Guns or butter; iraq & katrina

[bob_flaws]

"No one can say they didn't see it coming"

 

"In 2001, FEMA warned that a hurricane striking New Orleans was one of the three most likely disasters in the U.S. But the Bush administration cut New Orleans flood control funding by 44 percent to pay for the Iraq war."

 

By Sidney Blumenthal

 

"Aug. 31, 2005. Biblical in its uncontrolled rage and scope, Hurricane Katrina has left millions of Americans to scavenge for food and shelter and hundreds to thousands reportedly dead. With its main levee broken, the Evacuated city of New Orleans has become part of the Gulf of Mexico. But the damage

wrought by the hurricane may not entirely be the result of an act of nature. A year ago the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposed to study how New Orleans could be protected from a catastrophic hurricane, but the Bush administration ordered that the research not be undertaken.

 

"After a flood killed six People in 1995, Congress created the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, in which the Corps of Engineers strengthened and renovated levees and pumping stations. In early 2001, the Federal Emergency Management Agency issued a report stating that a hurricane striking New Orleans was one of the three most likely disasters in the U.S., including a terrorist attack on New York City. But by 2003 the federal funding for the flood control project essentially dried up as it was drained into the Iraq war.

 

"In 2004, the Bush administration cut funding requested by the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for holding back the waters of Lake Pontchartrain by more than 80 percent. Additional cuts at the beginning of this year (for a total reduction in funding of 44.2 percent since 2001) forced the New

Orleans district of the Corps to impose a hiring freeze. The Senate had debated adding funds for fixing New Orleans' levees, but it was too late. The New Orleans Times-Picayune, which before the hurricane published a series on the federal funding problem, and whose presses are now underwater, reported online: "No one can say they didn't see it coming ... Now in the

wake of one of the worst storms ever, serious questions are being asked about the lack of preparation."

 

"The Bush administration's policy of turning over wetlands to developers almost certainly also contributed to the heightened level of the storm surge. In 1990, a federal task force began restoring lost wetlands surrounding New Orleans. Every two miles

of wetland between the Crescent City and the Gulf reduces a surge by half a foot. Bush had promised "no net loss" of wetlands, a policy launched by his father's administration and bolstered by President Clinton. But he reversed his approach in 2003, unleashing the developers. The Army Corps of Engineers

and the Environmental Protection Agency then announced they could no longer protect wetlands unless they were somehow related to interstate commerce.

 

"In response to this potential crisis, four leading environmental groups conducted a joint expert study, concluding in 2004 that without wetlands protection New Orleans could be devastated by an ordinary, much less a Category 4 or 5, hurricane. "There's no way to describe how mindless a policy that is when it comes

to wetlands protection," said one of the report's authors. The chairman of the White House's Council on Environmental Quality dismissed the study as "highly questionable," and boasted, "Everybody loves what we're doing."

 

"My administration's climate change policy will be science based,"President Bush declared in June 2001. But in 2002, when the Environmental Protection Agency submitted a study on global warming to the United Nations reflecting Its expert research, Bush derided it as "a report put out by a bureaucracy," and excised the climate change assessment from the agency's annual report. The next year, when the EPA issued its first comprehensive "Report on the Environment," stating, "Climate change has global consequences for human health and the environment," the White House simply demanded removal of the line and all similar conclusions. At the G-8 meeting in Scotland this year, Bush successfully stymied any common action on global warming. Scientists, meanwhile, have continued to accumulate impressive data on the rising temperature of the

oceans, which has produced more severe hurricanes."

[Brock]

"No one can say they didn't see it coming"

 

"In 2001, FEMA warned that a hurricane striking New Orleans was one of the three most likely disasters in the U.S. But the Bush administration cut New Orleans flood control funding by 44 percent to pay for the Iraq war."

 

By Sidney Blumenthal

 

"Aug. 31, 2005. Biblical in its uncontrolled rage and scope, Hurricane Katrina has left millions of Americans to scavenge for food and shelter and hundreds to thousands reportedly dead. With its main levee broken, the Evacuated city of New Orleans has become part of the Gulf of Mexico. But the damage

wrought by the hurricane may not entirely be the result of an act of nature. A year ago the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposed to study how New Orleans could be protected from a catastrophic hurricane, but the Bush administration ordered that the research not be undertaken.

