Hurricane Hilary strengthened to a Category 4 hurricane Thursday night, the National Weather Service said.
The hurricane is expected to hit Southern California with heavy rainfall as early as this weekend after it makes its way up Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula.
Forecasters said the storm is expected to produce 3 to 6 inches of rainfall, with maximum amounts of 10 inches, across portions of Baja California through Sunday night, with the possibility of flash flooding.
There will likely be “damaging wind gusts,” especially at higher elevations, in the area, and swells along the coast, Greg Postel, a hurricane and storm specialist at the Weather Channel, told CBS News.
Hurricane Hilda off the Mexican coast early on August 18, 2023.
National Hurricane Center / NOAA
The storm, which isn’t expected to still be a hurricane by the time it reaches California, is forecast to impact the southwestern U.S. with heavy rainfall starting Friday through early next week, “peaking on Sunday and Monday,” according to the National Hurricane Center.
“It is rare — indeed nearly unprecedented in the modern record — to have a tropical system like this move through Southern California,” Postel told CBS News.
The last time Southern California was hit by a tropical storm was in 1939, before storms were given names, CBS News senior weather and climate producer David Parkinson said. Several storms that had been hurricanes or tropical storms have impacted the state since then, but they had weakened to sub-tropical systems by that time, Parkinson noted.
The projected path of the storm showed it could make landfall anywhere from the Baja California Peninsula to as far north as Santa Barbara, California. One model showed the heaviest rain hitting the Palm Springs area after the storm makes landfall.
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MEXICO CITY (AP) — Hurricane Hilary strengthened into a major storm Thursday evening off Mexico’s Pacific coast, and it could bring heavy rain to the southwestern U.S. by the weekend.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Hilary’s maximum sustained winds had risen to 120 mph (195 kph), making it a Category 3 hurricane.
The storm was expected to grow into a Category 4 hurricane Friday while on a projected path that threatened landfall on the central Baja California peninsula by Sunday or possibly keep just offshore while heading for Southern California.
Hilary was centered about 445 miles (715 kilometers) south of Los Cabos on the southern tip of the Baja peninsula. It was moving west-northwest at 14 mph (22 kph), but was expected to take a more northward heading in the coming days.
The hurricane center said that as Hilary moves onto or brushes the Baja pensinsula, it could possibly survive briefly as a tropical storm or tropical depression and cross the U.S. border.
No tropical storm has made landfall in Southern California since Sept. 25, 1939, according to the National Weather Service.
In Southern California, an outlook for excessive rainfall stretched from Sunday to Tuesday, according to the Los Angeles weather office.
“Rainfall impacts from Hilary within the Southwestern United States are expected to peak this weekend into Monday,” the hurricane center said. “Flash, urban, and arroyo flooding is possible with the potential for significant impacts.”
The area potentially affected by heavy rainfall could stretch from Bakersfield, California, to Yuma, Arizona, as well as some parts of southern Nevada.
SpaceX announced Thursday that the hurricane caused a delay in the launch of a satellite-carrying rocket from a base on California’s central coast until at least Monday. The company said conditions in the Pacific could make it difficult for a ship to recover the rocket booster.
In Southern California, an outlook for excessive rainfall stretched from Sunday to Tuesday, according to the Los Angeles weather office.
While the odds are against Hilary making landfall in California as a tropical storm, there is a high chance of major rain and flooding, UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain said in an online briefing Wednesday.
The Mexican government said a weakened Hilary might hit the coast Sunday night between the cities of Playas de Rosarito and Ensenada, in Baja California state.
Meanwhile, the city of Yuma was preparing Thursday by providing residents with a self-serve sandbag filling station.
The sandbag station will be stocked with sand and empty bags for self-filling while supplies last. Residents were allowed five sandbags per vehicle.
A rare hurricane in the Pacific could hit California in the coming days. Hurricane Hilary is currently churning a few hundred miles off Mexico’s coast. CBS News senior weather and climate producer David Parkinson breaks down the storm’s predicted path.
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A storm headed in the direction of Southern California became a hurricane and later strengthened to a Category 2 on Thursday, the National Hurricane Center said in a public advisory. It is expected to bring heavy rainfall to parts of the state after hitting Mexico.
The storm “is not expected to be a hurricane on final approach,” Greg Postel, a hurricane and storm specialist at the Weather Channel who has a doctorate in atmospheric sciences, said in response to questions from CBS News.
The storm’s remnants are likely to bring flooding rain as well as strong winds to some parts of California, including the Los Angeles Basin, the Weather Channel reports. Heavy rainfall is expected to impact the Southwestern U.S. starting Friday through early next week, “peaking on Sunday and Monday,” according to the hurricane center.Postel said the storm will likely cause large swells along the coast in the next several days.
“It is rare — indeed nearly unprecedented in the modern record — to have a tropical system like this move through Southern California,” Postel said.
Hurricane Hilary was located about 500 miles south-southeast of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, Thursday afternoon, with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph, with higher gusts. It is expected to continue moving in a west-northwest direction, the center said, with a turn toward the northwest expected Friday morning.
And with that, Hilary is now a hurricane. Note: the track forecast was not updated with this advisory. Curious on how to interpret this product? Check out this video from the National Hurricane Center: https://t.co/BXWc7dshIApic.twitter.com/J9Pdya1NKX
The center of the hurricane will approach Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula over the weekend, the hurricane center said, and “rapid strengthening is forecast.” The storm is expected to grow into a “major” hurricane on Thursday.
Forecasters said the storm is expected to produce 3 to 6 inches of rainfall, with maximum amounts of 10 inches, across portions of the peninsula through Sunday night, with the possibility of flash flooding. Postel said there will likely be “damaging wind gusts,” especially at higher elevations, in the area, and swells along the coast.
