A Day in the Life of Hurricane Florence

                     By Izzy S.

September 14, 2018:

I turn on the t.v to watch the news and what was the topic of discussion? Hurricanes! Florence has been all over the news today, not the mom on the Brady Bunch, but Hurricane Florence.  Today the hurricane’s wind speed was about 70 mph, and the storm was moving towards land at about three miles per hour. North Carolina was somewhat prepared, because in 2016 they were hit by hurricane Matthew. The community had pitched in and built a brick two foot wall after Matthew hoping that wall will help them with a hurricane like Florence. In North and South Carolina the floods after the hurricane will be major and everything will be flooded because of all of the rain. All they can do is evacuate and wait.

  Hurricane Florence is a category 4. The highest a hurricane can be is a category 5. A category 4 is usually  considered as an extreme hurricane. Not only that but, it is raining so much that so far there is about 16 inches of rain. At the end of this hurricane there is expected to be about 20 to 25 inches of rain. In addition, over 1 million homes and business are out of power in North Carolina. Almost 2,100 flights have been canceled through Saturday because of this hurricane. Florence is causing headaches for travelers.This hurricane is so big that about 11 million Americans are under warnings and storm watches. The worst part of this hurricane is that this is moving so slow that it will take many days for it to clear. In addition, Officials say that it could take about 5 days for the water to clear. As well as, about 2 weeks for the power to go back on.

The rescue teams are working day and night. They have to go through over 4 feet of water and go to every house to see if someone is trapped. They can sometimes tell that people are in their houses because their cars are parked in front or some of them have tape on the windows. Everyone is pitching in there are firefighters, NYPD, EMS,  police dogs, and people around the community are helping too.

Hurricanes often happen in the summer or fall. When they form they are above warm ocean water. The wind starts to blow hard, then wind and rain forms many thunderstorms. The thunderstorms come together in a spinning circle and you have a hurricane. How can everyone see the hurricane from above? Well thats because of the hurricane hunters. They fly an airplane over the hurricane and measure the storms wind speed, temperature, and pressure as well as take pictures and video. A few days later hurricane Florence was about a category 2 as it slowed down. The category number of a hurricane goes from 1 to 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Hurricanes can explode over shore with as much energy as 10,000 nuclear bombs. Strong winds over 180 mph can lift trains and shatter tons of buildings. When it rains trillions of gallons can fall on the ground. Stay away from Florence!