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News articles on Hurricanes

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Mongabay.com news articles on hurricanes in blog format. Updated regularly.

Snails may have worsened Hurricane Katrina's impact
(12/19/2005) Periwinkle snails may have indirectly worsened the impact of Hurricane Katrina by decimating an estimated 250,000 acres of Gulf salt marsh between 1999 and 2003, according to research presented in the journal Science last week.


2006 Hurricane season likely to be active
(12/6/2005) The United States faces another very active Atlantic basin hurricane season in 2006, but with likely fewer landfalling intense hurricanes than in 2005 - the costliest, most destructive hurricane season ever - according to a report issued today by Philip Klotzbach, William Gray and the Colorado State University forecast team.


US denies hurricane link with climate change
(12/1/2005) Harlan Watson, chief climate control negotiator for the U.S. State Department, told the Associated Press that the Bush administration does not blame global warming or climate change for extreme weather -- including the hurricanes that thrashed the Gulf earlier this year.


2005 Atlantic hurricane season worst on record
(11/29/2005) The 2005 Atlantic hurricane season is the busiest on record and extends the active hurricane cycle that began in 1995 -- a trend likely to continue for years to come. The season included 26 named storms, including 13 hurricanes in which seven were major.


Army Corps of Engineers lacks plan for restoring coastal wetlands
(11/9/2005) The Army Corps of Engineers and the state of Louisiana lack an overall plan for restoring coastal wetlands, says a new report from the National Academy of Sciences.


Sea turtle first animal returned to New Orleans Aquarium after hurricane
(10/13/2005) King Midas, a 300-pound (136 kg) green sea turtle, was the first animal returned to the Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans after the facility was evacuated in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.


Amazon at record low -- communities isolated, commerce stalled
(10/11/2005) The Amazon River in Peru and parts of Brazil is at its lowest level in 30 years of record keeping. While variable water levels are characteristic of the Amazon river ecosystem, the increasingly extreme fluctuations are of great concern. Low water levels are wreaking havoc on the shipping industry in the region. In Iquitos, a city in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon which is only accessible by plane or boat, ships and barges are having difficulty navigating the river, resulting in serious shipping delays. Local officials in Peru are blaming deforestation of the upper reaches of the Amazon in the Andes for the fall in river levels, although it is likely that larger forces are at least equally important. Warmer ocean surface temperatures in the Pacific and low sunspot activity is also affecting weather in the region, while warming in the north Atlantic -- which has helped trigger an unusually strong and destructive hurricane season -- may be preventing the formation of rain clouds over the Amazon Basin.


Extreme drought drops Amazon river to record low levels
(10/7/2005) The Amazon River in Peru and parts of Brazil is at its lowest level in 30 years of record keeping. While variable water levels are characteristic of the Amazon river ecosystem, the increasingly extreme fluctuations are of great concern. Low water levels are wreaking havoc on the shipping industry in the region. In Iquitos, a city in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon which is only accessible by plane or boat, ships and barges are having difficulty navigating the river, resulting in serious shipping delays. Local officials in Peru are blaming deforestation of the upper reaches of the Amazon in the Andes for the fall in river levels, although it is likely that larger forces are at least equally important. Warmer ocean surface temperatures in the Pacific and low sunspot activity is also affecting weather in the region. Brazilian meteorologists have discounted the theory that the severe hurricane season off the US Gulf coast has impacted the availability of moisture in the Amazon.


Poor aid response to storm damage in Central America
(10/5/2005) Tropical storm Stan has killed more than 120 people across Central America, including more than 60 in El Salvador and 50 in Guatemala, but international aid has been slow to arrive in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina.


Sea turtles temporarily lose protection in wake of Hurricane Katrina
(10/2/2005) The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has granted shrimp trawlers a temporary 30-day exemption from federal Turtle Excluder Device requirements in certain state and federal waters off Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Turtle Excluder Devices protect sea turtles and other large marine animals from being captured in trawl nets. The exemption from federal TED requirements will expire at 11:59 pm on October 22, 2005, unless otherwise extended by NMFS.


