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Calm before new storms?
14/12/2005 13:35 - (SA)
Miami - It was the year that shattered hurricane records and made New Orleans' worst nightmare come true, and experts say this could just be the beginning.
As the year draws to an end, the southern United States is still struggling to recover from the devastation wrought by Katrina and its sister and brother hurricanes.
No one knows just how deadly the season was, as many of Hurricane Katrina's victims in New Orleans are feared to have been carried away by floodwaters, buried under rubble or even eaten by crocodiles.
But the death toll along the southern United States and Central America runs into the thousands.
The six-month Atlantic hurricane season was the costliest for the United States, with damage estimated at $80bn (about R500bn).
2005 saw a record
The political cost was also high as authorities came under intense fire for their slow response to the disaster that left thousands stranded in flooded New Orleans for days after Katrina broke the city's levees on August 29.
In all, 2005 saw a record 14 hurricanes, among an unprecedented 26 tropical storms that formed in the Atlantic.
It was the first time since record-keeping started in 1851 that three hurricanes reached category five, the top of the Saffir-Simpson intensity scale.
Katrina, Rita and Wilma all had maximum sustained wind speeds of 280km per hour.
Hurricane Wilma, which slammed into Florida in October, was the most intense hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic, with its central pressure falling to 882 millibars.
As hundreds of thousands struggled to pick up their lives shattered by the wrath of the storms, authorities have warned that now is the time to prepare for a new battle when the 2006 hurricane season starts in five months.
"Everybody needs a plan," said Max Mayfield, who heads the Miami-based National Hurricane Centre.
Homeowners need to act soon if they want to reinforce their houses to make it more hurricane-safe, as many roofers and other construction workers are still busy repairing this season's damage.
"Because we are in an active era, it's important to recognise that with a greater number of hurricanes come increasing odds of one striking land," said US National Weather Service Director David Johnson.
Experts believe the latest record hurricane season was part of a cycle where periods of relative calm alternate with decades of intense activity.
"I'd like to foretell that next year will be calmer, but I can't," said Conrad Lautenbacher, who heads the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
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