Earthstorm is a docuseries produced by Netflix. It has four episodes that each focus on a different natural disaster that took place: tornadoes, volcanoes, earthquakes, and hurricanes, respectively. The fourth episode, titled "Hurricane," focuses on Hurricane Ida.
In 2021, Hurricane Ida struck Houma, Louisiana, a town fifty miles southwest of New Orleans. It hit as a Category Four storm on August 29, 2021- fifteen years to the day after Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc on New Orleans and devastated much of Louisiana.
This forty-three-minute episode gave us several different perspectives of people impacted by Ida. One of the main storylines was that of Gabe Cox and Jeff Magnum. Cox and Magnum are "storm chasers" in a sense, but they consider themselves to be more like "storm journalists." They do not measure any of the storms or utilize any meteorology equipment. Rather, they simply collect media- photos, videos, and audio- in order to properly give their audience an idea of what the storm is like.
The episode also included interviews and clips of press conferences from New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell. This was a very touching inclusion because it showed the emotions and impacts left behind by Hurricane Katrina. Part of the reason that Katrina resulted in so many fatalities was because of the mandatory evacuation that was put in place. It was called the day before the hurricane made landfall, and many people were sitting ducks on interstates when they would have been safer in their homes. Cantrell said that New Orleans would require at least 72 hours to safely and successfully implement a mandatory evacuation. They did not have that kind of time with Katrina, and they would not have it with Ida either. Rather than try and force the evacuation anyways, Cantrell ordered the residents of New Orleans to shelter in place. Naturally, some people would still try and leave the city, but this would help minimize interstate congestion and hopefully lower the likelihood of great fatalities.
"Hurricane" also did a great job of being educational and informative. For one, it explained how hurricanes are made. It used graphics to show that warm ocean water weighs less than cold ocean water, so it rises. Wind helps whip it up into a rotating vacuum, which creates the main structure of the hurricane. It also explains how warm water strengthens hurricanes, and used this as a good lead in to talk about climate change.
Climate change is a very important topic to discuss when making a documentary episode about a very powerful hurricane such as Ida. It explains that hurricanes are not increasing in frequency as a whole, but that the number of powerful category four and five storms is what has been increasing. It also explained that in the last three decades, the number of category four and five hurricanes has almost doubled, which to a viewer like me, is a clear indication that something in the climate is amiss. It also used Ida to explain how these strong storms are able to push further inland, but cities far from the southeastern coast are not built to withstand hurricanes. Ida pushed all the way through New York City before it truly dissipated. Although it was not nearly as lethal to the Big Apple as Hurricane Sandy was in 2012, it still flooded the subway system. It was actually the largest amount of rainfall in one hour that NYC had ever recorded.
All in all, this was a very well-rounded and informative documentary. It held my attention the whole time without losing my interest, but it also proved to be incredibly informative and up to date on its climate change information. There are so many interesting facts and statistics that it gave that I cannot even include in this review. I highly recommend watching it.
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