Louisiana seafood products safe for consumption -- LSU AgCenter
(10/2/2005) Louisiana seafood products making their way to the market now are safe - despite disruptions and losses the industry suffered as the result of Hurricane Katrina, according to experts at the LSU AgCenter.


Is there a link between the Arctic and hurricanes?
(9/29/2005) Is there a cause-and-effect link between the warming trend in the Arctic and the recent increase in Atlantic hurricane activity?.


Galveston, Houston aquariums survive Hurricane Rita
(9/26/2005) The aquarium and other animal facilities at Moody Gardens in Galveston, Texas along with the Houston aquarium appear to have weathered Hurricane Rita according to press reports.


Galveston aquarium survives Hurricane Rita
(9/26/2005) The aquarium and other facilities at Moody Gardens in Galveston, Texas appear to have weathered Hurricane Rita according to press reports.


Hurricane news for specific towns in Texas
(9/24/2005) Hurricane Rita slammed into Texas and Louisiana early Saturday, flooding coastal towns, sparking fires and knocking power out to more than 1 million customers, but largely sparing Houston, New Orleans and the region's oil refining industry.


European Space Agency analyzes Hurricane Rita
(9/23/2005) As Hurricane Rita entered the Gulf of Mexico, ESA's Envisat satellite's radar was able to pierce through swirling clouds to directly show how the storm churns the sea surface. This image has then been used to derive Rita's wind field speeds.


Penguins and sea otters rescued from hurricane settling in at Monterey Bay Aquarium
(9/23/2005) The 19 penguins and two sea otters rescued from the New Orleans Aquarium of the Americas are currently behind the scenes during their quarantine period. The penguins are being housed in a former dive locker, now called the "Penguin Hospitality Suite." We hope to put some or all of them on exhibit in the near future with our penguin colony in "Splash Zone." It will be a family reunion of sorts, as several of the birds in the two colonies are related.


NOAA Biologists to study marine contaminants from hurricane
(9/23/2005) The NOAA Research vessel the Nancy Foster this week is working off the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama to study the effects of Hurricane Katrina on marine resources and the ecosystem. During the cruise, biologists will take water samples and look at sediments in the Mississippi river. They will test fish and shrimp for evidence of toxic contamination and pathogens that might affect human health.


Modeling Hurricane Rita's Path
(9/22/2005) An advanced research weather model run by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) is following Hurricane Rita to give scientists a taste of how well forecast models of the future may predict hurricane track, intensity, and important rain and wind features.


Hurricane Katrina damage just a dose of what's to come
(9/21/2005) The kind of devastation seen on the Gulf Coast from Hurricane Katrina may be a small taste of what is to come if emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2 ) are not diminished soon, warns Dr. Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology in his opening remarks at the 7th International Carbon Dioxide Conference in Boulder, Colorado, September 26, 2005.


US summer wetter, warmer than usual says NOAA
(9/21/2005) The June-August summer season was the tenth warmest on record for the contiguous U.S., while precipitation was above average. Global temperatures were second highest on record for the boreal summer, which runs from June 1 through August 31. Twelve named tropical systems formed in the Atlantic by the end of August, including Hurricane Katrina, which was among the strongest hurricanes ever to strike the U.S.


What is a Category 5 Hurricane?
(9/21/2005) Hurricane Rita just strengthened to a Category 5 hurricane. A Category 5 hurricane is the strongest and most severe class of hurricane. The scale, known as the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, classifies hurricanes by the intensity of their sustained winds, storm surge and flooding, developed in 1969 by civil engineer Herbert Saffir and National Hurricane Center director Bob Simpson.


Last 4 missing Gulfport dolphins rescued following hurricane
(9/21/2005) The NOAA Fisheries Service and the Marine Life Aquarium of Gulfport, Miss., working with a number of other partners, rescued the last four of the eight trained bottlenose dolphins that were swept out of an aquarium tank torn apart by the storm surge of Hurricane Katrina on August 29. Normally held in captivity, the dolphins don't have the necessary skills to survive on their own. They have survived various injuries and predators and have stayed together since the storm.


