I have complained enough about media hurricane coverage. But I could not resist one more dig.
I don't even watch the coverage, which shows how bad it much be when the little I see keeps revealing these whoppers. I think if was Fox News which showed these big boats that hurricane Ike had blown from an marina so that they were "beached" on top of a four lane highway.
With a straight face, the reporter said: "Think of how powerful the winds must have been to pick up these boats and deposit them on this highway." You can't make this stuff up.
Ike as a Category TWO hurricane. the winds were NOT that strong. Despite media coverage, even after the fact, that Ike was the WORST hurricane imaginable, Ike was a perfectly ordinary hurricane. Hurricanes cause damage. That is what they DO. Flash floods cause damage too, an usually kill more people every year (excluding Katrina type years). That TRAIN accident in California killed about as many as Ike killed. Traffic accidents kill 42,000 people EACH YEAR. There is just something wrong with our media "Armageddon" coverage of hurricanes.
Oh. Did you spot how STUPID the above quoted sentence is. The WINDS of Ike did NOT "pick up" those boats. The STORM SURGE (water surge) picked up the boats and deposited them on that highway. Yes, this DOES matter. It is FALSE to act like the WINDS of Ike were that strong. They WEREN'T.
The media is getting to the point that they are going to call the winds of a Category I hurricane "incredibly strong." Ike's winds were not much of a problem. Its WATER was a problem, but a problem TYPICAL of an ordinary hurricane. We will continue to get such hurricanes almost every year (lucky previous two years). The media acts like the dame from Ike is UNUSUAL. You can photograph the same type of damage after most hurricanes.
Will we EVER get calm, factual coverage of hurricanes, without the hyperbole? Don't hold your breath.
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