Hurricanes

Since Hurricane Sandy struck NYC and New Jersey last week, I’ve been reading up on U.S. hurricanes. A Google search led me to Wikipedia, then multiple links on that site led to much information about the history of U.S. hurricanes.

A hurricane on Labor Day in 1935 was the most intense hurricane ever to make landfall in our country. Close to 400 people were killed in that hurricane. Even though this was the most intense hurricane with relationship to force, more lives were lost in other early twentieth century hurricanes. In 1900, a Category 4 hurricane hit Galveston, Texas. The official death toll from that hurricane was 8,000 (though the actual number is uncertain, with estimates ranging from 6,000 to 12,000). In the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane, 2,500 people died in South Florida when a storm surge breached the dike surrounding the lake. Flooding covered hundreds of square miles. The earliest recorded U.S. hurricane occurred in 1871. Who knew that climate change was in play so many years ago?

The charts I found on hurricane activity indicate that hurricanes occur in cycles. For the sake of those who live on the coastal areas of our country, I hope the current cycle is over very soon.

Destruction caused by the 1900 Galveston, Texas, hurricane.*

*Postcard picture from FamilyOldPhotos.com