As Tropical Storm Philippe is on the rage around Cuba and Florida, we are about to enter the final month (hopefully! I don't want an extended season like in 2005) of the 2017 Hurricane Season. So far, 2017 has had 17 storms: Tropical Storm Arlene Tropical Storm Bret Tropical Storm Cindy Tropical Depression Four Tropical Storm Don Tropical Storm Emily Hurricane Franklin Hurricane Gert Hurricane Harvey* Hurricane Irma** Hurricane Jose* Hurricane Katia Hurricane Lee* Hurricane Maria** Hurricane Nate Hurricane Ophelia* Tropical Storm Philippe Tropical Storm Rina * major hurricane ** Category 5 Hurricane The season's cost is likely to be the highest in world history, and most of that is from just a few major hurricanes: Hurricane Harvey had an estimated cost of $198,630,000,000.00, meaning it was the costliest natural disaster in all of U.S. history. Most of the damage is in Houston and various other areas of Texas and Louisiana, but the hurricane's remnants also set off two tornadoes in Alabama that injured 4 people severely enough to visit a hospital, and a lot of the remaining water in the system rained down on Tennessee causing flooding in various areas, resulting in a single death in Memphis and evacuations in portions of both Memphis and Nashville. Hurricane Irma, damaged to the islands of Cape Verde, Barbuda, Saint Martin (divided into French and Dutch halves), Saint Barthelemy (overseas territory of France), U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico (overseas territory of the U.S), Hispaniola, Turks and Caicos Islands, The Bahamas, and Cuba, as well as the mainland Southeastern United States (Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina were more severely affected while the damage in North Carolina and Tennessee was light). Cost: > $66,770,000,000.00 Hurricane Jose caused damage to some of the Caribbean islands that Hurricane Irma impacted very shortly before, as well as the U.S. East Coast, which forced the nearly-destroyed Barbuda to be fully evacuated to Antigua. Hurricane Maria once again struck the Leeward Islands and U.S. East Coast, and as a result of this, both Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are now in a humanitarian crisis. Cost: > $103,450,000,000.00 Hurricane Nate, despite being only a Category 1 hurricane, caused severe damage in Louisiana. It also had the fastest recorded motion of any hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico, at 28 miles per hour. Cost: > $835,000,000.00 Hurricane Ophelia fanned forest fires in Spain and Portugal that arsonists had already lit, killing at least 49 people. It also damaged the British Isles as an extratropical cyclone after unexpectedly becoming a major hurricane. Cost: > $71,000,000.00 What are your thoughts to this? I personally don't like how severe this hurricane season has been, but I have been able to learn more about some of the island countries that were affected after hearing about them and doing research. But in all seriousness, Poor Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, and everyone else who suffered a major hurricane. (Last edited on December 14, 2017)
Predictions are in for what the 2018 hurricane season may be like: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/weather/hurricane/fl-reg-hurricane-seasons-ends-20171129-story.html Be alert, prepared, and ready to act. It doesn't matter whether it's August/September, February/March, or anything in between - you never know when you might need it!
It seems logical that hurricane seasons become more costly as time goes on. More and more buildings are built, and more dollars are spent per building too.
That, and climate change makes hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons worse over time the warmer it gets.
For those of you in the path of Tropical Storm Alberto, stay safe! It looks like it's going to bring some devastating flooding!
Me too, but I seriously doubt it. They didn't do nearly enough when Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico... Poor them. And their electrical grid collapsed AGAIN last month.
