If Hurricane Matthew was aimed at Texas - Polidicks

Not really news but its still an interesting read. It's only a matter of time before we get devastated by another Rita and the amount of damage speculated seems about right. I remember the cleanup from Ike was awful and something like this would magnify that kind of cleanup 10 fold. [QUOTE]Imagine a hurricane, a hurricane like Matthew, aimed straight at the heart of the American petrochemical industry. Isaiah whirls through the sky, gathering strength from the Gulf of Mexico’s warm waters. Beach towns are evacuated. Citizens and companies in Texas’ petro-industrial enclaves from Bayou Vista to Morgan’s Point are warned: Prepare for the worst. The huge cyclone gathers strength as it nears the barrier islands off the coast, intensifying to Category 4. Hours before landfall, 150 mile-per-hour winds begin pushing water over the Galveston Seawall, and by the time the eye finally hits, Galveston has been flattened by a 20-foot wave. Isaiah’s monstrous arm reaches across the bay toward Houston, some 50 miles inland, adding water to water, and when it smashes into the Exxon Mobil Baytown refinery, the storm surge is over 25 feet high. It crashes through refineries, chemical storage facilities, wharves and production plants all along the Houston Ship Channel, cleaving pipelines from their moorings, lifting and breaking storage tanks.[/QUOTE] [url]http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/09/opinion/sunday/when-the-hurricane-hits-texas.html[/url]

Yeah I would get out of here at the first warning. I am only a 20-30 minute drive from Galveston. I don't want to deal with the traffic nightmare that was Rita and Ike again.

There's no if. With GW completely fucking the Nino/Nina cycle it's just when. Quite frankly at this point I'm surprised Galveston and Houston are still above water.

I think they're overstating the effect of a hurricane on petroleum infrastructure. Those plants are incredibly expensive and companies are happy to pay the bit extra for hurricane-proofing if it reduces their incredible insurance bills and reduces risk.

[QUOTE=download;51169964]I think they're overstating the effect of a hurricane on petroleum infrastructure. Those plants are incredibly expensive and companies are happy to pay the bit extra for hurricane-proofing if it reduces their incredible insurance bills and reduces risk.[/QUOTE] Hurricanes may not destroy the plants themselves, but they'd effectively halt the supply chain of goods as well as ceasing production since workers wouldn't be able to get to the plants.

[QUOTE=Cuon Alpinus;51169984]Hurricanes may not destroy the plants themselves, but they'd effectively halt the supply chain of goods as well as ceasing production since workers wouldn't be able to get to the plants.[/QUOTE] While that's probably true that's not the scenario postulated in the article.

[QUOTE=download;51169964]I think they're overstating the effect of a hurricane on petroleum infrastructure. Those plants are incredibly expensive and companies are happy to pay the bit extra for hurricane-proofing if it reduces their incredible insurance bills and reduces risk.[/QUOTE] they're also incredibly complex and can't exactly take light damage without compromising functionality. plus just the act of shutting down for a hurricane would require at a minimum, a month of work to bring it back online

[QUOTE=Sableye;51170004]they're also incredibly complex and can't exactly take light damage without compromising functionality. plus just the act of shutting down for a hurricane would require at a minimum, a month of work to bring it back online[/QUOTE] Hardening a structure against a hurricane is only a fraction of the cost of the equipment. They also don't take a month to restart. Some chemical plants perhaps, but not petroleum.

[QUOTE=Sableye;51170004]they're also incredibly complex and can't exactly take light damage without compromising functionality. plus just the act of shutting down for a hurricane would require at a minimum, a month of work to bring it back online[/QUOTE] Nondamaged sections of the plant can and will still run. They won't shut down an entire plant because a single catalytic cracker or hydro cracker got damaged. Non-damaged sections would be up and running in a few hours. [editline]8th October 2016[/editline] [QUOTE=Cuon Alpinus;51169984]Hurricanes may not destroy the plants themselves, but they'd effectively halt the supply chain of goods as well as ceasing production since workers wouldn't be able to get to the plants.[/QUOTE] Essential personnel basically live in plants during events such as hurricanes.

A lot of that Petrol infrastructure is right on the coast and in very flood prone areas. I think a major cat 4-5 would make it hard to continue production quickly. Especially since Ike wiped out a majority of the regions power grid. Ike also sank a couple rigs. Found this from the EIA: [url]http://www.eia.gov/special/disruptions/hurricane/ike/gustav_092608.html[/url]