South Texas Often Hit by Hurricanes

When you think of Texas, you probably don't think of hurricanes, but statistics prove that Texas is brushed or hit every 4 years by a hurricane. Just recently, in fact, five Texas counties impacted by Hurricane Karl are seeking federal loans. A disaster loan outreach center opened in Corpus Christi for the people who needed help with property damage.

Because Texas is not a high-profile state when it comes to hurricanes, residents don't always think about hurricane shutters. They should, however. Those who install roll-down shutters often have less serious damage to their homes caused by high winds.

Irene Hurricane

Texas has a long history of being slammed by hurricanes and tropical storms. Because it's not as serious as a hurricane, you might not think of tropical storms as dangerous, but consider this: there is only one mph difference in the wind speed for a tropical storm to upgrade to a hurricane. The tornadoes that form near the eye and the outer spiral bands of the hurricane or tropical storm are also just as harmful as the hurricane itself. Just to name a few of the hurricanes that have hammered Texas in recent years:

Hurricane Alicia: Alicia was a small hurricane, but a very powerful one, nonetheless. It strengthened as it came in, and reached Category 3 status as it hit land. Only a 60 mile sector of the coast had hurricane force winds from Hurricane Alicia. Despite its small size, Alicia caused over .4 billion in damages.

Hurricane Gilbert: Gilbert was a Category 5 storm, and did not even strike the coast of Texas. It did plenty of damage anyway, though. Wind gusts of up to 83 mph were measured, without the hurricane never making landfall in Texas. There were at least 29 tornadoes spotted during the storm in south Texas, and they caused between and million in damages.

Hurricane Bret: Bret made landfall with 115 mph winds, making it a Category 3 storm as it hit the coast of Texas. Bret caused about million in damage, but no deaths.

Hurricane Karl: 22 people have been confirmed killed by Hurricane Karl, and losses from the storm have been estimated at .9 billion.

Hurricanes and tropical storms often hit the coast of Texas, and they can cause extreme damage to homes and properties. If you want to minimize the damage caused by these storms, you would be wise to install hurricane shutters or their equivalent today.

South Texas Often Hit by Hurricanes

Can Hurricanes Be Stopped?

Computer guru, Bill Gates, is now channeling his unparalleled "techno-gifts" in a new direction - altering the weather. Sounds impossible doesn't it, but when someone with the credibility of Gates jumps on board, it behooves the rest of us to at least listen.

Five patents are currently pending (all of which list Gates as a contributor) which describe various proposals for reducing the intensity of hurricanes. The plan calls for a large (very large) fleet of ships which would operate in susceptible areas to "churn up" the warm surface water with the much colder underlying water. This would, in effect, alter the temperature of the surface water making it less able to facilitate the monster storms that build on that warm water.

Irene Hurricane

The idea of stopping a hurricane altogether is believed to be impossible, but many are giving some credence to the notion that they can be modified. This is not a completely new idea. For over forty years, the idea of hurricane abatement has been floating around. There was a project in the l960's called "StormFury" that attempted to disrupt the path and intensity of hurricanes by seeding them with silver iodide. This attempt was not successful but many still believe in the merits of the theory.

More recently, at the request of the U.S. Government, a team of experts has been assembled to study the technique of hurricane modification. The team, heading up by Joe Golden, a veteran of the original StormFury, is requesting 2.6 million dollars to conduct a 3 year study of this topic.

A lot of scientific experts are not only skeptical about these ideas, they classify them as downright "kooky". Others feel that hurricanes are the natural way of delivering much needed rainfall to a region that would experience worsened drought conditions without it. No one disagrees that there is much destruction that can occur as a result of a hurricane, but perhaps the notion of playing "mother nature" has some risks and danger of it's own.

Can Hurricanes Be Stopped?

Atlantic Hurricanes - The Top 3 Atlantic Hurricanes in Recorded History

Living near the Virginia capes, I know about hurricanes, and have lived through a few. Recently, we had a close call with a hurricane.   In the local newspaper they had a picture of a property affected by that "close call".  In the picture, the road that I was driving on just last summer, is now 100 yards out in the ocean!   It got me to wondering what the most dangerous hurricanes have been. The three I found are 1) 1992 Hurricane Andrew 2) 1926 Miami and 3) 1900 Galveston.   Read on and I'll show you why they are at the top.

Hurricane Andrew 1992. This was the 2nd most intense hurricane. It struck the Bahamsas and later on hit Florida.  Estimated Damage was .5 Million. But there was another storm that was quite dangerous.

Irene Hurricane

In 1926 the Miami hurricane was particularly deadly. It wasn't just devastating to property but it also took many human lives. It was the most destructive storm in the US. And after hitting Florida, the result was 325 deaths. Some estimates suggest that the death toll could have gone up to 800. 

The last of the top 3 hurricanes came in the early 1900's. It was the Galveston hurricane  This was the most damaging.  With a death toll of 6,000 people, it took out all of Galveston. Even today, they remember the impact this storm had on the area. 

Each year hurricanes come and go, but these three remain in everyone's memory: Hurricane Andrew, the 1926 Miami hurricane and the 1900 Galveston hurricane.  If you want to learn more, check out the hurricane websites online. You might find out others that were also dangerous.

Atlantic Hurricanes - The Top 3 Atlantic Hurricanes in Recorded History