Two weeks after Ike, more than 400 are still missing. ... According to Wikipedia, the US death total stands at 61.

Most in Houston have likely gotten their power back. The city may look different but life for most will be getting back to normal. Meanwhile Hurricane Ike will likely go down as the second deadliest hurricane to happen in 40 years in the United States behind only Hurricane Katrina. The two deadliest I mention before? Camille in 1969 killed 256. Audrey in 1957 killed 390. But most of you won't notice. Many will move on thinking that Ike was just another ho-hum storm. Certainly not an Andrew or an Ivan or anything even close to a Katrina. Sad thing is that Ike has more in common with Katrina than any other storm since I was born (1973). Except for Katrina, no storm in the US since 1973 has killed more than 50 people. Even the vaunted Andrew resulted in a "mere" 26 direct fatalities.

Story after story after story will go un-noticed by mainstream America. After all Ike was two weeks ago. Its old news. We have an economic collapse to worry about. The sad thing is that most people will still go on thinking that us moderns are prepared for these storms even when we aren't.

"There were people who had sat through Category 3 storms and this was only a 2. Nobody realized the water would be that bad."

Yet the NWS -- the advisories those on the coast are SUPPOSED to be paying attention to -- said that it would be that bad. I seem to recall the press running with the CERTAIN DEATH claim some 9 hours AFTER it was issued by the NWS.

ALL NEIGHBORHOODS...AND POSSIBLY ENTIRE COASTAL COMMUNITIES...
WILL BE INUNDATED DURING THE PERIOD OF PEAK STORM TIDE. PERSONS
NOT HEEDING EVACUATION ORDERS IN SINGLE FAMILY ONE OR TWO STORY
HOMES WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH. MANY RESIDENCES OF AVERAGE
CONSTRUCTION DIRECTLY ON THE COAST WILL BE DESTROYED. (source)

I hope the NHC makes this storm the poster child the "its only a two" is a deadly mindset. I also hope they make a change and start reporting the IKE number along with -- maybe even in FRONT of -- the Saffir Simpson category. After all, Andrew's Cat 5 winds affected very few locations. Katrina and Ike's massive surges caused hundreds of deaths. Katrina was a Cat 3 ... Ike, "only a two".

If people who live on the coast aren't educated about this somebody will pay the price. I don't want it to be any of your loved ones.