“These folks weren’t here, because our governor (Jack Markell in a baseball cap)..said ‘either stay home, or if you live along the coast, go someplace else…’ And a lot of other places, Florida, the Carolina’s, the Gulf Coast, governors say that all the time, and people stay right there, stay hunkered down, and say ‘we’ll ride this one out’ In the state of Delaware, almost everybody, not everybody but almost everybody, listened to what this guy had to say….. Some of the unspoken heroes out there, are the ones who heeded the governors and lieutenant governors request, to stay out of harms way, and leave the coast, and go somewhere where you could be safe…: Senator Tom Carper.

One factor as to why Floridians, Carolinians, and Gulf Coasters do not heed their governors is that they know better… They have a lot more hurricanes than do we….

After Irene, evacuations may become an issue here too…

Irene was a hyped up storm. Creating a lot of firsts.. First NYC shutdown. First time SEPTA closed. First time in 25 years Philadelphia created a state of emergency. First time Delaware City and Old New Castle were under mandatory evacuation.

And what happened? One tornado in Lewes. 45 mile an hour gusts, and a lot of rain… What happened in Isabel back in 2003? One tornado, 45 mile and hour gusts, and a lot of rain. What happened during Floyd back in 99… No tornado, 45 mile and hour gusts, and a lot of rain…….

Obviously begging the comparison… If we hyped Irene, why didn’t we hype the previous three that impacted Delaware in the same capacity?

My theory? … The threat of a killer hurricane was used by the administration, it was used by every local official, governor on down, and it was used by every member of the media to boost their advertising revenue…

Yes, these ARE desperate times. And everyone needing to look good, latched onto Irene as the vehicle to get them up to that spot where they wanted to go…

And so, had a lot of hype, which didn’t go unnoticed overseas….

The Daily Telegraph…..

“There you see the surf,” The red emblossomed
CNN reproter gushed out breathlessly. “That tells a story right there.” Stumbling and apparently buffeted by ferocious gusts, he took shelter next to a building. “This is our protection from the wind,” he shouted into the microphone. “It’s been truly remarkable to watch the power of the ocean here.”

The surf may have told a story but so too did the sight behind the reporter of people chatting and ambling along the sea front and just goofing around. There was a man in a t-shirt, a woman waving her arms and then walking backwards. Then someone on a bicycle glided past.

Across the screen, the “Breaking News: Irene Batters Long Island” caption was replaced by stern advice from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA): “Stay inside, stay safe.”

All this Sunday morning, despite the fact that we knew on Friday, that this storm was a dud…..

The demise of Irene has already begun. There is no visible eye. The storm intensity is down to 99 mph. This would be a low-end category 2 or a strong category 1 storm, while 36 hours ago some predicted a catastrophic category 4 storm. Air Force Reserve aircraft have found that Irene’s eyewall has collapsed, and the central pressure has risen — rising pressure means a weakening storm.

So we knew……..

But carried the charade right up to Sunday morning, even up to New York, that this was a killer storm, the storm of a century, a storm requiring unprecedented actions on behalf of government to combat it’s power, even up to the point of performing a farce for the camera, while in the background was a man in a t-shirt, a woman waving her arms and then walking backwards. Then someone on a bicycle glided past.”

Hurricane Floyd 1999 — Still a large tropical cyclone when it hit the Mid Atlantic states, Floyd produced a strong storm surge, peaking at 2.8 ft (0.85 m) with a storm tide of 9.34 ft (2.85 m) in Philadelphia with effects felt in parts of northern Pennsylvania including the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton metro area. Some 1,260,000 citizens across the three states lost power because of the storm, and flooding left many in Pennsylvania homeless.

Hurricane Isabel 2003 — The effects of the hurricane in Delaware were compounded by flooding caused by the remnants of Tropical Storm Henri days before.[37] Moderate winds of up to 62 mph (100 km/h) in Lewes[38] downed numerous trees, tree limbs, and power lines across the state,[39] leaving at least 15,300 without power.[40] Numerous low-lying areas were flooded due to high surf, strong storm surge, or run-off from flooding further inland.[39] The passage of Hurricane Isabel resulted in $40 million in damage (2003 USD, $47.8 million 2011 USD) and no casualties in the state.

Hurricane Ivan 2004 — The Delaware River and its tributaries crested just below their all-time records set by Hurricane Diane in 1955. While crossing over the Mid-Atlantic states, Ivan’s remnants spawned 117 tornadoes across the eastern United States, with the 40 tornadoes spawned in Virginia on September 17 setting a daily record for the commonwealth…Ivan broke several hydrological records; it is credited with possibly causing the largest ocean wave ever recorded, a 91 foot (27 meter) wave that may have been as high as 131 ft (40 m)…

Loss of Delawareans: Floyd.. 2, Isabella.. 0, and Ivan 0… Unfortunately 2 lost their lives in this storm… Our hearts go out to their families…..

So when Senator Tom Carper wonders aloud why other states people don’t heed their governors advice, it just might be because they have experience… Experience with the failed credibility of government officials….

Remember it is not that we didn’t know that this Hurricane was going to be a dud… We did. It is that we did know it, and continued the farce anyways… right up to the point of acting like one is bravely facing Hurricanes ferocious onslaught, will people lazily goof off in the camera shot’s background …

The next time they tell me to evacuate…. well, I’m not going to believe them either…… I’ll wear a tee shirt, walk backwards, and ride my bike on the boardwalk….

After seeing such a blatant attempt at fabricating a crises, can anyone believe CNN anymore?