Hurricane Damages

The damage caused by a hurricane results from a number of aspects of the storm.
  • Hurricanes bring with them huge amounts of rain. A big hurricane can dump dozens of inches of rain in just a day or two, much of it inland. That amount of rain can create inland flooding that can totally devastate a large area around the hurricane's center.

Flooding after Hurricane Floyd
Photo courtesy U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Many communities and small towns in eastern North Carolina found themselves afloat following Hurricane Floyd's massive rainfall and the ensuing floods. Streams and waterways were already swollen from Hurricane Dennis, which struck eastern North Carolina (twice) just weeks before Hurricane Floyd.

  • High sustained winds cause structural damage. These winds can also roll cars, blow over trees and erode beaches (both by blowing sand and by blowing the waves into the beach).

Building leveled by a hurricane
Photo courtesy U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
Hurricanes often cause severe structural damage. This building, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, was leveled.

  • The prevailing winds of a hurricane push a wall of water, called a storm surge, in front of it. If the storm surge happens to synchronize with a high tide, it causes beach erosion and significant inland flooding.

Beach house after hurricane
Photo courtesy FEMA
Ocean-front property is particularly susceptible to damage from hurricane storm surges, when ocean waves are very high and strong because of the strength of the hurricane's winds.

  • Hurricane winds often spawn tornadoes, which are smaller, more intense cyclonic storms that cause additional damage.

"Hurricane"
According to the National Hurricane Center, the word "hurricane" comes from the name "Hurican," the Caribbean god of evil.

The extent of damage depends on a few things:
  • The category of the hurricane
  • Whether the storm comes ashore head-on or just grazes the coastline
  • Whether the right or left side of the hurricane strikes a given area

The right side of a hurricane packs more punch because the wind speed and the hurricane speed-of-motion are complimentary there. On the left side, the hurricane's speed of motion subtracts from the wind speed.

This combination of winds, rain and flooding can level a coastal town and cause significant damage to cities far from the coast. In 1996, Hurricane Fran swept 150 miles (241 km) inland to hit Raleigh, N.C. Tens of thousands of homes were damaged or destroyed, millions of trees fell, power was out for weeks in some areas and the total damage was measured in the billions of dollars.