BOSTON, Aug. 24, 2011 — As of the National Hurricane Center’s 8:00 am EDT advisory, Category 3 Hurricane Irene is battering the southern Bahamas with sustained winds of 115 mph. According to catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide, Irene is currently 55 miles southeast of Acklins Island and 335 miles southeast of the capital Nassau. The storm is moving to the west-northwest at 9 mph. The center of the storm is headed directly for the Crooked and Acklins Islands, both sparsely populated (estimated population about 880 combined) and characterized by agriculture…
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Emily Dissipates after Hitting Haiti; Rain still a Threat in Hispaniola
BOSTON, Aug. 5, 2011 – According to catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide, Emily remained stalled and disorganized in the Caribbean yesterday morning before finally reaching Haiti’s southwestern coast just before 5 pm EDT. As a result of interaction with Haiti’s mountainous terrain, the storm—at tropical storm-strength earlier in the day—rapidly degenerated. As of 5pm EDT last night, Emily had dissipated completely. It is now a remnant low pressure system, lacking a closed surface circulation. Even though the system’s winds are not a threat, rain and flooding are. Precipitation from Emily…
Read MoreFlood insurance companies prepare for a potentially disastrous summer
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Weather Service announced last week that this summer’s flooding season may be the worst on record. Both the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers are currently overrunning their banks, inundating much of their surrounding areas with water. There are also several other, smaller rivers , that are also flowing over as well. Some have served as emergency spillovers for larger rivers, but none have been able to stem the flow of the water. Much of the flooding is due to storms far to the north,…
Read MoreFloods this summer could break records
Forecasters have predicted that this summer could be accompanied by the worst flooding the United States has seen in its history, as rivers continue to run higher than flood levels and the soil is still saturated from the spring’s rising waters. The last record-breaking floods were in 1993, when $25 billion in damages occurred between the months of April and August within nine states. According to the National Weather Service, this year, the water levels haven’t receded much and the soil remains soaked so that it would take only a…
Read MoreFEMA warns of flooding and last minute insurance may be too late
Hurricane season has arrived and there have already been reports of a hurricane raging in the Pacific. Early Friday, the National Hurricane Center announced that tropical storm Adrian had graduated to a full-fledged hurricane and was heading toward land. It is expected to reach the coasts of Mexico within the next day. On the other side of the country, in the Gulf Coast, concerns are rising as to what disasters this season could bring. Along the Mississippi River, the danger of flooding due to storms is all too real. Storms…
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