Tropical storm watches and warnings are in effect for parts of western Mexico.
This Vantem home had very little damage after going through category five Hurricane Dorian.
Vantem
As you read this you may be experiencing one of the hottest days in history in your area or breathing smoke from a wildfire. These situations are more and more common, causing physical impacts, but also bringing process and design questions into discussion.
Adaptation means taking on responsibility for those who live in dangerous areas. Through smart innovations in new home design and construction and advanced retrofits, people can be protected, live well and even save energy costs.
In 2018, Hurricane Michael wrecked 60,000 homes causing $25 billion in total damages according to InsideClimate News. When that storm hit, Annette Rubin was at home with a newborn, healing from a C-section. Listening to the impact of the storm outside her home and fearing for her baby and her own life, Rubin started thinking about building code and how or if her home was going to protect her.
In a frantic state, she pulled out the house plans to see what the five-year-old home could withstand. It was built to the standard category three level winds that are building code in that area and the forecast was showing that Hurricane Michael was a more severe category five storm.
“I thought if it hits our house, we probably won’t make it,” she said. “We couldn’t leave. We couldn’t go down because of storm surge, and it wasn’t safe to go up. Luckily for us, it went over us and hit east of us, but it was traumatizing enough that I wanted to figure out a different way to do this because hurricanes aren’t new. They happen every year.”
After lots of due diligence, Rubin found a strong, sustainable panel system manufactured by Emmedue. Then, she took the next step. She started the company Vero Building Systems to be an owner and operator installing the Emmedue panel system.
With 77 plants around the world, the technology has been used and distributed for years, but Rubin is the first to bring it to Florida where it exceeds category 5 hurricane resistance and will be able to withstand up to 250-mile-per-hour winds.
Home built with VERO Building System panels in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida.
VERO Building Systems
Looking for a proof, she found the panels installed locally in a 7,000-square-foot home that has survived 3 hurricanes in 14 years.
“He lives a mile from me, has two times the size of our house and pays one-third the price for energy,” she said. “His energy bill is $300. Mine is double. There are no thermal bridges, so it is astronomically better than a traditional stick build.”
The core of the panels is polystyrene with steel wire mesh on both sides that are welded together for strength. Once the panel is put in place, a layer of shotcrete (a high velocity application of concrete) goes on top of the wire mesh to create a super insulated, strong structure. Plus, extra mesh goes around angles and to reinforce windows and doors.
VERO panels are not only sustainable when installed, but so is the manufacturing process. Rubin sources a petroleum-based polystyrene feed that is steamed using natural gas to compress it down. Plus, everything in the plant is recycled, from the beads to the wires, and the manufacturing has no off gassing.
“We are able to cut emissions by about 40% during an onsite installation,” Rubin said. “There is no heavy machinery. Plus, we cut about 60% of emissions over the lifetime of the building.”
Most of the work is in manufacturing the panels, that are very light and easy to install on site. Rubin estimates that VERO’s installation process could be up to 40% less time from traditional building methods.
“We did a whole house in two and a half days with installers speaking three different languages,” she said. “One installer had experience and two did not.”
With the energy savings and the added protection, the system has about a 5% premium compared to stick-built construction.
VERO ships nationwide and also is working on a package for tornado safe rooms, again with the capability to withstand more than 250-mph winds.
Protecting Homes… And Dollars
Some of the solutions that jurisdictions are exploring to help their communities are focused on reactive measures like evacuation plans and risk communications, along with proactive measures like new zoning, building codes, and improvements to the physical landscape.
These are hefty, include many different stakeholders to move forward, and therefore need long timelines to come to fruition. In today’s market, the longer the timeline, the more housing costs go up. So, more people are forced into migrating to the areas with the highest climate risks so they can find affordable housing options, which means that people not only need resilient housing, it has to be affordable as well.
This single-family modular house was delivered and installed in Marindia, Uruguay.
Juan Nin for Vantem
Chris Anderson is the CEO at Greensborough, North Carolina-based, modular home building company Vantem that delivers a solution at only $100 per square foot. This product, backed by Bill Gates’s Breakthrough Energy fund, is made with refractory materials to be fire resistant, survives category 5 hurricane damage, and withstands up to 8.2 magnitude earthquakes.
To address the migration into coastal areas in Florida, Vantem acquired a plant in southern Georgia to build fast and efficiently.
“The homes are built like on an automotive construction line and all MEP [mechanical, electrical and plumbing] is already installed when it is delivered to the job site,” said Anderson. “The factory will be converted by early 2024, and we are looking at two other facilities to get to 20 plants over the next 10 years.”
Vantem is looking for joint ventures with local developers that have strong pipelines aimed at affordable housing in high risk climate markets.
Similar to VERO, Vantem is already accepted and well used around the world, with more than three million square feet currently built out across the globe. In the United States, Vantem has code approvals to build up to three stories.
Anderson says that even with the cost and process efficiencies, solutions can be customized on a large scale.
“We translate architecture into the Vantem system as fully engineered product for that market,” he said. “Each factory has a particular focus. If you are going to do a lot of multifamily, the factory is designed for that. There are factories specifically designed for single family, like the first in Georgia.”
At the core of Vantem’s efficiency and sustainability is the innovation of the panel.
“People who are doing high production modular worldwide are trying to standardize traditional process, but the better way to do it is to simplify the system,” Anderson said. “In modular, you have a water shed between 1 to 5 modules a day to 6 to 10, where high output usually requires a bigger capital expense, but they tried to automate a complex system. Automation applied to inefficiency, just magnifies inefficiency. Our capital expenses are one-fifth the cost of other modular factories.”
The Need For More Innovation
This forecast shows that more than 24 million American properties are at risk of flood today, which … [+] will increase 5% in the next 30 years.
