Friday Flashback in Hurricane Season

This week's Friday Flashback includes some current news. Later this evening Hurricane Harvey is expected to make landfall near Corpus Christi, Texas. This will mark the first time in nearly a decade that a major hurricane has made direct landfall in the USA. Harvey strengthened quickly over the course of this week and in addition to the danger wrought by high winds, the storm is expected to stall over south Texas leaving some regions with upwards of 1 meter of rainfall. 

As storms approach a port, the US Coast Guard will issue increasing warning levels providing the industry with a guideline as to port closures and evacuations. Here's what the Corpus Christi Coast Guard office is reporting on their website this morning:

MSIB 05-17 Port Condition Zulu Hurricane Harvey Summary: The U.S. Coast Guard Captain of the Port Corpus Christi (COTP) has set Port Condition Zulu and established a temporary safety zone for all ports servicing deep draft vessels in the COTP Zone from the Port of Brownsville north to the Calhoun Port Authority, effective 12:00 a.m. on Friday August 25, 2017. Gale force winds from Hurricane Harvey are expected make landfall along the coast of Corpus Christi within 12 hours.

For a ship, a port is not a safe harbor in a big storm. There's too much risk of damage from high winds and wave swells, so vessels are instructed to find safe anchorage outside. If you're interested in what the crew and ship face in these circumstances, I would recommend you do a YouTube search of ships riding out a hurricane.  If you have a weak stomach, you may want to take some Dramamine before watching.   Back in 1998 our own mv Joint Frost had to traverse through Hurricane Mitch both north and southbound in the Gulf of Mexico, as the storm changed directions and stalled out a few times. 

Here's a link to a 2005 report on the impact Hurricane Katrina had on shipping activities in the US Gulf. Katrina needs no introduction, as she was the most damaging storm to hit the USA in more than a century.   The storm had serious impact on vessel operations with impact lasting months and even  years.  I recently had the opportunity to drive from New Orleans to Mobile, Alabama and took the coastal route, where storm impact is still very much visible in places like Gulfport, Mississippi.