How a thunderstorm overturns a ship with the force of a hurricane

How a thunderstorm overturns a ship with the force of a hurricane

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“It was a meteorologically crazy day with very strong winds from both a line of thunderstorms, and a strong wind event due to a wake-up call,” the National Weather Service in New Orleans said Tuesday night.

A stationary front across the southeast led to a large group of thunderstorms moving across Louisiana and other Gulf Coast states Tuesday.

The New Orleans Weather Service has a special marine warning Tuesday over steep waves for the coastal waters in and around Port Fourchon, Louisiana.

Shortly after the 129-foot Seacor Power elevator, a ship serving oil platforms, left Port Fourchon on Tuesday afternoon, it would have encountered a strong line of thunderstorms. The ship was about seven nautical miles south of Port Fourchon when the vessel issued a call on Mayday just before 4:30 p.m.

A marine warning issued for the storm, but the system moved fast, perhaps too fast for the crew of the ship to respond in time. The storm also increased as he moved from abroad.

High waves and winds of 40 to 60 mph were reported at nearby land stations, even up to 12 hours after the boat capsized.

A separate ship in the same general area of ​​Port Fourchon measured a wind gust of 102 knots (117 km / h), which is equivalent to a category 3 hurricane.

“The cloud tops have reached more than 50,000 feet, indicating very strong storms,” ​​CNN meteorologist Taylor Ward said. “Very strong winds are being pulled to the surface and radar data has also shown that rotation is embedded in the storms, so it can not be out of the question that water purifications could also take place.”

If that wasn’t enough, there was also something called ‘gravity waves’.

The weather service noted that gravitational waves were trapped under a strong temperature inversion – an increase in air temperature with altitude – just above the surface, about the lowest 1,500 feet of the atmosphere. That inversion resulted in ‘waves of stronger winds blowing in gusts over land and sustained storm surge with gusts over larger bodies of water’.

This would have made it even more difficult on any ship in that region, let alone a large one that had already fought stormy conditions.

Rescue efforts continue

Six people have been rescued from the water while the bodies of four people have been recovered so far.

Several agencies, including the U.S. Coast Guard, the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries in Louisiana, the sheriff’s office of Lafourche Parish, and other groups in Louisiana, are participating in the search and rescue efforts for the nine people still missing. The effort includes helicopters, planes and boats.

The Coast Guard has been using contracted private divers for the past few days to carry out search and rescue missions. However, the weather was not ideal. Thunderstorms repeatedly appeared in the search area with gusts of wind, small hail and the potential for water spray. The chance of showers and thunderstorms remains in the forecast for the weekend, making the search and rescue teams more difficult.

“Our rescue teams diligently continued the search and rescue efforts for the missing people of the wrecked vessel,” said Capt. Will Orseans, commander of the Coast Guard sector, said New Orleans.

One body recovered, but 12 people are still missing after a merchant vessel capsized off the coast of Louisiana

Watson noted that the water temperature is above 70 degrees, and this is an important detail.

According to the U.S. Search and Rescue Task Force, the human body can survive long periods in the water, as long as the temperature is about 70 degrees Fahrenheit. The physical conditions of the person concerned also play a role.

So, with water temperatures in the low 70s currently located around the ship, the temperature may not be exactly warm, but it can survive.

Crew members of the U.S. Coast Guard clipper Glenn Harris pull a person out of the water after the commercial elevator boat Seacor Power capsized on Tuesday, April 13th.

Mallika Kallingal, Joe Sutton and Taylor Ward contributed to this report.

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