Horrible Hurricanes, But It’s Actually Been Worse

by Roger L. Simon

We are the in the midst of horrendous disaster for many of our fellow citizens. Our hearts break. But if it’s any consolation, it’s actually been worse. According to the website “Answers in Genesis,”

“The Flood of Noah’s day (2348 BC) was a year-long global catastrophe that destroyed the pre-Flood world, reshaped the continents, buried billions of creatures, and laid down the rock layers. It was God’s judgment on man’s wickedness and only eight righteous people, and representatives of every kind of land animal, were spared aboard the Ark.”

Okay, hold it right there.  Did it happen? As Ira Gershwin wrote, things we’re liable to read in the Bible “ain’t necessarily so.”

Except a myriad of scientists and archaeologists have been investigating this for ages and the dating may be questionable but something major did happen.  From the National Center for Science Foundation:

“The watershed for the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers on which the flood could have occurred extends for more than 1600 km from the Persian Gulf through Mesopotamia into Syria and Turkey and laterally for about 1000 km from eastern Saudi Arabia to southwestern Iran — an area of more than 1.6 million square kilometers.”

That’s some flood, ten times the size of the entire state of Florida, in other words somewhat bigger, to say the least, than anything we’ve experienced from whatever hurricane in our lifetimes.  (More later). It is said to have covered mountains.  But is there evidence?  The same website tells us:

“Two rivers, the Euphrates and Tigris flow through Mesopotamia, which is now the country of Iraq. There are several layers in exposed rocks near these two rivers in southeastern Mesopotamia (Iraq) that are likely flood deposits. Most are about a foot (0.3 m) thick, but one is as much as 3 meters thick (MacDonald 1988). Flood debris from this same thick deposit along the Euphrates River near the ancient Sumerian city of Shuruppak about 200 km southeast of Baghdad has been dated by the C14 method, giving an age of 2900 BCE (Best nd). Flood deposits 2.4 meters feet thick are also reported by MacDonald (1988) as far northeast as the ancient Babylonian city of Kish (120 km south of Baghdad). At any rate, the many flood-deposit layers show that flooding in southeastern Mesopotamia was not unusual in ancient times.”

Also not unusual in our time.  Close enough to it anyway.  One hundred and eight years ago, 1916, a major hurricane inundated Asheville, NC (yes, the same Asheville hit by Hurricane Helene earlier this month) with eight feet of water that covered all of the Biltmore.  Only parts of the historic estate were covered by Helene.

So what was the name of this 1916 monster?  Hurricanes didn’t have names in those days but were numerically ranked according to size.  The Ashville hurricane was number 4.  It’s hard to imagine what 1, 2 and 3 were like.

Larry Hamlin writes at Watts Up With That (if you’re interested in genuine scientific information about climate, not quasi-religious eco-spin, that’s the place to look): “There were 15 numbered Atlantic storms in 1916 even though there easily could have been many more that were never observed during this season because of observation inadequacies compared to today’s available technology.”

The Galveston Hurricane of 1900 is probably the greatest natural disaster in the U. S. history, killing approximately 8,000 people and wiping out what was then the largest city in Texas. It was rebuilt with a barrier out in the Gulf.

Other big ones were Miami in 1926 and the Florida Keys in in 1935 at which time the U. S. population was 127 million, barely over a third of now.

The likelihood of any of these having been caused by anthropogenic global warming is between nihil and nihil, no matter what the talking parrots tell you on cable news.

And if that’s not enough, roll back to the Great Hurricane of 1780 (etching at top).  From Wikipedia:

“The Great Hurricane of 1780^[2][1][3] was the deadliest tropical cyclone in the Western Hemisphere. An estimated 22,000 people died throughout the Lesser Antilles when the storm passed through the islands from October 10 to October 16.^[4] … The hurricane struck Barbados likely as a Category 5 hurricane, with at least one estimate of wind gusts as high as 200 mph (320 km/h),^[6] before moving past Martinique, Saint Lucia, and Sint Eustatius, and causing thousands of deaths on those islands. Coming in the midst of the American Revolution, the storm caused heavy losses to the British fleet contesting for control of the area, significantly weakening British control over the Atlantic.”

That giant was definitely caused by man-made global warming.  Those Brits were carrying Jags and Land Rovers on those boats… oh, wait.

American Heritage has an interesting article on the 1780 storms – “Did Hurricanes Save America?”

So, as I said in the title, actually we’re somewhat lucky by comparison.  Winds from Milton are clocked at 100mph. For 1780, the number is double that. This is little reassurance to the large number of deeply unfortunate people whose lives have been drastically upended by current hurricanes, if indeed they were lucky enough to make it out alive.  As of this writing two million people in Florida are without power and that may be the least of it.

We should do what we can to help them. It’s going to be a long road back.

But it’s worth remembering, as you probably do, that whatever happens this is a cosmic force in action as it has been since the beginning of time (and probably before), not because you or anybody else owns an SUV or happens to cook on a gas stove.

Politicians and media who want to tell you that are not just the enemy.  They are thieves out to steal your money and wreck the national economy in the process. Remember that when you vote and help others to vote in this difficult time.

The reassuring news is that, if we are to believe the polls, few take that giveaway name of names, “climate change,” seriously anymore.  Guard against those few, more likely their leaders, using these storms to make a comeback.

A POWERFUL DOCUMENTARY FOR OUR TIME

Do not miss master documentarian Michael Pack’s riveting new short doc “’Get the Jew’: The Crown Heights Riot Revisited” made for the WSJ. (It’s only 20 minute and free.) Yes, it’s an exploration of riots that occurred in Brooklyn in 1991, but the contemporary relevance could not be greater.  You may know Mr. Pack’s work for his excellent 2020 doc “Created Equal:  Clarence Thomas in His Own Words.” That’s also more than worth your time if you haven’t seen it.

SEARCH ENGINE SEARCH CONTINUES

Google rules the world as much as any country and it all started with search. Nothing seems to have the power to lead, or more accurately, mislead and indoctrinate like Goggle through its poisonous algorithms

I have tried others, including DuckDuckGo (so-so), and Elon Musk is rumored to be working on a search engine of his own, but meanwhile giveLuxxle a try. This engine gives you a choice between “Lean  Left,” “Lean Right” and “All” in your search.  The comparison is interesting.

First published in Substack.