As Hurricane Zeta approaches the Louisiana coast with an expected Category 2 status, “storm fatigue” is real, especially for the many along, and closer to, the coast.
The physical effort to prepare for a storm for those in low-lying areas or outside of the levee system includes moving boats, campers and cars to higher ground and lugging in all outside furniture or any items with the potential to become projectiles during a storm. Even in the metropolitan New Orleans area there is work to be done every time our area is included in the cone of uncertainty. But of the 6 storms that have included New Orleans in the cones of uncertainty, the city has been spared with little to no effect from the storms. But that lucky streak is about to end.
The New Orleans metro area has been included in the cone of uncertainty from the beginning the storm named Zeta, but unlike Cristobal, Marco, Laura, Sally, Beta and Delta - Zeta’s dead aim on Southeast Louisiana and the city of New Orleans has not wavered.
The early formation of Zeta suggested this storm would not really amount to much and even Tuesday, the day before the storm was predicted to hit, there was a general downplaying of the effects of Zeta. That has all changed. Zeta is expected to hit later this afternoon as a Cat 2 storm and the New Orleans metro area can expect winds up to 90 to 100 mph - the strongest winds to hit the city since Kartina in 2005.
There was something about this particular storm that made me less accepting of a minimal impact. On my talk show, I mentioned that we should not rely on the luck of the recent past. I wrote in a blog posted on the WWL.com website yesterday:
“But there is reason to take Zeta seriously. The other big storms missed the greater New Orleans area, but no one ever knows specifically where a storm will hit and there is always the chance it will be worse than anticipated.”
Unfortunately, that is the case with Hurricane Zeta. We are so used to forming behavior based on what we have experienced in the past and it occurred to me yesterday that we should remember that storms are unpredictable. Storms are organic, living entities that are ultimately controlled by nature, which is not controlled by humans.
In the same way that the past 6 storms that had New Orleans in their sights but took unpredictable turns, Zeta needed to be seen as the storm that doesn’t make an unpredictable turn, which would make it unpredictable.
Nature has a way of reminding us who is in charge and the moment we think we have everything figured out is when nature proves that mortal beings do not control everything.
In the bizarro world of 2020, Hurricane Zeta fits the unusual pattern of uncertainty.
Stay safe and remember that the natural phenomena of this planet are not under our control.