 

"After a flood killed six People in 1995, Congress created the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, in which the Corps of Engineers strengthened and renovated levees and pumping stations. In early 2001, the Federal Emergency Management Agency issued a report stating that a hurricane striking New Orleans was one of the three most likely disasters in the U.S., including a terrorist attack on New York City. But by 2003 the federal funding for the flood control project essentially dried up as it was drained into the Iraq war.

 

"In 2004, the Bush administration cut funding requested by the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for holding back the waters of Lake Pontchartrain by more than 80 percent. Additional cuts at the beginning of this year (for a total reduction in funding of 44.2 percent since 2001) forced the New

Orleans district of the Corps to impose a hiring freeze. The Senate had debated adding funds for fixing New Orleans' levees, but it was too late. The New Orleans Times-Picayune, which before the hurricane published a series on the federal funding problem, and whose presses are now underwater, reported online: "No one can say they didn't see it coming ... Now in the

wake of one of the worst storms ever, serious questions are being asked about the lack of preparation."

 

"The Bush administration's policy of turning over wetlands to developers almost certainly also contributed to the heightened level of the storm surge. In 1990, a federal task force began restoring lost wetlands surrounding New Orleans. Every two miles

of wetland between the Crescent City and the Gulf reduces a surge by half a foot. Bush had promised "no net loss" of wetlands, a policy launched by his father's administration and bolstered by President Clinton. But he reversed his approach in 2003, unleashing the developers. The Army Corps of Engineers

and the Environmental Protection Agency then announced they could no longer protect wetlands unless they were somehow related to interstate commerce.

 

"In response to this potential crisis, four leading environmental groups conducted a joint expert study, concluding in 2004 that without wetlands protection New Orleans could be devastated by an ordinary, much less a Category 4 or 5, hurricane. "There's no way to describe how mindless a policy that is when it comes

to wetlands protection," said one of the report's authors. The chairman of the White House's Council on Environmental Quality dismissed the study as "highly questionable," and boasted, "Everybody loves what we're doing."

 

"My administration's climate change policy will be science based,"President Bush declared in June 2001. But in 2002, when the Environmental Protection Agency submitted a study on global warming to the United Nations reflecting Its expert research, Bush derided it as "a report put out by a bureaucracy," and excised the climate change assessment from the agency's annual report. The next year, when the EPA issued its first comprehensive "Report on the Environment," stating, "Climate change has global consequences for human health and the environment," the White House simply demanded removal of the line and all similar conclusions. At the G-8 meeting in Scotland this year, Bush successfully stymied any common action on global warming. Scientists, meanwhile, have continued to accumulate impressive data on the rising temperature of the

oceans, which has produced more severe hurricanes."

dont forget to blame clinton and all the other administrations because the work that Corps of Engineers have already been doing has gone on for years...and even if money was allocated it would not have allowed enough time to replace all the levies and avert this disaster...so that is not a fair statement for THIS STORM.

 

All the major bridges in New Orleans were replaced except for one....so they would not be destroyed if completely covered in water from floods.....not heard if the technology that started years ago worked as advertised.

They also were re-doing the levies...reinforcing them for up to a Cat 3 storm....been working on it for many years.....they were not finished...but would not have made a difference as the CAT 4/5 was more than they planned for.....

 

So if you blame anyone...it would have to be every govt official locally and federally from the early 1900s that allowed continued growth in New Orleans and did not FORCE CONSTRUCTION and restrict GROWTH!!!!!  If they do like they did on our coast after HUGO...they would prohibit the re-building of New ORleans... if it is rebuilt then I dont think any insurance company will cover them.  We have prevented new construction on the beaches here.....in many places.  Do the officials in New ORleans and Louisianna have the balls to say....N.O. is no more...too dangerous?

 

There is ample documentation since Camille worried about New Orleans in a storm like that again.....and still it grew...and still the tax base expanded...and still people moved there...and yes they made efforts to minimize the destruction.....they could not prevent it alltogether.

 

on another note....I lived in Holland for 5 years....you want to see how to hold back the ocean...then do some research on their levies, locks, pumps and such.  They had a huge disaster half a century ago...thousands and thousands dead.  Holland made it a national priority and told people where they could live and started construction.  It is an engineering marvel but it will displace people and restrict the number allowed to live within that zone because nothing is 100%

[TitanChief]

"No one can say they didn't see it coming"

 

"In 2001, FEMA warned that a hurricane striking New Orleans was one of the three most likely disasters in the U.S. But the Bush administration cut New Orleans flood control funding by 44 percent to pay for the Iraq war."

