Hurricane season is upon us

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Three years ago last weekend — on Aug. 28, 2011 — Tropical Storm Irene touched down in Brooklyn before raging across the South Shore of Long Island and causing massive flooding, downing thousands of trees and leaving behind widespread property damage.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority shut down all public transportation, and the Long Island Power Authority reported that 523,000 customers lost power. With punishing rain and winds, Irene created a storm surge so powerful in Long Beach that it lifted Beach Patrol headquarters off its foundation and slammed it into the boardwalk. Every street in Island Park was flooded. Residents in Long Island’s lower-lying areas who stayed in their homes found themselves marooned, surrounded by water, and many who evacuated had trouble returning to their homes. Irene caused at least 65 deaths and an estimated $15.6 billion in damage.

It wasn’t the first time a storm had ravaged Long Island, and it certainly would not be the last. Fourteen months later, the damage caused by Superstorm Sandy exceeded $65 billion in the U.S. Once again, Long Island’s lower-lying areas on the South Shore — places like Long Beach, Island Park and Oceanside — were hit especially hard.

Now hurricane season is upon us again. According to the National Weather Service, the season in the Atlantic Ocean begins on June 1 and ends Nov. 30, with September being the most active month. Late last week, the National Hurricane Center tracked Hurricane Cristobal, a Category I storm with sustained winds of 75 mph, the same classification as Irene, through the North Atlantic. Sandy was classified as a Category 3 storm at its height, with winds of up to 130 mph when it made landfall in Cuba, and was still a Category 2 storm when it reached the Atlantic Coast.

Long Island is in a hurricane danger zone, and the proof was not only Sandy, or Irene, but all the storms that came before them. In September 1938, a hurricane that came to be known as the Long Island Express took 700 lives and destroyed 4,500 homes. Others that wreaked havoc included the Great Atlantic Hurricane of 1944, and Hurricanes Carol and Edna, in 1954; Donna, in 1960; Gloria, in 1985; and Bob, in 1991.

Although the GeoGraphics Laboratory, at Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts, gives Nassau County only a 1.2 percent chance of being hit by a hurricane during the remainder of this season, recent history has taught residents the importance of being prepared.

The American Red Cross suggests that you put together a hurricane kit, make a plan for your family in the event of a storm and stay informed at all times. The organization offers the following guidelines:


Before a hurricane hits:

 

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