Two Hurricanes

The Caribbean is probably as famous for its hurricanes as for its pirates. Both phenomena packed quite some punch, but while the latter has faded away, the former seems to be intensifying it impact both in destruction and spread. It has been suggested that Climate Change might have something to do with this.
Fuelled by moist air rising off warm water, hurricanes rampage through the Caribbean starting in the middle of the year, with some of them hitting the Gulf states and Florida before proceeding slowing down north up the eastern US seaboard.  It appears that that Mother Nature has decided to end this hurricane season, which usually lasts between June and October, with a bang with Hurricane Sandy.
It first swept across eastern Jamaica on October 23 when floodwaters ripped roofs off houses in shantytowns, devastated farms, cut power to half the country and marooned rural areas. One elderly man was killed as a boulder rolled over his house. Overall it is estimated that the economically challenged island – under the rigours of an IMF programme – suffered almost US$1 billion in damages. Eastern Cuba was next in line and 11 people were killed, 130,000 homes damaged with about 15,000 homes completely destroyed. Damages are estimated to exceed US$2 billion.
While Haiti was not directly hit, Sandy brought several days of drenching rains, causing rivers to overrun their banks across much of its south. Bridges collapsed, banana crops ruined, and homes flooded. The bulk of the deaths were in the southern part of the country and the area around Port-au-Prince, the capital, which holds most of the 370,000 Haitians who are still living in flimsy shelters as a result of the devastating 2010 earthquake. The official death toll was 52.
In neighbouring Dominican Republic, two young men drowned while attempting to cross swollen rivers. Nearly 3500 homes were destroyed, and 30,000 people were evacuated due to widespread flooding in the south of the country, including parts of the capital. As Sandy continued it northern sweep it brushed the Bahamas where two people were killed by Oct 25 and the domestic terminal of Grand Bahamas’ airport received “substantial damage”. It would have to be rebuilt.
But as it became clear that Sandy was going to definitely continue, as at least a tropical storm up the US eastern seaboard, the US authorities swung into action. And the response demonstrated the difference between First World and Third World. By Saturday voluntary evacuation orders were issued for some areas of the US north east coast. New York City, the ‘city that never sleeps’ went into shutdown mode as the subways and tunnels, certain to be affected by the expected flooding were shut down. Schools and businesses were closed.
Airlines, including Caribbean Airlines, cancelled hundreds of flights into and from airports along the US east coast starting from Sunday. The US media went into overdrive with warnings that 50 million people could be affected. Hurricane Sandy now became “Superstorm Sandy”. Citizens stocked up on water, food and emergency lights and braced themselves for the worse. Sandy touched land near Atlantic City on Monday evening and eventually 13 deaths were reported in New Jersey, New York, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. Some of the victims were killed by falling trees. The worst effects were ‘blackouts” that affected some 7.5 million.
As Superstorm Sandy made its way into the continent, it converged with a cold-weather system that turned into a monstrous hybrid consisting not only of rain and high winds but of snow. Forecasters warned of six-metre waves bashing into the Chicago lakefront and up to 90 centimetres of snow in West Virginia. Storm damage was projected at $10 billion to $20 billion, meaning it could prove to be one of the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history.
The proportionately greater destruction done in the Caribbean has been forgotten.