Stronger New Orleans' levees could have high real estate and environmental cost
(9/21/2005) Today The Wall Street Journal published an article on proposals for improving the levees around New Orleans. The city's existing flood-control system, which was designed to handle up to a Category 3 hurricane, failed during Category 4 Katrina and New Orleans was swamped with flood water.


33% of evacuees report experiencing health problems or injuries as a result of the hurricane
(9/20/2005) To give voice to people whose lives have been devastated by Hurricane Katrina and the ensuing floods, The Washington Post, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Harvard School of Public Health conducted a unique survey of evacuees in shelters in the Houston area. One-third (34%) of Katrina evacuees report that they were trapped in their homes and had to be rescued. Half (50%) of those who were trapped said they waited three or more days to be rescued.


Number of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes has nearly doubled over past 35 years
(9/16/2005) The number of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes worldwide has nearly doubled over the past 35 years, even though the total number of hurricanes has dropped since the 1990s, according to a study by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). The shift occurred as global sea surface temperatures have increased over the same period. The research appears in the September 16 issue of Science.


Tampa Bay could be hit by 25-foot storm surge in Category 4 hurricane
(9/16/2005) A Category 4 hurricane could cause a storm surge of as much as 25 feet in Tampa Bay, according to a University of Central Florida researcher who is looking at the risks Florida cities face from tidal surges and flooding.


Missing Gulfport dolphins rescued following Hurricane Katrina
(9/16/2005) Wildlife experts on Thursday began rescuing a group of eight bottlenose dolphins swept from their aquarium home into the Gulf of Mexico by Hurricane Katrina.


Hexavalent chromium, lead and arsenic found in flood waters
(9/15/2005) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released its daily update on Hurricane Katrina flood water sampling data for chemicals.


Hurricane Katrina to cost Louisiana fisheries $1.1 billion
(9/13/2005) The Louisiana Department and Wildlife and Fisheries' preliminary estimates indicate a potential $1.1 billion loss in retail fisheries revenue over the next year and an additional $150 million loss in oyster revenue in the second year due to Hurricane Katrina damage.


New Orleans Aquarium animals shipped to Monterey Bay Aquarium
(9/12/2005) Two sea otters and 19 penguins from the New Orleans Aquarium have been sent to Monterey Bay Aquarium. The aquarium will start providing updates on the animals once they have been stabilized. There are currently no plans to place them on exhibit at Monterey Bay.


Hurricane Katrina Surface Water Monitoring Plan prepared
(9/12/2005) The Louisiana Office of Environmental Assessment has prepared a "Hurricane Katrina Surface Water Monitoring Plan" to determine the impact of Hurricane Katrina on water quality in affected areas.


Gator season delayed due to Hurricane Katrina
(9/9/2005) The Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has delayed the opening and closing dates of the 2005 wild alligator harvest season in accordance with the provisions of R.S. 49:953B of the Administrative Procedure Act and LAC 76:V.701 due to Hurricane Katrina.


Surviving animals from New Orleans aquarium to be sent elsewhere
(9/9/2005) Surviving animals from the New Orleans will find new homes according to aquarium spokeswoman Melissa Lee. Despite escaping Hurricane Katrina with little physical damage, the Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans suffered significant loss of animal life when the facility's emergency generator failed and made conditions unlivable for most its animals.


Hurricane could hit San Diego
(9/8/2005) San Diego has been hit by hurricanes in the past and may be affected by such storms in the future according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). While a hurricane in San Diego would likely produce significantly less damage that Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, it could still exact a high cost to Southern California especially if the region was caught off guard.


States housing thousands of evacuees -- state by state estimates
(9/8/2005) Almost 240,000 hurricane victims are in Texas; 25,000 in Alabama; 60,000 in Arkansas; 15,000 in Tennessee; 15,000 in Georgia. More than 485 Red Cross shelters have been opened in 18 states including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia with more on standby. More than 142,000 evacuees are being sheltered by the American Red Cross. Meanwhile a debate has emerged on whether to call displaced victims of Hurricane Katrina "refugees," "evacuees," "victims" or "survivors."


