Hurricanes have different variations and they are mostly formed in the North Atlantic Ocean or Northeast pacific. Hurricanes are very similar to Cyclones and Typhoons, they are named differently based on their geographical location. Whatever the case is, the damage is almost always devastating. Hurricanes rip through their intended target and tend to destroy buildings, cars, houses and even in some cases put lives in danger or even take them away. This weather phenomenon is considered a tropical storm and tends to hit New York anytime from the beginning of June to the end of November, which we call hurricane season. A few hurricanes that I will discuss in my essay are Hurricane Isaias, Hurricane Sandy and Hurricane Irene, which all occurred in the same decade.
Hurricane Isaias touched upon New York City on August 4th, 2020. The damages were not as bad as other incidents to related events. However, that may mostly be due to the fact that it was slowing down once it arrived towards New York City, traveling at the speed of about 55KT. This means it was brought down from a H1 category hurricane to a tropical storm. New York City got off light, and for the most part could consider itself lucky. Even so, it was unbelievable how the wind flowed through the buildings and wooshed its way throughout the city along with the heavy rain storm! This was a lighter interaction that New York City has dealt with over the decade.
Next up is Hurricane Sandy which occurred on October 29th, 2011, in New York City. A lot of the city that was near sea level was washed away, highways were closed, houses were demolished and even took away a few lives of New York residents. According to the NYC government website, about 44 residents lost their lives and the damage caused by the storm racked up to roughly $19 billion. Now $19 billion may sound like a huge sum of money, but money can never measure up to human life, as well as for the 44 residents that met a terrible fate during this H1 (category 1 storm by the time it reached New York City) level hurricane it also left over 69,000 residential units with damage so horrible that it made it almost unlivable to the habitants. Life became something out of a horror film for these New Yorkers, surviving a hurricane just to be homeless and have no hope for food, shelter or even a time period of knowing when their lives would revert back to normal. Hurricane Sandy was truly a devastating tropical storm and one to remember in the years to come!
Last but not least, we are going to be looking into Hurricane Irene, which became a tropical storm once it reached New York City on August 28th, 2011, just a couple weeks after hurricane Sandy. Hurricane Irene still managed to add to the damage that was already done and leaving even more people without homes. According to the data Baruch has gathered, it cost New York City upwards of $100 million and left another 8,000 New Yorkers displaced. This was a terrible year to be a resident in the city, especially if it was for someone that lived closer to the water. Gashes of wind and all kinds of things being blown and tossed around causing damage and harming anything in its path.
New York has had a bad decade with hurricanes, but it doesn’t compare to any of the damage happening in other parts of the world. Hurricanes that do affect New York City tend to gain speed and strength near the Caribbean Sea and steam rolls their way through the east coast. The Islands in the Caribbean Sea probably get the worst of it, unless the hurricane is a fighter then the damage gets even worse for the east coast of the United States. Out of all the natural disasters, this phenomenon seems to be the one that affects New York City the most. We can only hope that we continue getting sunny days and can avoid the trouble that can be brought upon us at any time when there is a natural disasters.
image: https://www.thedailybeast.com/hurricane-sandy-brings-havoc-to-alphabet-city
Works Used
- https://www1.nyc.gov/site/cdbgdr/about/About%20Hurricane%20Sandy.page#:~:text=Over%20the%20course%20of%2048,healthcare%2C%20and%20other%20critical%20services.
- https://www.baruch.cuny.edu/nycdata/disasters/hurricanes-irene.html
- https://coast.noaa.gov/hurricanes/#map=7.1/40.708/-73.978&search=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
