Besides the power losses and high winds, another worrisome part of a major hurricane is a storm surge. In a surge, sea-levels temporarily rise because of high winds and low atmospheric pressure. To put it in perspective, storm surges are what made Hurricane Sandy and Hurricane Katrina so damaging and deadly.
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But what a surge actually is, is fascinating; hurricanes are so powerful that they literally suck up thousands of gallons water from one place and move it somewhere else. And thankfully, people have been capturing what it looks like when the ocean just disappears:
1I am in disbelief right now… This is Long Island, Bahamas and the ocean water is missing!!! That’s as far as they see #HurricaneIrma wtf pic.twitter.com/AhPAonjO6s
— #ForeverFlourish (@Kaydi_K) September 9, 2017
(The video has been certified as real by a meteorologist.)
And it didn’t just happen in the Caribbean, it happened across Florida, as well. As we sit here this morning looking at the after math of the now downgraded Tropical Storm Irma, it’s good to remember that at one time she was strong enough to make the ocean seemingly disappear.
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Because so many people were out walking around on the drained sea beds on Sunday, the National Weather Service declared a flash-flood emergency for the part of the Florida coastline about to receive a direct hit from Hurricane Irma’s eye. The hour after the eye passed over Naples, Florida, the storm surge followed rising the Gulf of Mexico by six feet (more than one inch per minute).2 This is far less violent than a Tsunami but is dangerous, none the less.
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Please remember to be safe. We aren’t out of danger or done with hurricane season just yet.
XO- Erin