$50 electronic food cards for hurricane refugees
(9/7/2005) Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns today issued two directives to further meet the food and housing needs of Hurricane Katrina survivors.


Number of hurricane evacuees sheltered in various states, cities
(9/7/2005) These lists of shelters have been compiled from various press and government reports.


Economic impact of hurricane close to neutral
(9/7/2005) The CBO projects 400,000 people will be unemployed due to Hurricane Katrina. Further, the hurricane is unlikely to have much impact on overall economic growth in the United States. Generally, the overall impact of natural disasters is often close to neutral since lost output from destruction and displacement is then compensated for by a big increase in reconstruction and public spending.


NASA offers assistance to hurricane victims
(9/7/2005) NASA science instruments and Earth-orbiting satellites are providing detailed insight about the environmental impact caused by Hurricane Katrina. Images and data are helping characterize the extent of flooding; damage to homes, businesses and infrastructure; and potential hazards caused by the storm and its aftermath.


$170 million in emergency assistance for farmers
(9/7/2005) Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns today announced that USDA is making more than $170 million in emergency assistance available to agricultural producers suffering from Hurricane Katrina. In addition, USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) is implementing immediate changes to its Marketing Assistance Loan Program due to the hurricane.


An environmental disaster in New Orleans
(9/6/2005) New Orleans faces an environmental disaster.


White alligator, sea otters, penguins at New Orleans Aquarium OK, fish are not
(9/6/2005) Despite escaping Hurricane Katrina with little physical damage, the Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans has suffered significant loss of animal life. According to the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA), the aquarium has lost most of its fish. A skeleton staff is preparing to move some animals out of the facility and caring for surviving animals in the collection. The sea otters, penguins, leafy and weedy seadragons, birds (macaws and raptors), and the white alligator are fine.


Personal account of hurricane destruction along Mississippi Gulf Coast
(9/6/2005) The following is an eyewitness account of hurricane destruction along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Included is information on plans to provide pro bono services from out of state lawyers to the storm victims, many of whom will need assistance in dealing with insurance companies, relief bureaucracies, and possibly personal or small business bankruptcies in the aftermath of the storm.


Mississippi's poor areas have worst hurricane impact
(9/5/2005) People living in the path of Hurricane Katrina's worst devastation were twice as likely as most Americans to be poor and without a car -- factors that might help explain why so many failed to evacuate as the storm approached.


Poverty worsens hurricane impact -- AP analysis
(9/5/2005) An Associated Press analysis of Census data shows that the residents in the three dozen hardest-hit neighborhoods in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama also were disproportionately minority and had incomes $10,000 below the national average.


Zoo and Aquarium likely closed a year after hurricane
(9/4/2005) Despite escaping Hurricane Katrina physically unscathed, the aquarium facility in New Orleans has suffered a significant loss of animal life.


How to help the New Orleans Zoo and Aquarium after hurricane
(9/4/2005) Despite escaping Hurricane Katrina relatively unscathed, the zoo and aquarium facilities in New Orleans could use donations to help with the feeding and care of their animals.


Global Wildlife Center; Jackson, Birmingham, Baton Rouge Zoos OK
(9/4/2005) The American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA) reports that the Jackson zoo, Birmingham zoo, Montgomery Zoo, and Baton Rouge Zoo came through Hurricane Katrina with relatively little damage. None of the facilties lost staff or animals and most of the damage was limited to fallen trees.


Aerial photos of Hurricane Katrina destruction
(9/2/2005) NOAA posted online more than 1450 aerial images of the U.S. Gulf Coast areas that were decimated by Hurricane Katrina. NOAA will be flying more missions in the days ahead that will yield hundreds of additional aerial digital images. The regions photographed on Tuesday range from Bay St. Louis to Pascagoula, Miss. The southeast coastal areas of Louisiana are being photographed on Wednesday. The aerial photograph missions were conducted by the NOAA Remote Sensing Division the day after Katrina made landfall at approximately 7:10 a.m. EDT on Aug. 29, 2005, in Plaquemines Parish, La.



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