 

By Sidney Blumenthal

 

"Aug. 31, 2005. Biblical in its uncontrolled rage and scope, Hurricane Katrina has left millions of Americans to scavenge for food and shelter and hundreds to thousands reportedly dead. With its main levee broken, the Evacuated city of New Orleans has become part of the Gulf of Mexico. But the damage

wrought by the hurricane may not entirely be the result of an act of nature. A year ago the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposed to study how New Orleans could be protected from a catastrophic hurricane, but the Bush administration ordered that the research not be undertaken.

 

"After a flood killed six People in 1995, Congress created the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, in which the Corps of Engineers strengthened and renovated levees and pumping stations. In early 2001, the Federal Emergency Management Agency issued a report stating that a hurricane striking New Orleans was one of the three most likely disasters in the U.S., including a terrorist attack on New York City. But by 2003 the federal funding for the flood control project essentially dried up as it was drained into the Iraq war.

 

"In 2004, the Bush administration cut funding requested by the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for holding back the waters of Lake Pontchartrain by more than 80 percent. Additional cuts at the beginning of this year (for a total reduction in funding of 44.2 percent since 2001) forced the New

Orleans district of the Corps to impose a hiring freeze. The Senate had debated adding funds for fixing New Orleans' levees, but it was too late. The New Orleans Times-Picayune, which before the hurricane published a series on the federal funding problem, and whose presses are now underwater, reported online: "No one can say they didn't see it coming ... Now in the

wake of one of the worst storms ever, serious questions are being asked about the lack of preparation."

 

"The Bush administration's policy of turning over wetlands to developers almost certainly also contributed to the heightened level of the storm surge. In 1990, a federal task force began restoring lost wetlands surrounding New Orleans. Every two miles

of wetland between the Crescent City and the Gulf reduces a surge by half a foot. Bush had promised "no net loss" of wetlands, a policy launched by his father's administration and bolstered by President Clinton. But he reversed his approach in 2003, unleashing the developers. The Army Corps of Engineers

and the Environmental Protection Agency then announced they could no longer protect wetlands unless they were somehow related to interstate commerce.

 

"In response to this potential crisis, four leading environmental groups conducted a joint expert study, concluding in 2004 that without wetlands protection New Orleans could be devastated by an ordinary, much less a Category 4 or 5, hurricane. "There's no way to describe how mindless a policy that is when it comes

to wetlands protection," said one of the report's authors. The chairman of the White House's Council on Environmental Quality dismissed the study as "highly questionable," and boasted, "Everybody loves what we're doing."

 

"My administration's climate change policy will be science based,"President Bush declared in June 2001. But in 2002, when the Environmental Protection Agency submitted a study on global warming to the United Nations reflecting Its expert research, Bush derided it as "a report put out by a bureaucracy," and excised the climate change assessment from the agency's annual report. The next year, when the EPA issued its first comprehensive "Report on the Environment," stating, "Climate change has global consequences for human health and the environment," the White House simply demanded removal of the line and all similar conclusions. At the G-8 meeting in Scotland this year, Bush successfully stymied any common action on global warming. Scientists, meanwhile, have continued to accumulate impressive data on the rising temperature of the

oceans, which has produced more severe hurricanes."

Damn you George Bush!!!!

You KNEW it would happen, and still did nothing, because their are SO many democrats in New Orleans!

Evil! EVIL, I SAY!!!!

[Vintage229]

on another note....I lived in Holland for 5 years....you want to see how to hold back the ocean...then do some research on their levies, locks, pumps and such.  They had a huge disaster half a century ago...thousands and thousands dead.  Holland made it a national priority and told people where they could live and started construction.  It is an engineering marvel but it will displace people and restrict the number allowed to live within that zone because nothing is 100%

They can also take a page from the engineering efforts put into the Hong Kong Airport, which is basically a man-made Island.  (And a very nice airport.)  Seeing as how everything has been pretty much wiped out they should raise the city above sea.  (Well, as much as they can.)

[charger]

the rich get RICHer.......n the poor          

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  get DEAD...........

