What is the most dangerous storm? What storm kills more people and does more damage to property than all the others combined? The answer is the deadly hurricane.
Hurricanes are natural phenomenons that occur every year around the same time, late June to mid-December. Hurricanes, known as typhoons and cyclones to some people, are the most deadly storms. As I said before, take the number of people all of the other storms have killed and add them up. Compare that number with the number of people hurricanes have killed. Is it bigger? It most likely is. To explain just how powerful they are think about this. The energy in a hurricane is equal to dozens of powerful atomic bombs going off every second! They can stretch over 70,000 square miles, and are about 300 miles wide.
The most dangerous part of a hurricane is the storm surge. The storm surge’s powerful waves can tumble huge buildings and flood homes so quickly that you would’t know what was going on until afterwards. When a hurricane reaches land it can get up to twenty-five feet higher than it was on water! Out of every ten people that are killed by the hurricane nine are killed by the storm surge. Because of these powerful waves, boats can be sunk, cars washed away, beaches gone, and bridges can be buried under the average temperature water. A hurricane will form when the water is about 79° F.What are the first signs? First of all you can look for a big change in waves. Second the sky will probably be dark and gloomy. Third there will be rain. Not an ordinary sprinkle, but a powerful beating. Last the waves will rise higher and higher. Before you know it the beach is gone and the waves are rushing towards you. You know then that you are in a hurricane.
The hurricane was named hundreds of years ago. Natives living on islands in the Caribbean Sea named it. They believed Huracan, the god of evil, created hurricanes.
The winds are the other most dangerous part of a hurricane. The strong winds can take roofs off of houses, bend trees, and sometimes even pull the trees right out of the ground. Crazed winds can turn ordinary things like cars, buildings and streetlights into deadly weapons. When flying through the air they can hit anything at a high impact. The winds of a hurricane blow at least seventy-four miles per hour and sometimes over two hundred miles per hour.
If you would like to see a picture taken by a satellite of one of the United States’ deadliest storms click on the button above that says Hurricane Alicia.Just like a tornado a hurricane spins in a circular motion. If a hurricane is above the equator the winds normally spin counter-clockwise. If it is south of the equator the winds spin clockwise. Also if they are north of the equator they usually travel north and die out over the cold seas. The winds are not always as strong as tornadoes but because they are normally hundreds of times bigger they are more destructive.
What do you think the eye is like? Is it dark and gloomy, or is it a beautiful blue sky with calm waves? The answer is a beautiful blue sky with amazingly calm waves. Many are tricked when they are in the eye of the hurricane. They think the storm is over, but it’s only halfway done. The reason is there is low pressure in the eye. The eye can be very misleading. It can be twelve miles across or one hundred twenty-five miles across. A ring of cumulonimbus clouds surrounds the eye. Just like a tornado winds spin around the eye.
The hurricane travels about ten to fifteen miles per hour. They last anywhere from five days to seven days. When their main source content heat is cut off the hurricane dies.
Forecasters and scientists have learned almost everything about the hurricane except how to stop it. Maybe someday in the future we will find away to stop these horrible, deadly, scary storms.