First Street Foundation, 2023
Many reports show that the frequency and intensity of climate events will continue to increase. VERO and Vantem have fabulous solutions that will help many in the Florida region now, but as Zillow reports, unchecked greenhouse gas emissions could put 802,555 homes nationwide at risk from a 10-year flood by 2050. Not to mention the other climate disasters impacting the country.
Efforts like Ed Barsley’s Climate Creatives Challenge offer opportunities to reward innovation in support of new and novel approaches for communicating the impacts of climate change and the benefits of mitigation, adaptation and resilience. As the founder of The Environmental Design Studio, Barsley wants to unleash creative energy to communicate climate related themes to the public, along with adaptive actions.
The contest is a series of eight challenges and open for entries now, including prize money. Initiatives like this will spotlight the need, bringing much needed innovation forward.
The growing threat posed by hurricanes is costing Americans money before even a single drop of rain has fallen.
Homeowners in Florida and Louisiana have seen dizzying spikes in their insurance rates over the last two years, and those costs are likely to rise even higher, as reinsurers face growing expenses of their own.
This year, more than 7 million homes are at risk of a storm surge from a Category 5 hurricane, while more than 32 million face at least a moderate threat of wind damage, according to CoreLogic. In economic terms, $11.6 trillion of property is at risk, the property data provider calculated, a figure that has jumped 15% from last year due largely to inflation in the price of building materials.
“The bigger risk is driven by exposure,” said Jonathan Schneyer, senior catastrophe response manager at CoreLogic. “We’re still building lots of homes, sometimes very high-value homes, in areas that are still very risky from a natural hazard perspective. People like to live with a nice view — on the seashore, on a cliff, with a river view,” he said.
The state most exposed to financial losses from a hurricane is one that sees relatively few of them. New York has 790,000 properties, with a total reconstruction value of $400 billion, at risk, according to CoreLogic.
“You have a densely populated island, a couple of cities surrounding Manhattan, built up on the coastline a few feet above sea level,” Schneyer said. “If a storm were to make its way up to New York, there’s a lot more to lose there.”
Indeed, one of the most destructive storms in U.S. history — 2012’s Hurricane Sandy — caused $70 billion worth of damage as it wreaked havoc on New York and New Jersey. Last year, meanwhile, Hurricane Ian caused more than $100 billion in damage as it swept across Florida — equal to the state’s entire budget that year.
According to scientists, climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of hurricanes because warming air and ocean temperatures make the storms wetter and slower, resulting in more water cascading into affected areas. That can increase the tide of destruction.
Not just hurricanes
When it comes to flooding, however, a storm doesn’t have to get anywhere near hurricane strength to cause extensive damage. A recent analysis from the First Street Foundation found that more intense rainfall today poses growing risks of flooding to millions of homes, particularly in the Midwest and Northeast. That trend is likely worsen in the years to come, predicted the nonprofit group, which models climate-change risk.
“Nowhere across the country has seen a bigger increase in extreme precipitation events than the Midwest and the Northeast,” said Jeremy Porter, head of climate impacts at the First Street Foundation.
These regions have some of the most densely populated cities and oldest municipal infrastructure, making it more likely that rainwater will overwhelm drainage systems.
Only weeks ago, for example, intense thunderstorms led to hundreds of flight cancellations in the Northeast and flooded city streets, washing out bridges and rushing into basements from Maine to Philadelphia. First Street’s model predicts that these types of events will become much more common because of climate change.
“Half of the flood risk in the 100-year flood zone across the country isn’t accounted for by FEMA,” Porter said. “Of that difference, 65% of it is driven solely by precipitation flooding.”
As the label suggests, a 100-year flood event is one that is expected to occur once every century. But with climate change making regular rain far more severe, these extreme events are becoming much more frequent.
In New York City, Porter said, this type of 100-year event is now expected to occur once every 20 years. In Houston, it’s now every 23 years. But by midcentury, the frequency is expected to increase to once every 11 years.
Spiraling costs
More frequent hurricanes are already causing an exodus of insurers from some exposed regions. In Florida, home insurance rates are already triple the U.S. average. Also, multiple insurers in the state have gone belly-up in recent years, and premiums are expected to rise 40% this year, according to the Insurance Information Institute.
In Louisiana, the state’s insurer of last resort this year raised rates by an average of 63%. Across the U.S., 90% of homeowners are seeing rising insurance premiums, NPR reported last month.
Homes and property in Fort Myers Beach, Florida, Estero Island, damaged by Hurricane Ian, a Category 5 storm that struck Florida and the Carolinas in 2022.
Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group
So what are homeowners to do? In the absence of a national climate adaptation plan, Americans are making their own decisions, research suggests. A recent study from the University of Vermont found that during the previous decade, Americans moved out of the regions that were hardest-hit by hurricanes and heat waves, although more people moved into wildfire-prone areas.
“For many Americans, the risks and dangers of living in hurricane zones may be starting to outweigh the benefits of life in those areas,” co-author Gillian Galford said in a statement.
The National Hurricane Center is monitoring two systems in the Atlantic Ocean that could develop into more severe storms. One of the systems, Tropical Storm Bret, is expected to soon become the first hurricane of the 2023 Atlantic season, while another will likely become a tropical depression.
Bret, currently a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of 40 mph, is expected to strengthen in the coming days.
Aside from Tropical Storm Bret, we’re watching a tropical wave over the eastern Atlantic that now has a high chance (🔴) of becoming a tropical depression over the next couple of days while moving westward toward the central tropical Atlantic.https://t.co/DboWSR44Dtpic.twitter.com/lqLjDQB7Vu
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) June 20, 2023
“Bret could become a hurricane in a couple of days,” the National Hurricane Center said in its update on Tuesday morning. If that does happen, Bret — which is currently the second named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season — would be the first named hurricane of the season.