[porkchop]

Just another Bob_Flawed blame Bush post.

 

Too extremeist leftist for me.

[DaytonaSpirit]

Poor emergency preparation cripples response in the wake of Hurricane Katrina's devastation

 

 

 

On July 20, 1979, President Carter signed Executive Order 12148, creating the Federal Emergency Management Agency better known by its acronym, FEMA. A string of hurricanes had exposed weaknesses in the nation's emergency response in the 1960s and 70s, including Hurricane Camille, which devastated the Gulf Coast in August 1969. Carter's order recognized the importance of designating an overriding agency responsible for coordinating federal, state and local responses to crises -- and preparing for them beforehand. For two decades, mention of FEMA in the aftermath of disasters was synonymous with the cavalry in the 19th century West: Help was here.

It hasn't been so in Louisiana and Mississippi following Hurricane Katrina's devastation.

 

As the scope of the hurricane's effect on the Gulf Coast is being assessed, the human toll and physical damage are only part of the disaster. The emergency response, and in so many cases the lack of it, is the other. Thursday was the fourth day after Katrina's landfall, and the third after New Orleans' virtual drowning. Yet federal and state authorities were barely beginning to coordinate a clear-minded, coordinated, effective response.

 

Some examples: There was still no systematic, as opposed to catch-as-catch-can, search and rescue operation for the tens of thousands of New Orleans residents believed to be trapped, still, in flooded areas of the city. From day one of the crisis, communication systems between and across responders failed. Emergency workers in New Orleans were ready and able to work around the clock. But no provisions were made for them to eat and even briefly recuperate. People seeking food and water were turned away from FEMA command posts by police officers, an indication not merely symbolic of the extent to which the response part of the emergency was failing on a human level. Engineers still had no idea how to begin plugging up the breached levees in the city. Gulfport, Miss., where a tsunami-like wall of water wiped out the entire coastal part of town, relief was still virtually nonexistent as of Wednesday, adding despair to desperation for survivors. The list goes on, justifying the summed-up disgust of FEMA's own director in a CNN interview Wednesday: "What you're seeing," Michael Brown said, "is unacceptable."

 

What happened? Nature shoulders part of the blame. Katrina may prove to be the single biggest natural disaster in the nation's history. But it was not unforseen. New Orleans' levee system was known to be shaky and vulnerable to a hurricane of greater force than Category 3. Katrina was Category 4. A 2002 government study found that even a slow-moving Category 3 hurricane would fill "the bowl of New Orleans north of the Mississippi River," which is exactly what has unfolded. During President Bush's first term, Army Corps of Engineers Chief Michael Parker kept pushing for massive, costly refurbishing of the flood-controlling pumping system in Louisiana's portions of the lower Mississippi River. Bush fired him. With Florida's hurricane season of 2004 in mind, the Corps still pushed for $18 billion in necessary repairs to Louisiana's levees this year. The House of Representatives responded with a budget cut for the Corps. (The Senate was willing to be more generous, but actual funding for the projects is still pending).

 

But FEMA, too, failed at a strategic level. When Carter created the agency, he made a point of keeping it independent of other federal agencies so it would have clearer authority to coordinate and execute its plans. Last year the Bush administration folded FEMA into the Department of Homeland Security and redrew its mission. Emergency preparedness would no longer be its business. That would be left up to local authorities. FEMA would focus on response. And not just any kind of response. Its primary mission was to respond to terrorist events. Its budget was redrawn accordingly.

 

The results speak for themselves. FEMA's new, hobbled, tunnel-visioned mission is not the way to go. Terrorism is a potential threat. Natural disasters are certainties. Americans need protection from both, Floridians -- whose vulnerability to hurricanes is absurdly obvious -- in particular. Today and for months to come, the nation's efforts are focused on repairing life along the Gulf Coast. But Congress' priorities regarding the Corps of Engineers and FEMA's mission need repair, too. Quickly.

[DaytonaSpirit]

Interesting and sad reading, if you have the time...

 

The big disconnect on New Orleans

[firebird77clone]

Time to accept that technology will never conquer nature.

 

Consideration needs to be given to returning the area to a natural wetland.

[porkchop]

Time to accept that technology will never conquer nature.

 

Consideration needs to be given to returning the area to a natural wetland.

