Hurricanes are remarkably powerful events that can demolish cities. One percent of the hurricanes power could supply the U.S. for an entire year. The energy released by a hurricane in one day is equivalent to the power of four hundred twenty megaton hydrogen bombs (“Hurricane”). Hurricanes that hit highly populated areas tend to be more destructive and kill more people. The death toll of each hurricane has gone done since warnings …show more content…
and safety precautions have become better. The average death per year caused by hurricane by year is around 160 but this number is high due to the outlier of the 6000 deaths caused by an unnamed hurricane that hit Galveston, Texas in 1900.
Hurricanes are capable of doing tremendous amounts of damages in a week’s time.
People tend to think that the high winds of the hurricane are the main factor of the damage caused by the hurricane. The main factor of the damage caused is the floodwaters, high rainfall, and storm surge that the hurricane creates. This destroys homes and businesses because if enough rain collects to have multiple feet of water on the land, then the buildings get flooded and have to be repaired. The flooding also results in 90 percent of the deaths caused by hurricanes.
Storm surges are walls of water created by the hurricane when the eye of a hurricane(center) hit land. Storm surges do the most damage to coastal areas since coastal areas are the first areas to be hit by a hurricane. It can destroy most buildings that it is headed towards and causes floods and the loss of lives. The storm surge is powerful because the water is being pressurized into buildings and the water tends to destroy the buildings. A storm surge can range from 3 feet to 16 feet depending on the category of the hurricane that caused the storm
surge.