A lot of folks on the Gulf Coast didn't evacuate. Some of them just didn't believe the weathermen. I think there is a good reason. Weather has turned into an over-hyped media attempt to get viewers. We have "Storm Team," "Dopler Max," "Double Doppler" and numerous other ploys to get us to watch. Recently, Channel 8 in Richmond cut into programming a weather news flash that went on for almost an hour. There was a thunderstorm in the area that could cause tornadoes. Well, this is the summer. We have thunderstorms. Severe ones can cause hail and tornadoes. It is nice to know when this happens, but instead of flashing the alert on the screen and, maybe, cutting in for progess updates or to tell us that something really different is happening, they went on, and on, and on, tracking a thunderstorm. I was rather amazed at breathless, fast talking and excited reporters covering a cotton picking summer thunderstorm.
With all the hype-up weather reporting, I'm willing to be that people begin to tune out real threats, like Katrina. Add to that the attitude that "we've weathered storms before and this ain't no big thing." And you get a disaster like we have had, when a really bad storm comes along. I think the weather folks have cried wolf too often and people just didn't believe them.
Still, if you live in a hurricane or flood-prone zone, you really should pay attention to ones that really matter and ignore the hype from the media.
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