 

I remember watching a documentary a while ago on what would happen if New Orleans took a direct hit from a Major hurricane.

Hundreds of thousands dead.

If that storm hit just a little west of where it did

That 30 foot tidal surge would have hit New Orleans directly.

Probably would have killed as many as the Tsunami in Asia did.

 

Gotta figure out how to jack up the city.

[Satdiver]

Keep in mind,

Everyone who decided to live in New Orleans already knew that they were going to be living below sea level! Its a chance/gamble they were willing to take. Just like the people that live here in Socal and decide to build there homes on stilts off a cliff, know thay are taking a chance that a mud slide can send there luxury home down the mountain in pieces. Ride Safe, AW  

[cruzer]

Keep in mind,

Everyone who decided to live in New Orleans already knew that they were going to be living below sea level! Its a chance/gamble they were willing to take. Just like the people that live here in Socal and decide to build there homes on stilts off a cliff, know thay are taking a chance that a mud slide can send there luxury home down the mountain in pieces. Ride Safe, AW  

that can really happen??  They even built 5K home below the Dam at Lake Perris(ca) and now decide the Dam wont with stand a 7.5 shaker so they are lowering the water level about 20' which will make it a pond instead of recreation and fishing lake. Support higher education !!  

[highaltidude]

This post makes the assumption that it is the federal governments responsibility to take care of the people of N.O.  

 

I checked the constitution.  Couldn't find it....   I'm thinking it was the people of N.O.s responsibility.  Maybe the state of LA.

 

I'm just getting tired of people's expectations that when poor day to day decisions are made, where people set themselves up for disaster to strike, and then the horrible event occurs, that it's the federal government's job (funded by my tax dollars) to fix things.  

 

I have compassion, and I've gotten out my checkbook.  But I don't like it.

 

Funny thing.  Look at the beginning of Bob's post.  Says Bush knew in 01 that this was a disaster waiting to happen.  Lets assume this is absolutly true.  The post seems to blame Bush for letting this happen.  Now just before 01, we had Clinton around for eight years.  Are we saying that we get to blame Bush and absolve Clinton just because the Bush people were smarter and figured this out.  There sure as heck wasn't anything new that happened that created more raw data for the Bush people   So by my thinking, to be able to blame Bush for lack of prevention, you first have to concede that Clinton was an idiot.

 

Chuck

[cotton891]

the rich get RICHer.......n the poor          

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  get DEAD...........

Die

[cotton891]

Sorry didn't see the end of the post. But I agree.

 

     Cotton

[whadayawant]

There's enough blame to go around and as usual nobody's gonna shoulder any of it.

[KoalaCowboy]

Ya know, it sure does get old seeing people BLAMING other people for things that WE (humans) have absolutely ZERO control over.

 

Yeah, New Orleans was built in a flood plain, and people CHOSE to live there.  However, not one person knew the EXACT time/date when a hurricane was going to hammer their life into the mud & muck.

 

Blame does nothing to provide a solution.  Solutions are what we need now.  Blame only adds fuel to a negativity fire and causes additional division of a nation.

 

Bottom Line:  If you're not part of the solution, you ARE part of the problem.

[Iron Mike]

I have a very hard time feeling sorry for someone who CHOOSES to live seven feet below sea-level in hurricane alley. Worse yet, when asked what they will do now that they've lost everything they generally reply "Oh, we'll rebuild!" While I admire their determination, I question their intelligence.

[charger]

I have a very hard time feeling sorry for someone who CHOOSES to live seven feet below sea-level in hurricane alley. Worse yet, when asked what they will do now that they've lost everything they generally reply "Oh, we'll rebuild!" While I admire their determination, I question their intelligence.

I was talk'n to this "EGG-HEAD" @ work taday (1 of FoMoCo's fast track boys) N he was tell'n me the severity of Katrena has ta do with alneo?!? says with this globel warming.......things are gonna get worse........

I was amazed the facts & data he blurrrred out if anyone knows about that stuff.........I'ld like ta know MORE........

 

 

 

 

                                     

[Guest_ikonboard]

And for all those whining about Bush, remember that in the constitution , the only way the Federal Governement can get involved is if the State asks for that help! This states piece of shit Govenor wouldnt ask for help , the mayor talking alot of shit, obviously he wasnt prepared for the emergency !

