Twitter Users Remember Katrina as East Coast Braces for Hurricane Irene
With Hurricane Irene expected to make landfall this weekend, people were taking to Twitter to remember one of America's most destructive hurricanes, Katrina. Ironically, the sixth anniversary of the storm's landfall is just three days away.
Although some users on Twitter were wondering how the term "Katrina" had made it onto the social network site's top 10 Trend list, others were remembering how being unprepared for the 2005 storm wreaked havoc on the nation.
One Twitter user, Kim Bondy (@KimBondy), offered useful advice: "Hurricane Preps: Get lots of cash from the ATM and lots of singles and 5's. ATMS were shut down after #katrina. Cash is power."
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"Your (sic) an idiot if your not taking this hurricane serious. Don't sleep on nature! Remember Hurrican Katrina?! Enough said," Ashley Bullett (@MissBeautifulB) warned those who may be taking Irene's threat lightly.
Reverend Sue (@ReverendSue), an interfaith minister, chimed in.
"I witnessed the destruction of Katrina," she tweeted. "Don't ignore #Irene! Respect her power. Take precautions NOW! Stock up, board up, evacuate when told..."
Others, noting President Barack Obama's statement this morning concerning Irene, expressed confidence that the nation would be prepared if Irene, a category 2 storm as of Friday morning, was nearly as destructive as Katrina along the Gulf Coast.
"Compare the statement made by Obama just now to the statements made by Bush before Katrina 2005. HUGE difference. We're prepared," wrote Milt Shook (@MiltShook).
"Don’t delay. We all hope for the best, but we have to be prepared for the worst. All of us have to take this storm seriously," Obama said. "To sum up, all indications point to this being a historic hurricane. Although we can’t predict with perfect certainty the impact of Irene over the next few days, the federal government has spent the better part of last week working closely with officials in communities that could be affected by this storm to see to it that we are prepared."
Meanwhile, others were noting that the sixth anniversary of Katrina's landfall was only a few days away.
"Katrina's Anniversary is Monday. As this hurricane heads for NC I hope America remembers my friends&neighbors who lost their lives 6yrs ago," tweeted actor Wendell Pierce (@WendellPierce).
Katrina made landfall as a category five hurricane in Louisiana on Aug. 29, 2005.
The storm, one of the deadliest of its kind in U.S. history, claimed more than 1,800 lives.
Meteorologists expected Irene to make landfall sometime between Friday night and Saturday morning along the Carolinas.
Areas all along the mid-Atlantic, East Coast, and New England were expected to feel Hurricane Irene's effects.