The storm is expected to approach the Lesser Antilles islands “by late this week,” the national forecasting service said. The Lesser Antilles are comprised of numerous island nations and territories, including the U.S. Virgin Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, and Trinidad and Tobago, among others.
“Bret is forecast to initially strengthen and then move across the Lesser Antilles near hurricane intensity on Thursday and Friday, bringing a risk of flooding from heavy rainfall, strong winds, and dangerous storm surge and waves,” the National Hurricane Center said Tuesday morning. “Given the larger than usual uncertainty in the track forecast, it is too early to specify the location and magnitude of where these hazards could occur. However, everyone in the Lesser Antilles, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands should closely monitor updates to the forecast for Bret and have their hurricane plan in place.”
The forecast for Tropical Storm Bret as of early Tuesday morning shows the system developing into a hurricane between Wednesday and Thursday.
NOAA/National Hurricane Center
The second system, dubbed AL93, is a tropical wave “several hundred miles” away from the Cabo Verde Islands. The National Hurricane Center said Tuesday morning that conditions surrounding that system appear as though a “tropical depressional will likely form during the next couple of days.” As of 8 a.m. ET, there’s a 70% chance of that happening within 48 hours.
According to NOAA, tropical waves are when long areas of relatively low pressure move east to west across the tropics. These systems can lead to tropical cyclones. It becomes a tropical cyclone when maximum sustained winds hit 38 mph.
Weather Channel Meteorologist Stephanie Abrams told “CBS Mornings” on Tuesday that Bret is a “unique” storm.
“We usually don’t get our second named storm until mid-July. Also, it formed far out in the Atlantic, where storms usually get their start much later,” she said. “And the first hurricane of the season doesn’t typically happen until August.”
Last year’s first named hurricane, Danielle, didn’t form until September.
The reason for this early start is two-fold, Abrams said – low shear and warm waters. Both of these factors have become more present this year with El Niño’s return.
“Things can change quickly so the time to prepare is now,” she said.
New Delhi — Cyclone Biparjoy, a powerful tropical storm, brought widespread devastation to India’s western state of Gujarat after it made landfall Thursday, delivering heavy downpours and strong winds there and along the southwest coast of neighboring Pakistan, but mass evacuations and elaborate preparations in both the countries appeared on Friday to have saved lives.
Two people died and 22 were injured in India, with the deaths occurring before the storm actually hit land, and in Pakistan, not a single death was reported. The low death toll from the cyclone, compared to similar storms that hit the region previously, was seen as a vindication of the mass evacuations. The two countries evacuated more than 180,000 people from their low-lying coastal areas to higher ground before the cyclone arrived.
A drone view of a flooded village in Mokhada, in the western state of Gujarat, India, after Cyclone Biparjoy made landfall, June 16, 2023.
FRANCIS MASCARENHAS/REUTERS
“Early identification of areas that were likely to be impacted by the cyclone and timely evacuation of people living within 10 km of the coasts are the biggest reasons [for the low number of casualties],” Kamal Dayani, a senior government official in Gujarat, told the Reuters news agency. “Our focus from the beginning was on preventing loss of lives, not just human lives but even animals.”
India alone moved more than 100,000 people to safety, while 82,000 people were evacuated in Pakistan. Both countries shut down businesses and transport in coastal areas that fell in the predicted path of the cyclone. Police and paramilitary forces were deployed to keep people indoors.
Biparjoy, which means “disaster” in the Bengali language, made landfall Thursday evening in India’s port city of Jakhau as the equivalent of a Category-3 hurricane. While the toll in human lives was relatively low for a major storm, the cyclone still carved a path of destruction as churned inland over the course of the night, dropping a huge amount of rain and packing winds that gusted up to 86 miles per hour.
A screengrab from video taken on June 16, 2023 shows a family taking shelter in an abandoned shop in the coastal town of Mandvi, in the Kutch district of India’s Gujarat state, as cyclone Biparjoy makes landfall.
SHUBHAM KOUL/AFPTV/AFP/AFP/Getty
The cyclonic winds knocked down more than 5,000 electricity poles, cutting power to more than 4,600 villages across Gujarat. But power was restored to about 3,500 of those villages by Friday afternoon.
More than 500 houses were damaged and about 800 trees were uprooted, many of which blocked traffic on at least two state highways for hours Friday morning. Dozens of disaster response teams and hundreds of teams of road and power company personnel were working Friday to reopen roads and restore electricity to about 1,000 households. The full extent of the damage remained unclear.
The cyclone largely spared Karachi, Pakistan’s port city of over 20 million people, which was in the forecast path of the storm. But heavy rain and strong winds damaged thatched houses and inundated a few regions along the country’s southern coast. Authorities said more heavy rains could be expected in some coastal areas until Saturday.
Residents watch as a car is submerged in the coastal town of Mandvi, Gujarat state, India, as Cyclone Biparjoy makes landfall, June 16, 2023.
AFP/Getty
The storm weakened Friday as it moved further inland over India but was still bringing rain and wind to northern Gujarat and the neighboring state of Rajasthan, along with parts of capital New Delhi.
Biparjoy has become the longest-lasting cyclone ever to form over the Arabian Sea — more than 10 days — overtaking Cyclone Kyarr of 2019, which lasted nine days.
Cyclones, which are known as hurricanes when they form over the North Atlantic and typhoons in the northwest Pacific, are common in the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea. Scientists say rising ocean surface temperatures, due to climate change, have made cyclones more frequent and more intense.
The new hurricane season is underway, with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasting as many as nine storms this year, including one to four major hurricanes.
Climate change is making matters worse, resulting in heavier rainfall and stronger winds. Most recently, Hurricane Ian, the Category 5 tempest that ripped through southwest Florida last year with 150 mph winds, killed 150 people and caused tens of billions of dollars in propertydamage.
