Stu Ostro at the Weather Channel Blog reminds us of the force and size of past hurricanes, such as the 1947 hurricane that hit Florida with hurricane force winds over 240 miles of coastline. That hurricane was less destructive than it would be today, because the worst of it passed between Miami and Palm Beach. In the last 60 years, the population of Palm Beach and Broward counties have increased 10-fold, the spaces between the two cities have filled in with people and shorefront property, and the property values have soared with both. weather.com - Blog: The Weather Channel on WINDS, HURRICANES, AND POPULATION GROWTH
Ostro includes some nifty charts of the explosion in numbers of those that are today in harm's way. Ostro warns against the short-memory complacency that follows a mild storm season: "with the inevitable return of bad hurricanes and the continued increase in coastal population, this country is still cruisin' for a bruisin'. Just as Hugo and Andrew served as a wake-up call back in the late 1980s and early 90s, it's important for the recent ones from Isabel in 2003 through Wilma late in 2005 to do the same."
Posted by dougsimpson at October 2, 2006 07:50 PM