Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Hurricane Rosa (2018)/archive1

The following is an archived discussion of a featured article nomination. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.

The article was archived by Laser brain via FACBot (talk) 5 June 2019 [1].

Hurricane Rosa (2018)

Nominator(s): Noah^Talk 14:13, 5 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]

After having worked on Rosa for some time, I can say it is well-rounded in terms of prose. To my knowledge, it is complete in it describing the flooding events that took place in both the US and Mexico. I believe it to be of high enough quality to become an FA. I was granted permission to put up this nomination. Noah^Talk 14:13, 5 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Oppose from JC

Citing advisories for watch and warning changes is unnecessary when the TCR documents the same information in one place.
Where is Cabo San Quintin? No link or geographical context.
On the next day, the Government of Mexico changed the tropical storm watches on the west coast of Baja California to tropical storm warnings and issued watches for the east coast of Baja California from Bahia de los Angeles to San Felipe. - Since you established in the previous line that it's the Mexican gov't making these decisions, it's okay to use the passive voice here in the interest of brevity: "On the next day, watches were upgraded to warnings..."
Hurricane Rosa caused severe flooding in Baja California, with a peak rainfall total of 6.54 in (166 mm) occurring at Percebu. - The "with + -ing verb" construct implies that the second idea directly expounds upon the first. In this case, the amount of rain that fell is not a consequence of the flooding, so recommend rewording this.
In San Felipe, one highway collapsed and two others were flooded after 5.39 in (137 mm) of rain fell. - More than likely a section of highway collapsed ("eroded"?) rather than the entire thing.
In one neighborhood, a sinkhole opened up due to heavy rainfall. - The first part is meaningless unless you tell us which neighborhood.
Damage to the Port of San Felipe totaled about MX$10 million (US$530,000). - Some detail about the nature of damage to the port would be helpful.
floodwaters dragged several vehicles away. - Dragged → swept, and since the source doesn't give any indication as to the number of vehicles involved, remove "several."
In general, the information about Mexican effects is very poorly organized. In the second paragraph, we leap from impact to preps to preps/impact to aftermath and back to impact, all in the span of a few lines. I recognize that you're trying to arrange the info by state, but this doesn't work very well with short snippets of info; the prose flows poorly and you have to keep repeating the same general ideas (roads were blocked, homes were flooded) over and over again as you check off each state.
In Manzanillo, Colima, water currents caused multiple sinkholes and ruptured underground pipes. - I don't understand what "water currents" means here.
Heavy rainfall caused the inundation of [...] several landslides - See how this is clunky?
In Michoacán, hurricanes Rosa and Sergio destroyed 86,000 acres (35,000 ha) of crops. - Sergio needs to be placed in proper context, with at least a date and some justification for combining the two storms' effects.
In San Bernardino County, the remnants of Rosa and a Pacific low produced thunderstorms over the Mojave Desert. - Avoid locating an event twice, especially if the second instance concerns a broader area.
On October 1, portions of U.S. Route 95 were flooded out, with floodwaters depositing rocks and other objects on the road - "Flooded out" too informal. Close paraphrase of source: depositing rocks and other debris across the road
Additionally, portions of State Route 62 and State Route 127 were also flooded out. The same as above, plus "additionally [...] also."
By 09:00 UTC on October 3, a preliminary total of 6.89 in (175 mm) was reported at Towers Mountain, Arizona, with other areas reporting 1.0–5.5 in (25–140 mm) of rain. - Is 09:00 when the rainfall ended? Why is this total in particular identified as preliminary? Where is Towers Mountain? And why not simply "up to 5.5 inches"? I consider it extremely unlikely that no location received between 0" and 0.99" of rain.
firefighters were forced to rescue several people from flooded vehicles - Where is this supported in reference #42 (just a compilation of tweets from unofficial accounts)?
Try to avoid starting sentences "Additionally...", especially multiple times in the same paragraph. Every sentence comes in addition to the last.
At the intersection of 35th Avenue and Cactus Road, it was reported that a sinkhole had formed. - Weasel wording; if you only have unconfirmed reports, ditch it.
a 26-year-old French woman was killed just north of Cameron after being struck by a vehicle. - Her nationality is irrelevant, and I'm confused about the influence Rosa had on a car vs. pedestrian accident.
flash flooding left several buildings inundated and water and debris on Main Street. Hard to parse, since you're trying to use the same "left" in two different ways. Also close paraphrasing of the source: Flash flooding on Main Street in Pioche left water and debris in the street and water in several buildings.
At Menager Lake near Sells, rainfall from Rosa filled the Menagers Dam above maximum capacity, raising concerns about its structural integrity. - You can't fill a dam. This is also unsubstantiated, as far as I can tell; the given source says the water level peaked a foot below the dam's crest.
Is it "Menagers" or Menegar's"?
Despite the water level having receded, there were still concerns that the dam could fail. On October 4, the Tohono O’odham Nation announced that they were assembling an engineering team to inspect the dam before more rain arrives. - Change "arrives" to past tense. Was more heavy rainfall in the immediate forecast, or was this simply a precautionary measure (it was bound to rain again at some point)? And the reader is lost without a final word on whether the dam held. "assembling an engineering team to inspect the dam" is the same wording used in the source.
On the same day, a 34-year-old man was found deceased after the flooding in Golden Valley. - I know "On the same day" doesn't strictly convey a connection other than date... but it definitely connotes one. And the source goes into much more detail about the circumstances surrounding the man's death; why not incorporate some of them?

Oppose – With all due respect, this article is woefully ill-prepared for FAC, and frankly should not have been promoted to GA. The above comments are in response to only the "Preparations and impact" section. I hope you don't simply implement my recommended text changes and call it a day; a fundamental overhaul of the content, sourcing, organization, and presentation is needed. If you're interested in attempting this and would care for my assistance, I'd be happy to lend a hand. – Juliancolton | ^Talk 19:53, 5 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]

@FAC coordinators: Withdrawing per the above... Will attempt to make improvements. Noah^Talk 20:51, 5 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Closing note: This candidate has been archived, but there may be a delay in bot processing of the close. Please see WP:FAC/ar, and leave the {{featured article candidates}} template in place on the talk page until the bot goes through. --Laser brain (talk) 21:03, 5 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this page.