Here are some of the most destructive and deadly hurricanes ever to touch U.S. soil.
Donna is the fifth-strongest hurricane ever to hit the U.S. and is the only one to produce hurricane-force winds across Florida, the Mid-Atlantic and New England in the same storm, according to NOAA.
Donna began near the western coast of Africa in Cape Verde, traveled northwest for five days across the Atlantic Ocean and unleashed its wrath on the Leeward Islands. It then continued north to Puerto Rico, where it killed more than 100 residents, before hitting the Bahamas and finally touching down in the Florida Keys. Along its path, Donna destroyed parts of eastern North Carolina, Long Island in New York and Block Island in Rhode Island.
A fire tender being driven through a flooded street in New York City following Hurricane Donna, in which 135 people died.
Agnes whipped up in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, traveled east into the Caribbean Sea, then veered north to the Gulf of Mexico. It touched land in the Florida Panhandle and also hit Georgia. From there, Agnes tore through eastern North Carolina and finished in New York City. It caused major flooding in Virginia, the Carolinas and New York.
NOAA has described Ian as the most costly hurricane in Florida’s history and the third-most expensive in U.S. history in terms of property damage. The hurricane began off the western coast of Africa, then gathered force as it traveled across the Atlantic for six days. In the Caribbean Sea, Ian turned north and struck Cuba and the Gulf of Mexico. In the U.S., it made landfall in Cayo Costa, Florida, and continued to spread carnage across the Carolinas. More than 100 Floridians died from Ian’s destruction.
People walk past destroyed houses and businesses in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in Matlacha, Florida, on Oct. 1, 2022.
Sandy formed in the Caribbean Sea, then gained intensity and speed in traveling north across Jamaica, Cuba and the Bahamas. It continued northeast and made landfall near Atlantic City, New Jersey. Sandy, which at one point stretched 900 miles, damaged 24 states. In New York City, it caused a storm surge that flooded streets and the subway system, leading to widespread power outages. All told, the hurricane caused flooding, high winds and mudslides that took families years to recover from.
A hydraulic excavator clears away trash after Superstorm Sandy destroyed numerous homes on Nov. 1, 2012 in Highlands, New Jersey.
Camille formed in the Caribbean just west of the Cayman Islands. It moved west, struck parts of Cuba, then turned north toward the Gulf of Mexico and made landfall on the Mississippi coast. In Mississippi, Camille’s barometric pressure reached nearly 27 inches, making it the second-most intense hurricane in U.S. history.
Most of Camille’s devastation happened as it moved further west through Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia. While passing over the Virginias, it dumped as much as 20 inches of rain in some areas, causing flash floods.
Aerial views of some of the devastation caused by Hurricane Camille, which killed 256 people.
Audrey began in the Gulf of Mexico, traveled north and made landfall in the U.S. at the Texas-Louisiana border. In its brief pass through Louisiana, the hurricane created a storm surge of 8 to 12 feet in the southwest part of the state. Most of Audrey’s destruction happened after it traveled inland. It carried strong winds and heavy rain into northern Mississippi and the Great Lakes region, killing hundreds along the way.
View of wreckage in Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Audrey.
This hurricane began in the Caribbean Sea directly northeast of the Leeward Islands. It traveled northwest and hit landfall in Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The storm continued north on its path of destruction, tearing through parts of Long Island, New York, and Point Judith, Rhode Island, and dumping nearly a foot of rain on cities such as Hartford, Connecticut. NOAA said 46 people died on land from the Great Atlantic Hurricane and another 344 were killed while aboard five ships, including a U.S. Navy destroyer.
This hurricane began in the central Bahamas, moved west and gained strength after moving across Andros Island. It continued northwest and slammed the Florida Keys, where it did most of its damage and killed hundreds of World War I veterans. The storm weakened as it made its way up the state’s west coast, falling to a Category 2 when it hit Cedar Key. The hurricane eventually made its way to Norfolk, Virginia, then petered out over the Atlantic Ocean.
This hurricane earned the nickname the “Long Island Express” because of the havoc it wreaked on the northeastern United States. It began in the Atlantic, grew stronger as it moved west and hit Puerto Rico, most likely as a Category 5 hurricane, NOAA said. The storm then turned north and arrived in the U.S. in Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Continuing north, it was downgraded to a Category 3 once it hit Long Island, New York, and parts of Connecticut. The heavy rainfall caused flooding of the Connecticut River and surges in Narragansett Bay and Buzzards Bay.
A boat left on a highway in Port Washington, Long Island, in New York, after the New England Hurricane, dubbed the “Long Island Express,” slammed parts of the northeastern U.S.
The Sea Island Hurricane formed in the Atlantic Ocean, generating its might as it traveled west toward the Caribbean Sea near the Lesser Antilles islands. It then headed north, through the Bahamas, dragging a fury of heavy winds across the Sea Islands — a group of isles along Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. The Sea Island Hurricane moved up the Atlantic coast and eventually made landfall in Savannah, Georgia.
Sea Island was one of the most devastating storms in South Carolina’s history, helping plunge Beaufort County into an economic decline.
Cheniere Caminada formed in the Caribbean Sea, moved northwest toward the Gulf of Mexico, then made landfall Cheniere Caminada, Louisiana — a fishing town east of Grand Isle. The hurricane continued west and struck Mississippi, tearing through 500 miles of coastline between both states. It also caused destruction in Georgia and the Carolinas.
All told, Cheniere Caminada damaged ships and destroyed parts of towns and crops. It was the second deadliest storm in Louisiana history behind Katrina.
Weather experts call Katrina the most costly hurricane in U.S. history, with the storm laying waste to New Orleans, portions of the Mississippi and Alabama coasts, and parts of Miami-Dade and Broward counties in Florida.
