Wednesday marks the end of the Atlantic/Gulf ocean hurricane season. And although Houston was spared storms this time around, the US saw one of the most active and costly seasons in history.
In total this season produced 19 tropical storms, of which seven became hurricanes, including three major hurricanes. This matched NOAA’s predictions and continues the trend of active hurricane seasons that began in 1995. Hurricane Irene was the only one to hit the US, the first to do so since Hurricane Ike hit us here in 2008. But Irene was notable in that it was the first major tropical story to strike the Northeast coast line sine 1991.
“Irene broke the ‘hurricane amnesia’ that can develop when so much time lapses between landfalling storms,” said Jack Hayes, Ph.D., director of NOAA’s National Weather Service. “This season is a reminder that storms can hit any part of our coast and that all regions need to be prepared each and every season.”
While the US may be getting lucky with the lack of landfalls from these now more numerous storms, active predictions of more extreme weather are still prevalent on the international level, with the International Panel on Climate Change warning earlier in November about the need for better planning for extreme events like hurricanes, floods and droughts.
These challenges though do not come without costs, as is illustrated locally recently by the Rice University proposal to assist Houston in the event of another direct hurricane hit like Ike. Their recommenations call for a flood gate to be built to better help protect Houston’s ship channel, and open marsh areas near Galveston to allow tidal flooding without threat to life and property. (See video below.)