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“In virtually
every coastal city of any size from Texas to Maine . . . the United States
is building toward a hurricane disaster.” So concludes a recent report
from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Coast-hugging
crowds are vulnerable to storm-surge flooding, which causes 90 percent
of hurricane deaths. The Florida Keys are particularly at risk as they
have only one road for evacuation.
Florida,
Texas, Louisiana, and the Carolinas get walloped most, during a season
that peaks in August and September. Though winds often weaken over land,
hurricane rains can cause ruinous flooding well into Canada. Almost twice
as many hurricanes form in the Pacific as in the Atlantic; in each case
most spin harmlessly out to sea.
On
average, 1.6 hurricanes make landfall—meaning the eye crosses land—in
the U.S. each year. Yet severe damage from winds, rains, and hurricane-spawned
tornadoes often occurs hundreds of miles from the eye.
Illustrations
below courtesy of The National Geographical Society –
illustrations created by Rob Woods of Woods Ronsaville Harlin, Inc.
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