The costs from Hurricane Irene are outweighed by the cost of not repenting

That natural disasters are on the rise is unquestionable. The data is the data and the facts are the facts. The debate is not whether they are increasing, but is over the cause of the increase. Some people say that these disasters are increasing because of changes in the magnetosphere, which, they say, caused the aflockalypse of bird deaths at the beginning of this year. Others say the cause is from government conspiracies such as HAARP, or High Frequency Active Auroral research Program which purposely disturbs a segment of our ionosphere and measures the effects. HAARP really exists but conspiracy theorists posit that it is being used for dark purposes. Others say it is global warming, such as the author of this first article. But whatever the cause (and it is GOD) the effects are real.

In this article by Bill McKibben, he attributes the recent increase of disasters to global warming but in his article he totes up the effects, which are devastating:

"Remember—this year has already seen more billion-dollar weather-related disasters than any year in U.S. history. Last year was the warmest ever recorded on planet Earth. Arctic sea ice is near all-time record lows. Record floods from Pakistan to Queensland to the Mississippi basin; record drought from the steppes of Russia to the plains of Texas. Just about the only trauma we haven’t had are hurricanes plowing into the U.S., but that’s just luck—last year was a big storm year, but they all veered out to sea. This year we’re already on letter I—which in a normal year we don’t get to until well into October."

But then Irene hit.

In an incredible decision, all Mass Transit in NY City was closed in advance of Hurricane Irene, costing millions. There were no flights Sunday at the 5 NY-area airports; 9000 flights were canceled, and the George Washington Bridge lower level was closed in both directions. Amazing. What an incredible shut-down for our largest city. But that was not the worst of it. Upstate NY and Vermont were hammered.

Hurricane Irene flood damage stuns inland areas
"Brattleboro, Vt. -- Rippling creeks became deadly deluges. Bridges collapsed into roiling waves. Dry streets turned into fast-rising lakes, closing in around stunned towns. While Irene - first a hurricane and then a tropical storm - unleashed its initial share of damage along the sandy shores of the Eastern Seaboard, by Monday its greatest impact was felt far from the coastline, in places such as landlocked Vermont and the bucolic mountains of upstate New York. Even so, more than 48 hours after Irene made landfall early Saturday, about 4.5 million people remained without power in 13 states from North Carolina to Maine. The death toll jumped to at least 40, according to the Associated Press, and some rivers had yet to crest."

"Hundreds remained stranded in communities cut off by washed-out roads, including at least 2,500 residents of remote Hatteras Island in North Carolina, where severed utility lines also left them without power. The only access to the island was via a ferry limited to emergency use. Police in suburban Parsippany, N.J., had to rescue dozens of people who became trapped in two hotels Monday when a nearby lake spilled over its banks and sent enough water into the streets and hotel parking lots to swallow vehicles. Evacuees included guests who had fled to the hotels after heeding advice to evacuate their homes in advance of Irene."

The economic cost of the advanced protection and evacuations, the lost revenue from closed businesses, and the cleanup afterwards is incalculable.

Joel Rosenberg wrote a good piece this week titled "This was a wake up call: American East Coast shaken by Hurricane Irene." Joel write in part--

"This was a wake up call. At its peak, Hurricane Irene was the size of the State of Texas. Had it remained a Category 3 storm — or even increased in intensity — it could have created the greatest natural disaster catastrophe in the history of the United States. Fortunately, that’s not what happened. The storm is now over, and even as the clean up begins, critics are saying it was hyped up and “overblown” by government officials and weather forecasters. But did the experts really badly “misjudge” Irene, or did God hear people’s prayers and have mercy on us by weakening the storm faster than the experts had predicted? I think both are true. I am grateful to the Lord for His grace and mercy on us. I am also grateful to the forecasters and the government leaders who warned us as best they could and took decisive action to put public safety first. As I have written about several times in recent months, the Lord is shaking us, trying to wake us up and get us to focused back on Him and on His Word. We need to recommit ourselves to prayer, fasting and reading the Bible and get our hearts right with the Lord. For Bible prophecy tells us that far greater storms are coming as we steadily approach the Day of the Lord."

And another storm has formed. She is on the same track as Irene. Her name is Katia... I'll repeat Joel's good advice: "We need to recommit ourselves to prayer, fasting and reading the Bible and get our hearts right with the Lord. For Bible prophecy tells us that far greater storms are coming as we steadily approach the Day of the Lord."

Comments

  1. In regard to Katia: over on Erik Klemmet's Volcano Blog, there's a guy who posts regularly who has a great ability to interpet weather data from satelite/gov't sources. This is what he says about Katia: "And yes that is another storm and yes it very likely will hit the US East coast around Monday of next week. Honking little bassurd that one. Tropical Depression 12 now, Tropical Storm Katia tommorow and a 135 mph hurricane by the 3rd.

    That said anyone from Brunswick GA North to the Canadian line, and 150 miles inland should be preparing for yet another one in about 5-6 days in the South. 7-9 in the mid Atlantic and 8-11 in New York. Its moving fast too. But I think its a guided missile shot on this one. Beelining straight where its going. For me, its either DC or New York but I am biased. It might come a bit farther west into the proximity to Florida and then shoot up at high speed."

    He's neither a prophet, nor the son of a prophet, just a usually very accurate 'weather guesser'. We'll see what actually happens.

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  2. Thank you very much, anonymous. That is extremely interesting. I had heard from the outset that this TS is of the same ilk and on the same track as Irene, so I am keeping alert on its path. This information you gave helps.

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  3. Here is an updated story from Irish Weather Online, information at this time is consistent

    http://www.irishweatheronline.com/news/atmosphere/storm/tropical-storm-katia-projected-path-and-satellite-images/35367.html

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  4. http://moe.met.fsu.edu/cgi-bin/gfstc2.cgi?time=2011082918&field=Sea+Level+Pressure&hour=Animation

    The link says what this is - sea level pressure animation. Click on the forward button.

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  5. A strange thing happened to me monday morning when i was waking up, just before opening my eyes i saw an image of the state of florida with a red line tracing the east coast,it started half way across the bottom and ran half way back up the east side,is this just a dream or is god telling me where katia is going to land or perhaps a future storm i do not know time will tell

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