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magazine / dec08
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December 2008 issue |
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| Click to enlarge |
Blow by blow
A steady procession of hurricanes in late summer made the 2008 season one of the worst on record
By Steven Fick and Elizabeth Shilts
One by one, the quartet of Gustav, Hanna, Ike and Josephine —
in alphabetical order and alternating women’s and men’s
names — pirouetted across the Atlantic Ocean during
the 2008 hurricane season. By the time this satellite image (above)
was captured by NASA on Sept. 3, Gustav had morphed into a
tropical depression and was hovering over Arkansas, its approach
having triggered the precautionary evacuation of the city of
New Orleans five days earlier. Hanna had lost power, and
Josephine was a weak tropical storm. But Ike was gaining power.
Sitting in its path was Haiti, the poorest country in the western
hemisphere, which had already been slammed by tropical storms
Fay, Gustav and Hanna. More than a hundred people died, and
thousands were displaced from their homes as mud and water
gushed down the deforested mountains surrounding Gonaïves.
These images (below) show the city on Sept. 12 compared with
a drier period in 2001.
Hurricane season typically runs from June to November.
Most seasons since 1995 have averaged around six hurricanes by
Sept. 2 but by that date this year, there had already been 10. After
Josephine petered out, Kyle swirled onstage in late September,
spinning toward the Canadian Maritimes. It brought high winds
and rain but spared the area of significant damage.
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| August 8, 2001 - Click to enlarge |
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| September 12, 2008 - Click to enlarge |
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