The Inquisitr » gustav

EarthCam Wants You to Cover Hurricanes

Dominic Rivera — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 13:28:22 +0000

Image via Wikipedia If you live within the path of hurricanes Hannah, Ike, and Josephine and you own a webcam, then Earthcam has a standing invitation for you to post live views of your areas.

Let me tell you, if you’re in the path of a hurricane, the best thing to do is to look after your safety.

The call came after Earthcam visitors tripled looking for views of areas being hit by last week’s hurricane Gustav. Now, I understand. It’s about traffic.

If you don’t know how to do it, Earthcam is urging you to sign up for a free account at MyCam where you can share and save live images on an easily created personal homepage that includes local time and weather conditions.

What’s nice with MyCam is that your account also allows you to generate revenue by allowing visitors to donate money to you. Yeah, I supposed you would need that if you focus on your webcam than getting ready for the hurricane’s wrath.

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Tracking Gustav: Storm Scammers Hit the Net

JR — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 18:00:30 +0000

Gustav may still be going strong, but scammers are already making their move to take advantage of families suffering from the storm.

Louisiana’s attorney general office is monitoring more than a hundred domain names registered in the past day related to the storm, most containing words such as “charity” and “relief.” While some may be legit, many are feared to be fake fronts for crooks to steal kind-hearted people’s credit card and bank account information, then use it for their own selfish purposes. Some are even looking ahead with names related to Hanna, the next storm about to hit the U.S. coast. Several of the domains are results of squatters looking to churn out some cash from the storms and are already up for sale on eBay or Sedo.

Phishers have also started sending out e-mails to families along the Gulf Coast that ask for their bank information to “confirm” it in the storm’s wake. These same sorts of attacks all popped up in the days surrounding Hurricane Katrina three years ago.

If you’re interested in contacting a legit charity working to help families displaced by Hurricane Gustav, check out the list below. You can also find everything from live cameras and storm tracking tools to Web services devoted to helping find loved ones at our Online Storm Resource Center.

Legitimate Gustav Charities:

UPDATE*** For the latest storm stream, see Hurricane Ike Live.

Tracking Gustav: Online Storm Resource Center

JR — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 16:04:25 +0000

As Hurricane Gustav makes its move over land, there are numerous ways for you to track the storm and connect with loved ones over the Internet.

Cameras: Many of the live resources and cameras are starting to disappear. The Weather Channel has a decent array of functioning cameras still running. You can also find some streaming images courtesy of the folks at Gannett Louisiana/Gannett News. Their six feeds are slow-moving at the moment and are hit and miss, but I’m seeing a camera up on at least one this minute. Louisiana’s Department of Transportation is currently posting regular snapshots from its traffic cams as well.

Maps: The meteorologists themselves get their information from this site, NOAA’s National Hurricane Center. The Center posts updates every three hours, at 8:00, 11:00, 2:00, and 5:00 ET (repeating in an a.m.-p.m. cycle). The most significant of those updates are typically the 11:00 and 5:00 ones. You can see their latest forecasts, three- and five-day tracks, and live satellite images of Gustav and the other storms at sea — including Hanna, currently looking to make landfall somewhere near the Georgia-South Carolina border over the weekend. This is the same information the people on TV use to make their maps and deliver their forecasts.
Up-to-the-minute storm info: Louisiana has set up an emergency Web site with the latest headlines and information.
Finding people: If you know anyone in the area, the Red Cross’s Safe and Well program may be able to give you an update on their location or status. It lets families register their information by home address and phone number once they’re okay so friends and relatives can find them. There is also a similar phone-based service set up by the Red Cross. You can dial 443-992-4890 to search for messages from loved ones.
Finding people: FEMA also has a National Emergency Family Registry and Locator System, accessible here. The same information is also available via voice at 1-866-288-2484.
Finding people: If you need to track down someone in a shelter, the Red Cross’s shelter hotline is 1-800-733-2767. Alabama has a specific shelter information line at 1-800-206-0816 and Mississippi’s is 1-866-472-8265.
Reaching people: Major mobile providers suggest using text messages to try to contact people in the area rather than calling their cell phones, as that places less burden on the sure to be already overloaded networks. Try using a free Web-based service, such as the internationally accessible GizmoSMS.
Reaching people: AT&T is offering some of its pre-paid GoPhone devices to evacuees. They are available in Houston and San Antonio stores now and more are being shipped in tonight for families seeking shelter in that area.
Evacuation 2.0: Want to read how the blogosphere and specifically Twitter have changed the face of this storm evacuation? Check out this article from the Chicago Tribune.

UPDATE*** For the latest storm stream, see Hurricane Ike Live.