Hurricane warnings and forecasts are nothing to laugh at

I heard on television where Piers Morgan of CNN was doing a show questioning if the government and media went overboard in their evacuations, warnings and media hype preceding Hurricane Irene. Now that gets my goat.

The thousands of people who fled as ordered from places like New York City where little damage was done need not be told such nonsense. Questioning whether to evacuate next time could be extremely detrimental to their very survival.

Maybe because I live in Florida and we have a bit more experience with the ferocity of Mother Nature, I know better than to discount meteorological predictions and ignore evacuation warnings. If we followed their advice and the storm turns or weakens, we are so grateful but we are not unhappy that had it done as predicted we were off somewhere safe thanks to all the predictions and “media hype."

The meteorologists do their best to keep everyone out of harms way. Mother Nature does as she pleases and does not always do the predicted, but with all their equipment and forecast models those people who predict paths and fly into the center of storms have saved many, many lives.

Too many people have been killed all over the world ignoring warnings and I think any media reports or television shows who question the extent of preparations this time do a huge disservice to anyone who takes what they are saying to heart.

It’s too easy for people to ignore the warnings next time based on what happened in the final days of Irene. Piers Morgan should be ashamed of himself.

Tight lines, Capt Budd

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