Catastrophes!: Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Tornadoes, and Other Earth-Shattering Disasters

6 Hurricanes, Cyclones, and Typhoons: Nature on the Rampage

6 Hurricanes, Cyclones, and Typhoons Nature on the Rampage This is the disintegrating power of a great wind: it isolates one from one’s own kind. An earthquake, a landslip, an avalanche, overtake a man incidentally as it were—without passion. A furious gale attacks him like a personal enemy, tries to grasp his limbs, fastens upon his mind, seeks to rout his very spirit out of him. —Joseph Conrad, Typhoon, 1903 The Hurricanes of 2005 Residents of the southeastern United States, Mexico, and the Caribbean know it as “hurricane season.” Officially spanning June 1 to November 1, hurricane season is the time of year when most of the hurricanes come out of the equatorial Atlantic, sweep up the Gulf Stream, and strike the eastern part of North and Central America. This is when the heat of the summer has fully warmed up the tropical waters and built up enough energy to trigger hurricanes. In some years, only a few tropical storms become powerful enough to be called Hurricanes, Cyclones, and Typhoons 157 hurricanes, but in the past few decades, hurricanes have been more powerful with each season. The year 2005 was turning out to be the worst hurricane season in recorded history. By the end of the season in January 2006, there were a record 28 large, officially named tropical storms, and a record 15 had become hurricanes. Of these, seven turned into major hurricanes, a record five of them reached Category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricanes (extreme hurricanes with wind speeds exceeding 210 km/h (131 mph), and a record four of them reached Category 5 (catastrophic hurricanes with wind speeds exceeding 250 km/h, or 155 mph). Among these was the most intense storm ever recorded. There were even hurricanes in the South Atlantic, a phenomenon that scientists thought was impossible. There had never been a season like it, but there may be more of these in store. The season got off to a rip-roaring start in June with tropical storms Arlene and Bret and Hurricane Cindy, which dropped 133 mm (5 inches) of rain on Louisiana and Mississippi and killed three people. On July 5, Hurricane Dennis struck Cuba, Haiti, and Florida, becoming a Category 4 storm with the strongest air pressure ever recorded in July in that region; it killed 89 people and caused $5 billion in damage. As people were recovering, Hurricane Emily closed in, setting the record for the fastest-moving storm. It hit southeastern Mexico on July 11 with Category 5 strength, killing 14 people and causing $400 million in damages. These storms alone would have made 2005 one of the worst seasons on record, but it wasn’t even August yet. August 2005 turned out to be much worse than even the most pessimistic forecasts. After tropical storms Franklin, Gert, and Harvey passed without major damage, Hurricane Irene was followed by tropical storm Jose, which flooded eastern Mexico even though the storm never reached hurricane status. Then came Katrina (fig. 6.1). Forming over the Bahamas in mid-August, it became a Category 4 hurricane as it passed over Florida, reached the warm Loop Current in the Gulf of Mexico, and built up even more energy. Meteorologists had been tracking it for days and sent out warnings to officials and the 158 Catastrophes! public that this was going to be a catastrophic storm, but neither the local authorities nor the Bush administration took the extra steps that were required : earlier and more urgent evacuations, sending relief aid as the storm approached, and so on. Local agencies warned most of the area in the storm’s path to get out of the way. When Katrina made its second landfall along the southern Gulf Coast on August 29, 80 percent of the people in the region had evacuated, but others were hunkered down, figuring they could ride out the storm. The evacuation order was useless to poorer neighborhoods of New Orleans, whose residents did not have cars, and no public transportation was provided. Katrina turned out to be much worse than anyone had anticipated (plates 9, 10). The damage from the heavy wind and rain was more severe than during any hurricane in recent memory, and buildings and trees up and down the Fig. 6.1. A NOAA satellite image of Hurricane Katrina before it made landfall in Florida, August 2005. In the next few days, it...