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XXXXX DRUDGE RETORT XXXXX 13:59:53 UTC FRI SEP 19 2003 XXXXX Hurricane Isabel a 'Category 5 Letdown'! By
Rogers Cadenhead Although it knocked out power to millions of people from the Carolinas to New York and caused at least 13 fatalities, Hurricane Isabel was a "category 5 letdown," according to meteorologists and television news reporters covering the storm. "Isabel was an angry bitch when she skirted the Bahamas," former CNN weather anchor Flip Spiceland told the DRUDGE RETORT from the Ramada Kill Devil Hills. "We're talking Category 5 165 m.p.h. winds; Old Testament wrath of God stuff. "By the time she got to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, Isabel barely qualified as a Category 2 with infrequent gusts to 95 m.p.h.," Spiceland sputtered. "I had to pantomime wind effects on all of my live shots." By Friday morning, after a half-dozen states pre-emptively declared emergencies in anticipation of Isabel, the National Hurricane Center was poring over satellite imagery to find the cloud's silver lining. "This hurricane will not be remembered for how strong it is," said center Director Max Mayfield. "It will be remembered for how large it is." Soledad O'Brien, who covered the storm on location for AMERICAN MORNING on CNN, was not satisfied by Mayfield's boast. "As I was just telling Lou Dobbs, being large is not nearly enough when you are expecting to take a pounding." Disappointment over the storm's landfall was echoed by many of O'Brien's colleagues in the media. "When I covered Hurricane Andrew in 1992, rooftops peeled off buildings like layers of clothing from a succulent Turkish whore," said Charles Osgood of CBS SUNDAY MORNING. "All we got this time was a couple of knocked-over PORTOPOTTIES and a WAL-MART that lost an stack of plastic kiddie pools." "Thirteen shmirteen," said NBC NEWS correspondent Chip Reid. "More people are killed each day from fires caused by defective GE dishwashers, but you don't see us covering that." The letdown was especially acute in North Carolina, where Gov. Mike Easley declared his state a "major disaster" two days before Isabel hit. "As it turned out, this was only a minor disaster," Easley told the BUTNER-CREEDMOR NEWS. "But when some of our 2,300 hog farms start flooding and our water supply is hip-deep in contamination, I want all of you to remember which governor secured the juiciest spot on the federal teat." The tepid wrath of the storm also forced the cancellation of several events, including a 700 CLUB "Make Your Peace with God" rally in Virginia Beach and scheduled looting by students at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. "This blows," said one UNC student. "I was hoping to get a high-definition TV." © DRUDGE RETORT 2003 |