The hurricane formed in the Caribbean Sea just southeast of the Bahamas, then traveled northwest to Florida and made landfall in Broward County. It turned west, gaining strength as it traveled across the Gulf of Mexico, before returning to land at 125 miles per hour in Buras, Louisiana. All told, Katrina generated about 10 to 14 inches of rain over Florida and 8 to 12 inches of rain along the northern Gulf coast. It also caused 33 tornadoes, NOAA said.
An aerial view shows the flooded area in the northern part of New Orleans on Sept. 13, 2005, sixteen days after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city.
MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images
3. San Felipe-Okeechobee Hurricane (September 1928)
The San-Felipe-Okeechobee Hurricane is widely regarded as one of the most destructive hurricanes of all time. This storm began over the Atlantic, gained momentum while passing over the Leeward Islands and then smashed into Puerto Rico. From there, it ventured northwest through the Bahamas, building even more force, and made landfall in Palm Beach, Florida. The worst damage took place in Lake Okeechobee, Florida, where it caused storm surges of up to 9 feet. The hurricane eventually dissipated after barreling through eastern North Carolina and parts of the Great Lakes region.
Maria began in the Indian Ocean then moved westward across the Atlantic Ocean, gaining speed and power along the way. Its first land target was the Caribbean island of Dominica, on which it unleashed 23 inches of rainfall. Maria then turned north and slammed into Puerto Rico, causing widespread destruction, including power outages that lasted for months. Experts estimate that more than 1,000 people in Puerto Rico were killed as a result of the storm, according to a 2017 New York Times report
The hurricane continued north along the Atlantic Ocean shoreline, striking Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. It eventually traveled further north to Cape Race, Newfoundland, before dissipating in the Atlantic.
Hurricane Maria in 2017 battered Puerto Rico, shearing roofs off homes, flattening trees, and crippling the island’s electricity grid and other infrastructure. Nearly 3,000 people died.
The Galveston Hurricane was the deadliest weather disaster in U.S. history, according to NOAA. The storm system formed over the Atlantic, and traveled to the Gulf of Mexico, while picking up strength and speed. It hit landfall in Texas, just south of Galveston. Its power tore across the Great Plains, then weakened as it traveled northeastward through the Great Lakes, New England and southern Canada.
Khristopher J. Brooks is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering business, consumer and financial stories that range from economic inequality and housing issues to bankruptcies and the business of sports.
The 2023 Atlantic hurricane season officially began on Thursday, as scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted a “near normal” stretch of storms between June 1 and Nov. 30. The agency said it expects between 12 and 17 storms will happen before the season ends this year, as well as five to nine hurricanes. Officials anticipate that one to four of them will be major hurricanes.
Experts have already warned of a tropical disturbance in the Gulf of Mexico that the National Hurricane Center is tracking off Florida’s coast. In its latest forecast, the agency said changes in the weather system observed overnight potentially created “marginally favorable” conditions for the development of a cyclone, which could mean a number of different things. Depending on whether it gains strength and continues to move toward land, forecasters said it could form off the coast of Florida as a tropical storm.
What makes a cyclone?
The terms hurricane, typhoon and tropical cyclone can all refer to the same kind of storm. A tropical cyclone is a broad classification, used to describe any weather phenomenon characterized by rotating, low-level systems of clouds and thunderstorms that develop over waters in tropical or subtropical regions, according to NOAA.
A low-pressure system over the Gulf of Mexico is being monitored by the National Hurricane Center as Atlantic hurricane season kicks off.
NOAA
These weather systems are then categorized more specifically based on their strength, a metric that corresponds with maximum sustained wind speeds. When a storm’s sustained winds remain below 39 miles per hour, they are called tropical depressions — the weakest type of tropical cyclone. Once a tropical cyclone’s sustained wind speeds exceed that minimum threshold, it becomes a tropical storm.
What makes a hurricane?
Tropical cyclones with maximum sustained wind speeds of 74 mph or higher are either classified as hurricanes, typhoons, or simply tropical cyclones, and which of those three terms meteorologists ultimately assign to a given weather system depends on where in the world it forms.
The storms are called hurricanes when they happen in the North Atlantic, central North Pacific and eastern North Pacific oceans, according to NOAA. Tropical cyclones whose wind speeds and locations meet the criteria to be classified as hurricanes are categorized further using the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, a ranking system that places storms in categories labeled 1 through 5.
The scale is based only on a storm’s maximum sustained wind speed without accounting for additional hazards like storm surge, flooding and tornadoes, which, weather officials say, can occur as a result of hurricanes that fall within any of its five categories.
A Category 1 hurricane refers to a tropical cyclone with maximum sustained wind speeds between 74 mph and 95 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center at NOAA. Hurricanes that fall within this category can bring with them “very dangerous winds” that produce “some damage.” Officials warn that “well-constructed frame homes could have damage to roof, shingles, vinyl siding and gutters,” during a Category 1 hurricane, while “large branches of trees will snap and shallowly rooted trees may be toppled.” Power outages are likely and could potentially last “a few to several days” due to “extensive damage to power lines and poles,” according to the hurricane center.
An aerial view of damage at Estero Island in Fort Myers Beach, Florida, after Hurricane Ian.
Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
A hurricane whose maximum sustained wind speeds reach 96 mph but remain below 110 mph are considered Category 2 storms on the Saffir-Simpson scale. They are defined by “extremely dangerous winds” that “will cause extensive damage” to roofs and siding, snap and uproot enough trees to block roads, and likely lead to “near-total power loss” with outages that could last several days or weeks.
