Recovery

Fifth-graders share their hurricane experiences and some of what they have learned about storms

Hurricanes

By Kathryn & Laci

Hurricanes are born in warm tropical waters. The first stage of development is called a depression. A depression is an organized system of clouds and thunderstorms with circulating winds of up to 38 miles per hour. If the storm strengthens, it becomes a tropical storm. As the low pressure system develops even stronger, spiraling winds, it becomes a hurricane. A hurricane has winds of more than 74 miles per hour. The middle of the hurricane is called the eye. The storm surge is one of the major causes of hurricane damage. The most common means of destruction associated with hurricanes are the strong winds. Hurricanes are measured on a scale and put in categories from 1 (the weakest with winds 74-95 miles per hour) to the strongest, category 5 (winds over 155 miles per hour. The scale for measuring hurricanes is called the Saffir Simpson scale. Heavy rainfall often causes both flash and long-term flooding apart from the storm surge. We can not prevent hurricanes, but they can be tracked and predicted with warnings well before they strike land. With warnings getting better, the number of hurricane-related deaths has dropped.

SOURCE: The National Hurricane Center

Alicia s Story

My Mom woke me up at 8 a.m. and said, "Alicia, get up fast! The water is in the front yard! Put your stuff on your bed!" I got up quick and started to put my things up on my bed to try to keep them dry.

The water came in the house. When it got about an inch high, my mom made me, my sister and our two dogs go into the attic. We sat there about 30 minutes. Finally, I went to see what my parents were doing. They told me to go back into the attic. The water was up to my thighs and my bed was starting to go under. I went into my room and got all the stuff I could and went back to the attic.

A few minutes later, my mom came to check on me. I started to cry about my American Girl Dolls. I asked my mom to go and get them. My sister asked mom if she needed any help but Mom said no. Five minutes later, we heard Mom scream, "Help!" My sister swam in and my mom was trapped in between my dressers. My sister helped, and my mom brought my dolls to the attic.

We heard this big boom! We swam into the kitchen. The refrigerator had turned over. We went back to the attic. My sister went to see what my parents were doing. She came back and said the den wall was about to cave in. We both got so afraid. My mom came to us and said, "We have to get out." My dad told my sister to put my puppy, Maddie, in her carrier. My sister took the puppy out of the attic, but she was so heavy, my sister dropped her. My dad went under water and got the puppy. My mom helped me get our big dog out of the attic.

We swam outside and got in my dad s skiff. We stayed there a few hours. My dad got on the Sea Doo to see if we could get to a neighbor’s two-story house. When he came back, he said we had to go back in the house because there were bricks flying everywhere.

I was afraid. When we got out of the skiff, we had to go under water to get into our house. My cats had survived, they were on a floating mattress. We got to the attic and changed into warm ski clothes my mom had stored in the attic. We went to sleep. I am happy my whole family is alive. After the storm, I went to live in Oxford, Miss., for a while.

	"During Hurricane Katrina, the wind was so strong, sometimes it would turn white outside. We boarded up the house, but the wind made some of the plywood fall so we could see when trees fell down. When I looked out one time, I could see a tree trying not to fall over. It looked like someone flexing their muscles. I heard wind blowing. Sometimes it felt like the whole house was shaking." - Chrissy
		"I woke up and saw the water was high and up to our sidewalk. A tree fell and the house shook." - Grant
Students experimented with using weak building materials (pasta and marshmallows) to look for building techniques that provide strength. The Coast will not be rebuilt with pasta or straw, of course. Many of our new buildings will be steel and concrete.