 

Its tragic , but I live in California , Los Angeles and San Francisco both have had major catastropies in the last ten years , some would say they were ill prepared for the emergency, looking at this fuck up , you'd have to say California was way ahead of the game!

 

Maybe NO should have asked advice from the Japanese as they live in tidal wave territory and yet every year they get hit but dig out quickly!

 

How about blaming the original forefathers of NO for the shitting location of there town!

[badcad]

Keep in mind,

Everyone who decided to live in New Orleans already knew that they were going to be living below sea level! Its a chance/gamble they were willing to take. Just like the people that live here in Socal and decide to build there homes on stilts off a cliff, know thay are taking a chance that a mud slide can send there luxury home down the mountain in pieces. Ride Safe, AW  

Exactly. That reminds all those in flood plains and tornado alley who keep rebuilding (see "The Three Little Pig's"). Move or build an elevated house on piles or one that will rise or "float" on piles (see Holland) and a house made of freakin' concrete! Of coarse I'm not speaking of the poor just those whos families have been flooded or blown away several times for several generations! You take the risk that goes with the turf!

[badcad]

Ya know, it sure does get old seeing people BLAMING other people for things that WE (humans) have absolutely ZERO control over.

 

Yeah, New Orleans was built in a flood plain, and people CHOSE to live there.  However, not one person knew the EXACT time/date when a hurricane was going to hammer their life into the mud & muck.

 

Blame does nothing to provide a solution.  Solutions are what we need now.  Blame only adds fuel to a negativity fire and causes additional division of a nation.

 

Bottom Line:  If you're not part of the solution, you ARE part of the problem.

It's much more fun being part of the problem.

[Gary2Wheels]

I have a very hard time feeling sorry for someone who CHOOSES to live seven feet below sea-level in hurricane alley. Worse yet, when asked what they will do now that they've lost everything they generally reply "Oh, we'll rebuild!" While I admire their determination, I question their intelligence.

I was talk'n to this "EGG-HEAD" @ work taday (1 of FoMoCo's fast track boys) N he was tell'n me the severity of Katrena has ta do with alneo?!? says with this globel warming.......things are gonna get worse........

I was amazed the facts & data he blurrrred out if anyone knows about that stuff.........I'ld like ta know MORE........

 

 

 

 

                                     

:unclesam: ..he was referring to "El Nino' ",which as I understand it is a complex but now better understood interaction between the earth's atmosphere and the periodic and cyclical reversal of warm and cold ocean currents in the Pacific Ocean...could be ocean currents worldwide,I'm not that sure...probably.

A Google search of NASA's web site, www.intellicast.com ,the weather channel...will bring you up to speed.That's just a beginning.It seems certain that global warming is changing the frequency and strength  of  hurricanes and typhoons...and the weather generally.

If we'd get off our asses and go solar,use geothermal technology,wind power,renewable resources generally...we might have a shot at things,but that's leaving out China,India,and the rest of the developing world,as they copy our mistakes in ravaging the world's resouces so that they too can have cell phones and all the rest...shit.

 

RIDE SAFE...LIVE LONG :wave:

 

ps checkout www.noaa.gov     they have web page devoted entirely to el nino'

[johnh]

Then again maybe (probably) this weather pattern of increasing severe storms is not caused by "global warming".  Like everything natural, weather has patterns and cycles. Just some cycles are longer then others. In this case storms were more powerful pre-1965. In the last 40 years  (and coincidentaly the exent of most peoples living memory) we have been in a relatively calm period. Now we are going back to a rougher period. Since no one remembers the rougher period they all jump on the "global warming" bandwagon.

[Guest_ikonboard]

Then again maybe (probably) this weather pattern of increasing severe storms is not caused by "global warming".  Like everything natural, weather has patterns and cycles. Just some cycles are longer then others. In this case storms were more powerful pre-1965. In the last 40 years  (and coincidentaly the exent of most peoples living memory) we have been in a relatively calm period. Now we are going back to a rougher period. Since no one remembers the rougher period they all jump on the "global warming" bandwagon.

Storms like this never happened before. It's all because of humans and people of western culture. It's all because of our use of fossil fuels.

 

... or maybe not.

 

Oh, and another historic fact people tend to forget is that back in the 1970's global cooling was the big worry. Matter of fact, the first earth day was protesting the human caused global cooling.