Quotes by Barry Keim

“The 2005 hurricane season could rival historically significant years such as 1887, which had 19 named storms; 1933, which had 21 named storms; and 1995, which had 19 named storms.”

“Before the storm, nobody really believed this would happen, ... Now everybody knows that this can happen, so I think itll change.”

“Wow, that is pretty impressive.”

“(El Nio) can be very persistent on occasion, and it does seem like we are in a mode where we are seeing them more frequently.”

“Every one of these municipalities has to make decisions to how much risk they want to take. Most people dont defend against 100-year floods when building drainage networks. It all depends how much risk youre willing to take.”

“By Saturday morning, [the national hurricane center was] locked onto southern Louisiana. It was a pretty darned good two-day forecast, and nobody trusts four- to-five-day forecasts anyway, whether its a hurricane or not.”

“We are in a weak El Nio that started a few months back and is gradually building. Typically what ends up happening is we get more cyclogenesis --the formation of storms -- taking place in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico off of the Texas coast. Once these things form they tend to track towards the Northwest. It puts (Lufkin) in proximity for some rainfall.”

“It shouldnt be too severe yet. If we see these dry levels this summer, it could be disastrous.”