Ron Paul wants a party like its 1899

As Hurricane Irene barrels along the Atlantic Coast for maximum damage, Ron Paul says the nation would be much better off without FEMA and people in his district can get along just fine, like they did in 1900:

As Hurricane Irene barrels along the U.S. East Coast, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas said the nation would be much better off without the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"I live on the Gulf Coast. We put up with hurricanes all the time," the GOP presidential candidate told CNN after a New Hampshire campaign event Friday. "There's no magic about FEMA. More and more people are starting to recognize that."

Paul has long been a critic of the agency, which he calls a "great contributor to deficit financing."

With more than 7,600 employees, FEMA falls under the Department of Homeland Security and coordinates response efforts when disasters strike.

Citing the Galveston hurricane in 1900 that obliterated much of the Texas coast, the libertarian-leaning congressman said Americans were able to rebuild their cities and put up a seawall without the federal government's help.

"FEMA is not a good friend of most people in Texas," Paul said. "All they do is come in and tell you what to do and can't do. You can't get in your houses. And they hinder the local people, and they hinder volunteers from going in."

In 1900, six to eight thousand people were killed (how's that for "putting up" with a hurricane?) when a hurricane and tidal surge hit what would later be his district. One wonders how many would have died with the same type of hurricane if there'd been a national warning system and mandatory evacuations of dangerous low-lying areas and then efforts to keep people away from dangerous post-hurricane conditions.

The fascists from FEMA would probably have had the
gall to prevent children from walking around the
rubble following the hurricane that hit Galveston.

But I guess the mismanaged FEMA of the Bush43 era left an indelible mark in the minds of many people like Representative Ron Paul. It also underscores a general theme: Republicans are often very distrustful of government agencies because when they get control of them they muck it up. In all seriousness, there is a difference between effective government and incompetent government, and a good moderate (or Democrat) recognizes that and seeks to find the difference, while such Republicans as Ron Paul simply believe it's all bad and would just throw everyone to the proverbial wolves.

...

Honolulu overdue for a hurricane?

Honolulu topped the Weather Channel's list of the five cities most overdue for a hurricane:

Why, you may ask, are officials in Hawaii going to such great lengths to plan for a major hurricane strike in Honolulu? That’s never happened before, has it? No, not in the available records, despite a long list of close calls. Are these emergency managers wasting their time?

The reason that their time is well spent is that there is no meteorological reason why the core of a major hurricane cannot directly strike Honolulu. Iniki in 1992 made a direct hit on Kauai, only about 100 miles west of Honolulu, at major hurricane strength. Ten years earlier, Hurricane Iwa struck Kauai in late November. A number of other major hurricanes have passed just south of Honolulu during the past several decades.

The prospect of a major hurricane striking Honolulu is scary, especially if the center of the eye passes just west of the city and places the strongest, onshore winds where the most people and infrastructures are located. The winds alone would be bad enough, with most homes not built to withstand hurricane-force winds, many of them perilously perched on mountain slopes, and numerous high-rises that would lose windows especially on upper floors. Add to that the flooding because of waves and storm surge that would occur near the coast as the ocean moves inland, plus rainfall-induced flooding that could send water rushing down the mountains from the opposite direction.

I myself live inland enough and high enough to avoid an ocean surge (you may recall that from the posts about tsunami warnings here, here, and here), but the flooding from runoff coming down the mountains is a danger to anyone living near one of the ubiquitous streams. And I do live on the ninth floor of a building that is built lanai-style, meaning the kitchen floor is completely open air. It would be downright dangerous to be there during hurricane-force wins.

By the way, San Diego was #2 on the Weather Channel's list (and Orange County and Los Angeles would be runner-ups for that).