in alphabetical order as they are discovered. Names may be repeated after six years unless they are retired permanently. Atlantic names have been used for several hundred years. The Caribbean people named storms after the saint of the day in Roman Catholicism, but prior to that in the US, storms were named by their original longitude and latitude. This was cumbersome so names in the Pacific were given to storms originating after World War II. This plan was adopted in the US in 1953 for Atlantic storms. Men's names were added in 1979. Twenty-one names are allotted every year in alphabetical order. Destructive hurricanes have their names retired. After 21 storms, the Greek alphabet is then used.
FAMOUS HURRICANES We've all heard about some of the worst hurricanes we've had in recent years, but you might be surprised that some of the worst storms happened beyond recent memory. Let's look briefly at some of the worst hurricanes we've ever had in the US: •
Hurricane Camille – this hit the Mississippi gulf coast area in 1969 as a category 5 storm. It was the hurricane that resulted in the category ratings we use today. It would cost 21 billion dollars in damages if it occurred today.
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Hurricane Donna – this was a storm in 1960 in the Florida Keys area but remained a hurricane for a total of 17 days.
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Lake Okeechobee Hurricane – this happened in 1928, killing more than 4000 people in Florida because it destroyed a major dike on the lake.
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Cuba-Florida Hurricane – this happened in 1944 and killed 300 people in Cuba, damaging the Havana Harbor quite badly.
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The Great New England Hurricane – this happened in 1938 in Connecticut and Long Island at high tide. The storm surge was severe and killed up to 800 people, doing about $39 billion of today's dollars in damage at the time.
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Hurricane Andrew – this struck parts of Florida in 1992, being one of the more costly hurricanes we've had.
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