I have to comment here because I was actually in Hugo (after it went through all of SC and lost some of its strength, BUT STILL) and Floyd which was also being compared to Katrina for all of twenty minutes. This is what I remember about the clean-ups:
HUGO: We were out of water and power for three weeks, but this is because we lived out in BFE and that happened after every snowstorm anyway. Lost a lot of branches and some shingles off the garage. Charlotteans were whining about trees falling over. Everything was back to normal in a month, except now Charlotte is gun-shy about hurricanes and shuts down every time one comes ashore. This is geographically stupid.
FLOYD: The first time in memory that ECU shut down. The eastern part of the state (i.e., east of I-95) was shut down for three weeks. For the most part, everything was cleaned up in about two or three months. Other than a lot of redistricting and redrawing flood plain lines, everything is pretty much back to normal and has been that way since about six months after the flood waters dried up. Much was made of hog lagoons, but whether something's been done about them, I don't know.
None of this is even remotely comparable to what happened as a result of Katrina for various reasons. North Carolina has no need of levees, for one, so we didn't have to worry about that. Also, Gulf hurricanes are much nastier than Atlantic hurricanes. I'll stay put through a Cat 3 or 4 Atlantic hurricane, but I'd get the heck out of dodge for something that high in a Gulf hurricane.
no subject
HUGO: We were out of water and power for three weeks, but this is because we lived out in BFE and that happened after every snowstorm anyway. Lost a lot of branches and some shingles off the garage. Charlotteans were whining about trees falling over. Everything was back to normal in a month, except now Charlotte is gun-shy about hurricanes and shuts down every time one comes ashore. This is geographically stupid.
FLOYD: The first time in memory that ECU shut down. The eastern part of the state (i.e., east of I-95) was shut down for three weeks. For the most part, everything was cleaned up in about two or three months. Other than a lot of redistricting and redrawing flood plain lines, everything is pretty much back to normal and has been that way since about six months after the flood waters dried up. Much was made of hog lagoons, but whether something's been done about them, I don't know.
None of this is even remotely comparable to what happened as a result of Katrina for various reasons. North Carolina has no need of levees, for one, so we didn't have to worry about that. Also, Gulf hurricanes are much nastier than Atlantic hurricanes. I'll stay put through a Cat 3 or 4 Atlantic hurricane, but I'd get the heck out of dodge for something that high in a Gulf hurricane.