Just a Category 1 hurricane? Don't be fooled by a number - It could be more devastating than a Cat 5

(12 Jul 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
++SOUNDBITES PARTIALLY COVERED++
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Bay City, Texas - 8 July 2024
1. Various of driving through flooded street
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Palacios, Texas - 8 July 2024
2. Flooded field
3. Down power line with emergency vehicle
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tallahassee, Florida - 12 July 2024
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Brendan Farrington, The Associated Press:
"Hurricane Beryl was a reminder to many folks that you can't just judge a hurricane by its category. It came in to Texas as a category one storm. Many people, when they see Category one, they think, oh, well, I'm going to be okay. But, a storm's rating, a category rating between 1 and 5, is not the only factor people should take into consideration. Like in Texas right now, 2.7 million people lost power. Hundreds of thousands are still going to be without power more than a week after the storm. And, you know, and suffering through really stifling heat."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Tampa, Florida - 11 November 2020
5. Wind and rain during tropical storm
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tallahassee, Florida - 12 July 2024
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Brendan Farrington, The Associated Press:
"I spoke with Craig Fugate, the former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, who also ran Florida's, emergency management department, for many years during some of his busiest hurricane seasons. And he said that that we've gotten into a bad habit of just looking at the strength of a storm and not other factors such as the size, how fast it's moving, how much rain is associated with it."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Tampa, Florida - 11 November 2020
7. Various wind and rain during tropical storm
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: New Orleans - 29 August 2021
8. Wind and rain during hurricane
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tallahassee, Florida - 12 July 2024
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Brendan Farrington, The Associated Press:
"Don't just rely on, the Category one through five. Same thing when you look at that cone when a hurricane is coming. That is not the path that is going to suffer severe effects. That is where the center of the storm may go through. And you could have a storm extending out dozens of miles beyond that center. So you may not be in the cone, but you could have problems worse than people who are."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: New Orleans - 29 August 2021
10. Various wind and rain during hurricane
STORYLINE:
Former Federal Emergency Management Director Craig Fugate has some advice for people following storms: Don't judge their severity on how big a number they've been assigned.
Measuring a storm's danger based on a 1 through 5 scale is just one tool in assessing potential damage.
People often mistakenly think a tropical storm or a Category 1 hurricane are nothing to worry about, when they can sometimes be more devastating than a major Category 4 or 5 storm.
A category only measures wind strength. It doesn't factor in storm surge, rain amounts, possible tornado formation, or a storm's size or speed.
Fugate recommends following local forecasts provided by the National Weather Service.
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[@arcie3716]

This is good to remember