Storm Surge, Not Strong Winds, Is The Deadliest Threat From Hurricanes, NOAA Says

The 2019 hurricane season starts in two weeks, and the National Hurricane Center has been honing in on ways to help those most likely to be affected get prepared. One way is understanding what are the deadliest threats from a hurricane: while the strong winds do wreak havoc, storm surges are even more deadly. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), when people hear about hurricanes most immediately think of high winds. But it’s the water that’s responsible for nearly 90 percent of fatalities – and half of those are due to storm surge. NOAA said thanks to improved computer modeling, several years of experimentation, and social science research, the National Hurricane Center has an interactive web tool, the National Storm Surge Hazard Maps to help interested person learn about this risk. The first version was issued in 2014 and covered the U.S coastline from Texas to Maine. Puerto Rico was added in 2017. This year the system has expanded to include the Ha...