Hurricanes that fall within the latter categories of the Saffir-Simpson scale — Categories 3 to 5 — are considered “major” storms that “can cause devastating to catastrophic wind damage and significant loss of life simply due to the strength of their winds,” according to the hurricane center.
A Category 3 hurricane is one whose maximum sustained wind speeds fall between 111 mph and 129 mph, ensuring “devastating damage” to areas in its path. These storms carry the potential for major destruction affecting well-built homes and buildings, and are expected to cut off electricity and water to impacted places for days or weeks.
When wind speeds reach 130 mph but do not exceed 156 mph, a hurricane is defined as Category 4 and expected to cause “catastrophic damage” where it hits, leaving most of the area “uninhabitable for weeks or months.” Hurricane Ida, which struck Louisiana in August 2021, was a Category 4 storm.
A Category 5 hurricane, with maximum wind speeds exceeding 157 mph, is also noted for its “catastrophic” consequences on the Saffir-Simpson scale, which uses similar criteria to describe the expected destruction caused by Category 4 and Category 5 hurricanes. Hurricane Ian, which struck Florida last year, was a Category 5 storm.
What makes a typhoon?
In the Southwest Pacific, tropical cyclones with maximum wind speeds of 74 mph or higher are called typhoons.
When a powerful tropical cyclone hit Guam last week, bringing turbulent winds of at least 150 mph to the island, its strength and location led to the storm’s now widely-recognized distinction as Typhoon Mawar. The destructive cyclone was technically a “super typhoon,” which refers to a tropical cyclone, originating in that part of the world, that carries sustained winds over 150 mph.
If a similar storm were to occur in a different region, it could be called a hurricane. Take, for example, Hurricane Ian, the tropical cyclone that devastated parts of Florida with winds up to 160 mph in the fall of last year.
A view overlooking Guam’s Tumon Bay as Typhoon Mawar approached the island.
Junior Grade Drew Lovullo/AP
The key differences
Tropical cyclones with at least 74 mph winds are only differentiated as hurricanes, typhoons or the generic term “tropical cyclone,” because of where they occur. If two storms with similar properties developed over the North Atlantic and Southwest Pacific Oceans, the former would be called a hurricane and the latter would be called a typhoon due to their respective locations.
Meanwhile, storms that develop in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean are always called tropical cyclones, regardless of their sustained wind speeds. In the Southwest Pacific or Southeast Indian Oceans, storms with hurricane or typhoon-level wind speeds, exceeding 74 mph, are called severe tropical cyclones. Those that form over the North Indian Ocean are called severe cyclonic storms.
Technically, how the strength of a tropical cyclone that meets either hurricane or typhoon criteria is conveyed to the public also differs depending on its location, as the Saffir-Simpson scale is explicitly meant to categorize tropical cyclones with at least 74 mph winds in hurricane territories. The technical criteria to describe the strength of a typhoon is less specific, with “super typhoon” being the only distinction. However, when Typhoon Mawar hit Guam, the National Weather Service still assigned it a Category 4 rating based on the Saffir-Simpson scale.
A tropical storm could form off the coast of Florida on Thursday, the first official day of the Atlantic hurricane season, NOAA forecasters said. If winds reach 39 miles per hour, it would be the first named storm of the season.
The system, currently dubbed Invest 91L, started off as just a tropical disturbance in the Gulf of Mexico late Wednesday night, with only a 20% chance of becoming a cyclone within 48 hours. But by early Thursday afternoon, the National Hurricane Center said it could become a tropical storm, with a 70% chance of development.
2pm EDT 6/1 Update: Recent satellite wind data, along with buoy & ship observations indicate the area of low pressure over the NE Gulf of Mexico has a broad but well-defined circulation with maximum sustained winds of about 35 mph. Shower & thunderstorm activity is also showing… pic.twitter.com/qS5dd7VsAF
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) June 1, 2023
“Recent satellite wind data, along with buoy and ship observations indicate the area of low pressure over the northeastern Gulf of Mexico has a broad but well-defined circulation with maximum sustained winds of about 35 mph,” the agency said Thursday afternoon.
The system is also showing thunderstorm activity, the agency said, and conditions are showing to be “favorable” for the system to continue to develop.
“If these trends continue, a short-lived tropical depression or storm is likely to form as soon as this afternoon,” the National Hurricane Center said, adding that it’s likely to “meander” over the Gulf through the night but may turn south on Friday. It’s not expected to strengthen through the weekend and will “likely” remain offshore.
A Hurricane Hunter aircraft was expected to investigate the system further Thursday afternoon. If it grows to become classified as a tropical storm, it will be the first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season: Arlene.
Forecasters predict 2023 will see a “near normal” season, with at least 12 named storms.
Year to year, it’s hard to predict how bad a hurricane season will be. But scientists say climate change is making hurricanes worse, specifically when it comes to how destructive they are when hitting land.
Dr. Kristen Corbosiero is Assistant Professor of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences at the University at Albany. She studies the structure and intensity change of tropical cyclones.
“We can definitely see changes in hurricane impacts, and we think those will continue to get worse,” said Corbosiero.
When Corbosiero talks about Impacts, she means the path of destruction a hurricane leaves when it hits a community, like homes, businesses and people. Corbosiero said sea level rise is one of the clearest ways climate change is affecting the destruction hurricanes cause.
“When hurricanes come ashore, they bring water with them,” said Corbosiero. “Think about the flooding in Katrina, and that was, you know, over 15 years ago now.”
“More water is going to come ashore,” continued Corbosiero. “And we know that this kind of bringing water ashore is really the number one killer of people in hurricanes.”
It’s not just sea level rise she’s worried about. A recent study in the journal Science Advances, published in April, shows how climate change may push more hurricanes to make landfall in parts of the United States.
“I liked this study because they weren’t trying to say there would be more storms or they would be more intense, but the storms that do form have a greater likelihood to make landfall, which impacts people,” said Corbosiero.
