Early Reports: Mississippi Coast Gone in Record 37ft surge

[Mempho]

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Thirty-seven feet? Is that even possible? I thought that storm surges topped out at about 25 feet (though I understand that geography can push surges higher).

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I thought so, too. However, it is verified that there were places where it exceeded 30ft. The Hancock County Emergency Management Headquarters was at 31ft elevation and took on over a foot of water during the height of the storm. Officials there were shocked and they knew what that meant.

The sheer geographic size of the storm and the fact that it was a strong Cat 5 for a long time over the gulf probably allowed it to "bulldoze" massive amounts of water. Even though it weakened some, the cards were already obviously dealt. Also, the continental shelf in that region is very large, meaning that there is a large amount of shallow water (making the storm surge even larger).

[Spaded]

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Where are the casino boats--just floating aimlessly in the Gulf?

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They ripped from their mooring and settled on apartment complexes. Saw shots on CNN.

[Quercus]

Hopefully now the Mississippi legislature will allow the new casinos to be built on land. In the pictures with the barges, you can see that most of the land-based hotels that go along with them survived pretty much intact.

[Mempho]

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Hopefully now the Mississippi legislature will allow the new casinos to be built on land. In the pictures with the barges, you can see that most of the land-based hotels that go along with them survived pretty much intact.

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Agreed

[wacki]

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Thirty-seven feet? Is that even possible? I thought that storm surges topped out at about 25 feet (though I understand that geography can push surges higher).

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If the Canary islands go, the east coast will be hit with a wave over 1,600 feet high.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon..._tsunami.shtml