Wednesday, October 19, 2005

WILMA, RITA, & KATRINA: WHEN WILL WE GET THE MESSAGE?

When I wrote about the fictional Hurricane Damien in my novel "Violent Night," my friends thought I was doing a "412." (Over-acting, for those who remember "Dragonnet.") Damien would be an October hurricane. He'd achieve a central pressure of 840 millibars. Winds of 270 m.p.h. Damien would be not the birthpangs but the birth of the Apocalypse.

Impossible? This morning, October hurricane Wilma reached a record of 887 millibars, one millibar lower than Gilbert in 1989 who had winds of 240 m.p.h. on his best day. Wilma, Rita, and Katrina ALL grew from tropical storm to Cat 5 in 24 hours. So would Damien- except he forms closer to the coast, so evacuation of Houston is out of the question.

Now we know this could really happen. Three warnings. Three birthpangs, as the Bible calls them, in less than two months! And what are we going to do? Use our tax dollars to rebuild and improve GAMBLING CASINOS!

Hey, if you read my book, you know the only thing remaining between Wilma and the ultimate disaster are some computer model forecasts. By the way, the Astros are in the playoffs, so no one is paying any attention. Sound familiar?

When the fig tree drops its leaves, we know winter is coming...

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