The study specifically said landfalls could happen more in the Southeast U.S., especially Florida, and potentially fewer landfalls in the Northeast.
“And that was due to storms being moved in the atmosphere in different ways in a warming climate,” said Corbosiero. “That’s what this study projects, in 40-plus years from now, that our change of the climate will impact these storms and whether they hit the U.S. or not.”
Corbosiero said scientists are less certain about other connections between hurricanes and climate change, like if there will be more in the future.
“In terms of being able to attribute climate change and hurricane intensity or number increases, it’s difficult to really be able to attribute things to certain causes,” she said.
Corbosiero said one reason is that they base their predictions for the future by looking at patterns from the past, and they just don’t have enough historical data to do that yet.
“And I know that’s not a really satisfying answer,” she said. “It’s not a satisfying answer to me as a scientist, but I think we need to be honest about what we know and what we’re most certain about and then what we’re less certain about.”
There is a broader impact of hurricanes than just to those living along the coast. Hurricanes continue to cause the most destruction out of all recorded weather disasters in U.S. history, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
When it comes to the toll of U.S. hurricanes, government estimates say, in the last 40 years, they’ve caused more than $1.1 trillion in damage and are responsible for nearly 6,700 deaths.
A storm front is hitting several southern states beginning Thursday, bringing the possibility of hurricane-force winds, flooding and tornadoes. Meteorologist Mike Bettes with The Weather Channel has the forecast.
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Coastal and river communities in the U.S. today face increased flooding as climate change creates conditions linked to stronger hurricanes, But there’s another, less-known danger: More powerful winds that can down power lines, blow roofs off homes and cause billions in property damage, according to new research.
By midcentury, hurricanes will endanger an additional 13.4 million properties that are not currently threatened, found the First Street Foundation, a climate change nonprofit that calculates damage from weather disasters. In addition to increased flood risk along the East Coast, more properties located inland and northward — outside of what residents think of as a typical “hurricane” zone — face the prospect of severe wind damage.
“Proportionately, we’re expecting to have more major storms — more category threes, fours and fives,” said Ed Kearns, chief data officer at the First Street Foundation.
“Because these storms are more likely to be stronger, they are more likely to penetrate further inland,” he added. “Those storms that do hit the coast, they will go further inland with higher wind speeds before they decay.”
Today, Florida and the Gulf Coast are the epicenter of wind damage, with Florida accounting for 90% of the nation’s hurricane damage. By First Street’s calculations, the state will continue to face hurricane damage in the years to come, but the worst of it will shift from South Florida northward, closer to Jacksonville.
First Street’s model shows that “further inland houses and properties are going to be exposed to tropical storm and hurricane force winds that have not experienced this before,” Kearns said.
Windy cities
The East Coast is no stranger to storms. Today, wind counts as the biggest source of damage for homes under traditional homeowners insurance, and “there have been countless high-impact Nor’easters and East Coast hurricanes,” said Carl Parker, hurricane, storm and climate specialist at The Weather Channel, in an email.
“Certainly Sandy stands out for producing a massive area of fierce winds, which caused tens of billions in wind damage, apart from the coastal flood damage,” he said of the 2012 hurricane, also noting that Hurricane Bob in 1991 produced wind gusts over 140 miles per hour in New England.
Today, these storms are considered an aberration. But research suggests they will become more frequent over the next 30 years as climate change makes stronger hurricanes more common.
As the oceans and the Gulf Stream warm, “There will be even more potential energy for both Nor’easters and tropical cyclones in the future,” Parker said. “In a nutshell, more ocean warmth means more potential energy — and more potential for major windstorms on the East Coast.”
First Street’s calculations show that areas of eastern and central Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey and New York are at risk of stronger wind gusts — brief, sudden increases in a storm’s wind speed that can do the most damage, dislodging roof shingles or snapping tree branches. And cities as far inland as St. Louis and Chicago are also likely to face more intense winds, according the the nonprofit.
Because the past decade has seen relatively few hurricanes, First Street predicted the changes by creating 58,000 hurricane models, using the characteristics of today’s storms, and subjecting them to current and expected climate conditions.
“The biggest surprise was, with proportionately stronger storms, how much further they can be expected to impact,” Kearns said, adding that damages could reach as far inland as Kentucky and Tennessee.
Meanwhile, the highest dollar values for potential increases in property damage are in Brooklyn, New York; Long Island, New York; coastal Virginia; and even as far north as Massachusetts.
In extreme weather situations, the storm’s capacity to surprise forecasters can be as important as its severity. Indeed, a storm that would be considered mild in one place used to adverse tropical weather can wreak untold damage in cities less prepared for it, especially the dense suburbs of New Jersey, New York and New England.
Individual homeowners can take some precautions, especially if their property has factors that make it more vulnerable to wind damage, like being taller than neighboring buildings and being close to trees, power poles or other objects that can snap off.
Storm shutters or similar window covers can help safeguard a home during a storm, as can protecting the roof.
“Keeping the roof intact is vital, as a breach often leads to significant wind-driven water damage,” Parker said. Options include garage door braces, bolts that connect the roof to the foundation of the house or simple clips that can strengthen the roof-to-wall connection.
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Nicole caused unprecedented structural damage along Florida’s Atlantic coast when it made landfall as a rare November hurricane. Residents said Nicole completed the damage that Hurricane Ian started in September. Elise Preston reports.
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Tropical Storm Nicole is making its way across Florida after slamming the state’s east coast as a Category 1 hurricane. Elise Preston has the latest on the damage it’s caused.
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A rare November storm sparked mandatory evacuations for many Floridians. Jason Allen from CBS News Dallas-Fort Worth is in Vero Beach with more on the conditions there.
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