on the hurricane runway lately.  There are a couple other possilbles already lining up for takeoff.  

Answer 4

No.

But after so many people stayed in NO last time, causing deaths and major problems, the mayor wasn't wrong in wanting to scare people into leaving.  He's not a meteorologist, he's the mayor.

Answer 5

No I doubt that, I think one that hit China Earlier this year was worse

Answer 6

HOW SOON do we forget!

http://www.1900storm.com/

It's unknown exactly how many people died -- but more than 6000!

Answer 7

I was watching the Weather Channel and some of the climatologist were saying that Gustav would set new records and that there would have to be a new designation a "CAT 6" to describe this storm.  But alike all the other storms this year, Gustav wimpered out to a weak CAT 3 storm when it hit the coast, and quickly lost steam from there.

No storm has gained much strength while many have just faded out over open warm ocean.

A clear sign that "global warming" just isn't happening.

Answer 8

This storm was downgraded to a category 2 storm as it touched land. The storm was not as bad as they originally predicted, but there was still heavy wind and storm surges.  There are a lot of places that are under water, but the levees held from what I heard on one of the US news channels.  As for what they were saying, but this being the worst storm of the century, I don't know about that. The storms are supposed to get stronger and stronger in the years to come. The gulf coast can be a very active area for hurricanes and other storms that come up with the fact that both the cold and warm air masses mix down there, and can get quite bad.  For more information regarding this storm, go to:

Answer 9

We won't know until the 21st century is finished.

Answer 10

It could have been worse than it was.

The most expensive hurricane was Katrina.  The most intense in terms of central pressure was Wilma (also in 2005).  Probably the most damaging in areal terms was Andrew, and the highest winds likely belonged to Camille (1969).

So who knows what the future will bring?  I suspect New Orleans will see a worse storm than Gustav in the next 90 years.

DK

Answer 11

There are some benefits to warning people of what could happen, so that they protect themselves. But warning that goes too far can mean that when a really major storm is bearing down, the warning will go on deaf ears. What will he say next time? This is the third storm of the century?  Won't that limit the impact of the message? And when we get to the 30th storm of the century?

Now for New Orleans any direct or near hit is a risk for major problems, and needs to be taken very seriously. But predicting that there will not be a future, more serious hurricane appears to be very rash.  How, after predicting that this will be the worst do you persuade anyone that the next one might be bigger?

Answer 12

Hurricane Gustav is an estimated $10 billion dollars to repair all the damage. Hurricane Katrina cost the government $41 billion dollars for property damage alone.

On Monday, 29 August 2005, Hurricane Katrina careened into the Gulf Coast, putting 80% of New Orleans under water and bashing the Mississippi coast like it was matchsticks.

Three years after Katrina, life in New Orleans is far from normal: hospitals, schools, libraries, even bus service all remain limited. Rebuilding remains spotty, despite $110 billion (same amount allocated as in 2006) in federal monies.

The nation's most costly natural disaster, Katrina killed more than 1,600 people ... destroyed 200,000 Gulf Coast homes ... displaced about 1 million people. News reports place insured property damage at $25.3 billion in 1.7 million insurance claims -- 975,000 of them in Louisiana.

I think Hurricane Katrina is and was the worst Storm.

Answer 13

think twice thew 21st century just has started and they already called Kathrina the worst storm until Gustav came along.

Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Cat... and compare the pressure even the blindest person will see the trend :)

Name Lowest Pressure

Millibars inHg

Wilma 882 26.0

Gilbert 888 26.2

"Labor Day" ≤892 ≤26.3

Rita 895 26.5

Allen 899 26.6

Katrina 902 26.6

Camille ≤905 ≤26.7

Mitch 905 26.7

Dean 905 26.7

Ivan 910 26.9

Janet ≤914 ≤27.0

Isabel 915 27.0

Hugo 918 27.1

Hattie ≤920 ≤27.2

Andrew 922 27.2

Beulah 923 27.3

David 924 27.3

Anita 926 27.3

"Okeechobee" ≤929 ≤27.4

Emily 929 27.4

Felix 929 27.4

Carla 931 27.5

Donna ≤932 ≤27.5

"New England" ≤938 ≤27.7

"Fort Lauderdale" ≤940 ≤27.7

Edith ≤943 ≤27.8

Cleo ≤948 ≤28.0

Dog ≤979 ≤28.9

Ethel ≤981 ≤29.0

"Bahamas" unknown unknown

Easy unknown unknown

Answer 14

Nagin changed his view of Gustav: “I’d probably call Gustav, instead of the mother of all storms, maybe the mother-in-law or the ugly sister of all storms.”

It made landfall as a Cat 3, so I doubt it is the worst we will see in the next 90 years.

Answer 15

Not even close.  While Gustav had the potential to be a huge storm, it failed to gain strength over open water as it left Cuba, causing it to make landfall in a significantly weakened state.  If the Gulf gets even a few degrees warmer in the future due to global warming, this will exacerbate a storm like Gustav.  The true "storm of the century" will not weaken, but strengthen as it moves over the warm Gulf water.  I think Nagin spoke out of concern/fear; the storm of the century is still coming - you better believe it.

Answer 16

I think he wanted to make sure people weren't in harms way. He may have overstated the conditions, but in his defense, the city hasn't fully recovered from the levee breaches and there was a serious flooding danger no mater what the cat. of the storm.

We need to remember these storms are unpredictable, we can guess to some degree of accuracy, but they will do what they will do and we can only react. Had the same precautions been made 3 years ago I don't think we would still be talking about Katrina.

Answer 17

nobody knows till now,but we hope so

Answer 18

Not even close to the worst storm.  It had the potential to be worse, that is for sure.  But the conditions of weather in the U.S. slowed it down a bit.  And it is the media that is making all this c**p up, besides, why else would you watch the weather channel.  Hype on the news, Hype on the weather channel.