News Comment #1
29 08 2012Today Hurricane Isaac made contact with land in Louisiana after making his way through the Dominican Republic and Haiti in the past few days. Louisiana officials told 3000 people they needed to evacuate their homes in the New Orleans area. Hurricane Isaac is creeping up to the levees only getting strong due to the fact it’s just sitting there. One of the levees this morning couldn’t handle the pressure when a 12-foot wave barreled over the 8-foot levee. This flooding left over 100 people stranded and many more still left to be rescued from their rooftops and attics.
Right now the hurricane is waiting along the shorelines maintaining a speed of only 6 miles per hour. Officials tracking the storm don’t anticipate the it exceeding speeds of over 80 miles per hour only to slow down more once the storm finally hits land. Luckily for the state of Louisiana, Hurricane Isaac isn’t supposed to be as strong as Hurricane Katrina.
This is the first test for Louisiana after spending $14.5 billion in levees, floodwalls, gates, and pumps to protect the cities. Hopefully the money the state invested into protecting the land will be beneficial.
With this being a natural disaster that affects a lot of people, I think this is definitely considered news. Some people may not even care about this kind of news, especially when it doesn’t affect them or the area they live in. Natural disasters are a big deal though and always draw attention so therefore this is considered news.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/30/us/hurricane-isaac-makes-landfall.html?pagewanted=all
Everything’s looking good, Paige. And, yes, disasters are news. We here in Iowa may not be affected, but many of us know people who are, or we’re just curious.