Hurricane Felix: The Silent Catastrophe

I am sorry to sound rude, but are you daft?

You obviously know next to nothing about hurricanes, speaking of Dean "fizzling" when in fact Dean was stronger than Felix when it made landfall. Dean had 165 mph winds and was hence also a Category Five hurricane when it landed. Felix only had 160 mph winds.

Thus Dean was actually more intense when it made landfall, as it also had a far lower central pressure. You could have at least done a "little" research before spitting up your opinion here.

Not to mention that the Costa Maya region (where Dean made landfall) was flattened and that the area around Mahahual and devastated Chetumal.

Yes, what is happening in Nicaragua is devastating, but Mexico's Costa Maya region got hit just as hard (but without the loss of life).

The media, to be fair, doesn't dwell on these reports from remote, hard-to-locate countries because a.)It is too out of the way and b.)A lack of information that can be continuously talked about.

The American media in fact covered the Dean and Felix landfalls as their top stories, Dean got quite a bit of attention because reporters were able to get closer to it, but Nicaragua is remote jungle. And your comment about the if it hit resort areas is false as well. When Wilma stalled over the Yucatan for two days, the media barely covered it at all, despite Cancun and Cozumel being hit by their worst natural disaster in history.

The American media reports on American storms and focuses so much attention on them because they are easy to get to, affect a lot of people in easily accessible areas, and because it's American news and will focus on its own country because that is where its primary market is. And the US government sent a warship with supplies to Nicaragua, not exactly hostile is it?

And Felix didn't stall over Nicaragua or Honduras, it actually brought very little rains, especially compared to Mitch.

SO, PLEASE GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT BEFORE YOU POST A PROFESSIONAL LOOKING ARTICLE COMPLETE WITH DISINFORMATION! I do appreciate you bringing attention to the deadly storm and to the Nicaraguan people and I don't mean to be mean, but when someone like me (who IS an expert on hurricanes) has to read through tons of bull, it gets enfuriating!

There was no disinformation.

There were reports that Felix was the largest hurricane to hit land in that area since Wilma and also reports that the hurricane went from a tropical storm to a category 5 hurricane in just 57 hours, which was the record for the fastest growing hurricane.

Felix wind was 165 miles per hour and hit land as a Category 5, it wasn't until 24 hours later that it dissipated to a Category 2.

Some of the cloud cover from the hurricane is still over Nicaragua and some areas are still experiencing rain from the cloud system.

To quote the following piece from a blog article from someone in the country

"Reports are bleak and in Caribbean countries the media have a little more flexibility so the photos on TV are a bit more graphic. All airports are closed and the countries military is preparing for the worst as the storm slowly passes. Felix is stalling over the central part of the country which means flooding is probable.
We were told 10 to 15 inches of rain

Murrays Field Blogs

and this was taken from the Hurricane Advisory Center

FELIX IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE TOTAL RAINFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF 6 TO 10
INCHES ACROSS NORTHERN NICARAGUA AND EL SALVADOR...WITH 8 TO 15
INCHES OVER MUCH OF HONDURAS. ISOLATED MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF 25 INCHES
ARE POSSIBLE IN MOUNTAINOUS AREAS. THESE RAINS WILL LIKELY PRODUCE
LIFE-THREATENING FLASH FLOODS AND MUD SLIDES. PERSONS IN
FLOOD-PRONE AREAS SHOULD TAKE ALL NECESSARY PRECAUTIONS TO PROTECT
LIFE AND PROPERTY.

NOAA Hurricane Felix Public Advisory

As to the winds, the winds were reported as over 165 miles per hour at landfall.

As the hurricane's winds increased to 270 kilometres per hour from 160 km/h, Felix was upgraded from a Category 2 storm to Category 5 - the highest on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale.

CBC News

Hurricane Felix began a rapid intensification cycle Sunday afternoon and reached category 5 status by 8pm Sunday evening (eastern time). Top winds increased to 165 mph with gusts possibly as high as 200 mph. A NOAA airplane investigating Hurricane Felix encountered extreme turbulence and graupel (soft hail) forcing the mission to be cut short.

Hurricane Felix Cat 5

As to the rest, including the media coverage, that can all be seen and personally judged by readers themselves, that is a matter of opinion. I see things from outside the USA, you see things from within, two different views, from two different places and two different people.

