WATCH OUT FOR HURRICANES
People want to live in a calm world but weather conditions are changing fast and the world is getting hotter and hotter. Natural disasters started to happen more often and hurricanes are one of these dangerous disasters.,
A hurricane is a huge rotating storm and it usually develops over the ocean waters. Hurricanes happen because air pressure turns winds into enormous storms. These storms can be as fast as 155 miles per hour. With this kind of a big hurricane, the roof of houses fall, buildings are destroyed and cars are damaged.
Hurricanes are also very harmful because they may last for days or weeks and a large area of land is affected by hurricanes. There are five categories of hurricanes, which are based on wind speeds.
Category 1 – Winds between 74 – 95 mph. Winds snap branches, uproot trees, and overturn mobile homes that aren’t secured to the ground.
Category 2 – Winds between 96 -110 mph. Winds are strong enough to destroy weak doors and windows and create 8-feet ocean waves.
Category 3 – Winds between 111 - 130 mph. Intense winds cause major flooding near the coast, which can destroy homes.
Category 4 – Winds between 131 - 155 mph. Winds are strong enough to destroy some buildings. They cause heavy damage on roofs.
Category 5 – Winds greater than 155 mph. Buildings along the shorelines are washed away. Everything can be totally destroyed.
There were very dangerous hurricanes in history and one of them is Hurricane Katrina. In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf coast of The United States and it was a total disaster for many people. It destroyed the towns on the beach in Mississippi and Louisiana. 80% of New Orleans was damaged by heavy flooding and 100.000 people were trapped in their homes for days and no one could help them. They didn’t have food, drinking water or electricity and these people couldn’t leave the city because they didn’t have a car, or they were very poor. Even animals couldn’t survive the hurricane. One million people left their houses and 1800 people died because of Hurricane Katrina.
When the skies become very dark with yellows or greens, it is time to find a safe place to stay. When ocean temperatures get very high, strong winds start to blow. You need to be careful when a hurricane is coming.
No one can stop a hurricane or change its direction. When you hear that there may be a hurricane, you should follow emergency procedures in your city.