MELISSA vs KATRINA

Before my hurricane comparison, a few international developments.  I begin with President Donald Trump, here with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung.  From Time:

Like other political and business leaders around the world, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung looked to lavish the U.S. President with a gift, a thinly veiled attempt to get to his heart. While some, like Japan’s Prime Minister who met Trump on Tuesday, have lavished him with golf clubs, and others have flattered him with honorary medals and trophies, Lee presented the man who earlier this year proclaimed himself “king” on a fake TIME magazine cover with a gold crown.

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  That photo above is gift of gold crown to Trump to commemorate a golden age of the Korea-U.S. alliance.  Note Lee's special gold tie.  A replica of a 1000-year old Korean kingdom crown.  Symbolizes the divine connection between authority of the heavens and sovereignty on earth, as well as the strong leadership authority of a leader.
• Lee also conferred Trump with the Grand Order of Mugunghwa, South Korea's highest honor.

• A No Kings protest was held as Trump arrived.

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  A trade deal was not signed, but all signs look favorable.
• Tomorrow, Trump and Xi Jinping of China meet in Busan, South Korea.

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  This is day 29 of the government shutdown.  Almost a million workers have been furloughed (but will later get paid for not working) and 2 million are working without yet getting paid.  However essential services are continuing, so this is not a crippling problem for the nation.
• In fact, the stock market is continuing to break all-time high records.  Yesterday:

The S&P 500 rose 0.23% to close at 6,890.89. It had surpassed the 6,900 level for the first time on an intraday basis earlier in the day. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.80% to finish at 23,827.49, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 161.78 points, or 0.34%, to settle at 47,706.37. In addition to their closing highs, the tech-heavy Nasdaq and 30-stock Dow scored new all-time intraday highs alongside the broad market S&P 500.

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  Today, the Federal Reserve cut rates to the lowest level in three years. It's benchmark interest rate was lowered by a quarter point to between 3.75% and 4%.

The Dow closed lower by 74 points, or 0.16%. The S&P 500 closed flat. They both earlier on broke intraday record highs.  Meanwhile, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite eked out a gain of 0.55% and closed at a record high.

No doubt Melissa was a damaging hurricane, but good information is lacking to appreciate what happened.  AccuWeather estimates preliminary damage at "only" $22 billion. 

• Landfall yesterday at around 1PM at 185 MPH over the south coast of west Jamaica.
• 77% of island without electricity.  But is recovering quickly.
• So far, an uncomfirmed death toll of seven.
• However, Haiti, which was largely missed by the hurricane, reported 40 deaths from flash flooding.

• Melissa made landfall over Cuba at 9:10PM as a Category 3.  
• Over 735,000 (national population of 11 million) evacuated.
• No reported casualties.
• Now threatening the Bahamas, which consists of 3000 islands, cays and islets, only 30 inhabited.  Has a population of just over 400,000.

• Speed of Melissa is now up to 14.5 MPH, and strength could increase as she heads for Bermuda.  At this time, the track is projected to be just west of Bermuda.  Is an archipelago of 181 islands, although the most significant islands are connected by bridges with a total land area of 21 square miles and population of 64,000.

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  The waters where Melissa formed were 2.5 F degrees warmer than average.
• Was the third Category 5 hurricane of this Atlantic season.
• Melissa is now a Category 1 at 90 MPH.
• It was a year ago when we were in George Town, Cayman Islands, next door to Jamaica.

In comparison with Hurricane Melissa, Hurricane Katrina:

• On 5August2025 first made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane just north of the Broward-Miami-Dade county line of Florida.  Knocked out power for a million residents and caused $630 million of damage.
• Katrina then entered the Gulf of Mexico as a tropical storm.

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  However, on 28August2025, strengthened into a Category 5 at 160 MPH.
• On 29August2025, Katrina made landfall around 60 miles southeast of New Orleans as a Category 3 with winds of 125 MPH and a track moving at 12 MPH.
• Weakened into a Category 1 over Mississippi, but storm surges of 28 feet devastated much of Biloxi and Gulfport.
• 80% to 90% of the New Orleans' population evacuated.

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  However, 100,000 were trapped when the storm hit, with 25,000 escaping into the Ernest J. Morial Convention Center and 25,000 filling the Superdome.
• Half of New Orleans' 350-mile-long protection system of levees and flood walls was overwhelmed.
• 12,000 National Guard and 7,000 U.S. military troops were deployed to help.

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   1,833 were killed by Hurricane Katrina.  The Galveston Hurricane of 1900 killed between 8,000 and 12,000, while in 2017, the death total in Puerto Rico of Hurricane Maria was 4,600.
• More than a million people became homeless.
• Total damages of $170 billion, the costliest U.S. hurricane on record.

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  In 2000, the population of New Orleans was 484,674.  But this dropped to 230,172 after Katrina.  By 2020, New Orleans had 390,000 people.
• A little more than two years later, after Katrina struck, I attended the Sugar Bowl in the Superdome and took a tour through New Orleans.  There was still considerable devastation evident.

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