Last week, Los Angeles dealt with its first forecasted hurricane — which was reduced to a tropical storm — in decades. After the storm was downgraded, many in the city of Angels argued it was overhyped by the media. KFI AM-640’s Bill Handel defended the media over the accusations.
During Monday’s show, Handel argued that it was important for forecasters and news media members to give accurate information.
“Hurricane Hillary: Overhyped? Maybe. Maybe,” Handel reiterated. “But I’d rather be safe than sorry. So as Hurricane Hillary barrels towards Southern California last week, the storm actually made international news. I mean, it was a big deal, mainly — not because of its power, because there we’ve had hurricanes that have come in at hurricane level five in Florida.
“And the system did turn out to be historic for Southern California. Officials did issue the region’s first-ever tropical storm watch later upgraded to a warning for broad swaths of the southland because it became the first storm of that strength to hit our region in decades, basically since 1939. And the system did turn out to be historic, dumping a record summer rainfall and tropical storm winds reaching speeds seen twice in the last century.”
Handel then noted how far technology has come, as virtually the only people impacted by a potential hurricane are those who refuse to heed warnings in advance.
“In 1900, the Galveston, Texas hurricane was unknown. People didn’t know it was coming. 8,000 people died in Galveston. Today we have the warnings and the only people that are in danger of dying are people that simply ignore the warnings,” concluded Handel.
