HURRICANE UPDATES
In this section:
Hurricanes Predicted to Set Record in Atlantic
Agency Employee Volunteers at Louisiana Shelter
Hurricanes Predicted to Set Record in Atlantic
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Cots and tents being unloaded from a NATO airplane
in Little Rock, Ark. NATO was one of numerous international
organizations to donate supplies to hurricane-ravaged
areas.
Rebecca Gustafson, USAID |
USAID’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance
has been on heightened alert monitoring hurricane activity
this year, after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) predicted a hyperactive hurricane season, which runs
from June 1 through November 30.
Regional advisors have been holding hurricane preparedness
briefings for missions in hurricane-vulnerable countries and
conducting other preparedness activities.
The U.S. government provided more than $116 million to the
Caribbean in the wake of the 2004 hurricane season.
Already this year, USAID has given assistance to Haiti and
Grenada in response to hurricanes Dennis and Emily, and is
prepared to assist countries affected throughout the hurricane
season. USAID has also been implementing disaster risk-management
programs to reduce vulnerability to hurricanes in the region.
In July, Hurricane Dennis claimed 43 lives in Haiti and
16 in Cuba, and affected over 1 million people in the region
with its heavy rains. One week later, Hurricane Emily swept
across the Caribbean, and is being blamed for seven fatalities
in Grenada, Jamaica, and Mexico.
In August, Hurricane Katrina, among the worst natural disasters
in U.S. history, devastated New Orleans and areas along the
Mississippi Gulf Coast and South Florida. In support of the
Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Emergency
Plan, USAID’s Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian
Assistance coordinated offers of international assistance
from over 80 countries.
As of Sept. 9, 16 storms, seven hurricanes, and three major
hurricanes—those with wind speeds exceeding 112 mph,
or categories 3 through 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale—were
observed in the Atlantic Ocean.
Forecasters predict that the 2005 hurricane season will
result in 18 to 21 tropical storms, nine to 11 hurricanes,
and five to seven major hurricanes.
In an average hurricane season, about 10 tropical storms,
six hurricanes, and two major hurricanes are expected in the
Atlantic basin.
NOAA says atmospheric and oceanic conditions favorable to
hurricanes—such as warmer than normal sea-surface temperatures,
low wind shear, and low surface air pressure—are expected
to continue during the peak months of hurricane season from
August through October.
While NOAA cannot predict where and when a hurricane will
make a landfall, historical records indicate that one to two
hurricanes make landfall in the Caribbean region between August
and November during hyperactive hurricane seasons.
Additional information on hurricane outlooks, forecasts,
and warnings can be found at the NOAA National Hurricane Center
website.
www.nhc.noaa.gov
Agency Employee Volunteers at Louisiana Shelter
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Orville “Hoss” Gilbert of Stafford, Kansas,
loaded his truck at Little Rock Air Force Base on Sept.
16 with international commodities for the people affected
by Hurricane Katrina. He has made the run four times,
and trucked camp beds from Slovakia and blankets from
Luxemburg nine and a half hours down the road to a Louisiana
distribution warehouse. “I have hauled just about
everything you can imagine behind this truck, but this
stuff means something to me,” he said. “To
know this stuff is going to do some people some good
is a good feeling. I would hope these countries would
do the same if it were my family down there.”
Rebecca Gustafson, USAID |
When Roman Napoli of USAID’s Bureau for Latin America
and the Caribbean (LAC) heard about the need for help at shelters
in his native Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, he decided
to use a week of vacation time to help out.
“I was a volunteer coordinator at the Cajundome in
Lafayette. We had 2,500 people sleeping on cots on the basketball
court,” said Napoli.
“I coordinated volunteers distributing clothes, preparing
and serving meals, providing information, and registering
people into the shelter. Communication was poor, with cell
phones and regular phones not working so well. There were
rampant rumors and fear of disease.”
Lafayette was spared devastation, and most children in the
shelter were sent to area schools. Other children were tutored
by teachers from the community.
The majority of the displaced were African Americans, poor
and without relatives in the area.
Unlike the chaotic situation in New Orleans in the first
three days after the hurricane Aug. 29, there was no violence
in Lafayette. But instead, said Napoli, “there was depressive
apathy that settled on people; they showed little motivation.
People were wiped out emotionally.”
“The people came from the three hardest-hit parishes
in New Orleans. Very few of them went back there.”
The volunteer work was a far cry from his usual duties at
LAC in Washington, where he works on budget, strategy, and
performance evaluation.
“I felt like I was able to accomplish a lot and had
a significant impact on what was going on,” the 27-year-old
staffer said.
“There was a lack of leadership—a short supply
of people able to take charge. I was able to step in.”
Napoli and his wife, a lobbyist who also used her vacation
time to volunteer, stayed with his family in Lafayette, which
is the heart of Acadiana, an eight-parish region of Cajun
culture.
He said that his southern accent—largely lost during
schooling in California—returned during his stay and
proved helpful in building “instant credibility”
among the southerners he worked with.
In addition, he noted that the Red Cross, which coordinated
assistance at the shelter, also coordinated security provided
by National Guard troops from northern Virginia and other
forces.
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