Hurricanes Florence and Michael

Nevie Smith ’19, Contributor

Over the past two months, powerful and destructive hurricanes have hit different regions of the United States. The worst of the natural disasters includes Hurricane Florence and Hurricane Michael, which occurred nearly less than one month apart. Unfortunately, the effects of these traumatic events are still being felt today, but much progress has been made and things are starting to turn up for those that were impacted by the hurricanes.

Hurricane Florence first struck land September 14^th in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina as a category 2 storm. Despite evacuation orders many people remained in their homes, and unfortunately five people died the day that it hit. Soon, the storm was weakened to a tropical storm, then a tropical depression, with a death toll of just under 40 lives. The power of the storm destroyed many towns in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, flooding the streets and shutting off thousands of power-lines across the three states. One city even recorded a shocking 12.73 inches in just 24 hours.

Hurricane Michael hit the Florida Panhandle as a category 4 hurricane on October 10^th. The storm had winds reaching a height of over 150 miles per hour and forced about a million people to live without power. After slowing down, Michael became a tropical storm, and was named the most destructive and largest hurricane to hit the United States in over 25 years. People all the way from Florida to Virginia and everywhere in between were affected by the massive storm. Over thirty people were killed, and up until a week ago local troops were still searching for people in the wreckage.

Despite the destructiveness of both hurricanes, there were some amazing rescue stories that came out of the horror. Hundreds of people left the safety and comfort of their own homes to help with the relief efforts for both storms. Even in these trying times, the American people came together, once again, to help each other and move on from the tragedies of both Hurricane Michael and Hurricane Florence.

Sources:

https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/10/us/2018-atlantic-hurricane-season-fast-facts/index.html

https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/13/us/hurricane-florence-south-east-coast-wxc/index.html