I an no "expert" on Hurricanes, I only have my own experience and knowledge over the last 20 years by watching them closely and experiencing them personally including Tropical Cyclone Larry Cat 5 March 2006 Australia and others.

I am a brunette and although I can have my "blonde moments" I am afraid I am not known as being Daft

I don't know much about hurricanes or anything of that nature, but it seems to me, that even though the facts are extremely important, what's more important is the human aspect of this story.

Whether or not the facts were 100% accurate or not is important, but not as important as the story being told, and how it affects people, in a positive way.

Even if you have all the facts, but you get upset about it when they are mis-reported, i don't think that helps anybody, even if you are 100% right.

In this particular story, i doubt very much much anybody will be taking notes, and forecasting hurricanes in their neighborhood, so the context is important to remember, and I feel that Margaret wrote this story with good intentions, and no doubt that you feel the same way about the importance of factual information Mark!

I called myself an expert in the first post because I do indeed know much much more than the average meteorologist and layperson in regards to tropical cyclones. I am a storm tracker and as such use ADT satellite estimates, NHC data and updates, Hurricane Hunter recon and vortex messages, and satellite loops to assess the hurricane. I then proceeded to call myself an amateur because the site I linked you to (which you apparently did not check because you don't like to admit when you're wrong) has actual experts of some of the highest authority come on to it. None of the spin like you see here.

I am not minimalizing Felix. I am greatly saddened and upset by what Felix did to Nicaragua, but the fact remains that had Felix been able to tap into the Pacific Ocean moisture content, the rains (and hence the flooding and mudslides) could have bee much worse. I responded to you for minimializing Dean which you said "fizzled" when in fact it killed 42 people and devastated regions of Jamaica and Mexico. But I understand that if you are from the region (Nicaragua), then you would want to report on Felix much more than Dean.

MY DATA IS NOT SUPPOSITION! IT IS FACT! Your sources are obviously wrong. The official sources are the National Hurricane Center (see the advisory archive and don't pick random ones at random times) and satellite data that shows rainfall totals. More objective than 99% of news and blogs you'll find.

I do agree with you that a bigger hurricane can bring more rains and that smaller hurricanes can be just as deadlier depending on the wind speeds, barometric pressure, and location of landfall. Felix wasn't an enormous storm, but it was big enough to effect a large portion of Eastern Nicaragua at landfall. It's winds and pressure were not worse than Dean's (which was a far larger storm), but they were indeed bad and because it hit in a less-developed region than Dean, the aftermath is going to be worse.

There ARE facts. SO stop saying that they are not in yet. Go to the NHC's website if you don't believe me about the intensity at landfall and the winds. Check out satellite data on Jeff Master's Wunderblog from a week ago to see the total rainfall amounts and his analysis of the storm (which is an expert opinion considering he does have the degrees and experience, far more than both us).

And by the way, WHAT SOURCES CLAIM FELIX STRUCK AT 165 MPH? I gave you the NHC site and update to go to check its landfall intensity. I am sorry, but this obstinacy is absolutely ridiculous. All the news reports and blogs I have seen list the wind speed at 160 mph as well at landfall. Admit you are in the wrong and actually give me a link to your "source."

And not any palm tree can withstand 165 mph winds plus gusts, there were quite a few snapped in half by Dean's landfall in Mahahual. Although I agree with you that most palm trees are very strong when it comes ton withstanding enormous winds and surf.

And yes, the gusts do do a lot of damage. But you cannot tell me that 160 mph sustained winds do nothing. 160 mph sustained winds are, sadly, strong enough do destroy all but the most reinforced of structures.

I once again apologize if you see this as arguing but spinning the facts in any source of info to the public is a very bad thing to do. I am not minimalizing this storm, especially considering what you said about Dean; but people have a right to be given the truth and not the very uneducated "fact" that "Dean was a bust because it hit as a strong Category 4" when that is both extremely wrong (many died) and nonfactual (Dean struck as 165 mph Cat 5).

I MUST REITERATE THAT I APPRECIATE YOU BRINGING LIGHT TO THIS TRAGEDY, BUT PLEASE JUST POST FACTS NEXT TIME!

And do NOT ACCUSE me of "enjoying" a Category 5 hurricane hitting land and of arguing about a "5-mph difference." There were quite a bit of other errors in your post about both Dean and Felix which I outlined earlier. If anything, I tracked this storm just as much as Dean and the impact from is much worse.