Hurricane Charley Research Paper

Hurricane Charley hit several countries and cost billions of dollars in damage, but lasted less than a week. Starting August 9th, 2004 and dissipated into the ocean on August 15th. The estimated total cost is about 16.3 billion U.S. dollars and is ranked the eighth costliest hurricane in the United States. The storm directly killed fifteen people and indirectly another twenty.
Hurricane Charley began as a Tropical Wave off the western coast of Africa. After traveling west across the Atlantic Ocean it became a category three Tropical Depression, at this time it was given the name “Charley” by the National Hurricane Center in Miami, even though it was no where near Florida at the time. A series of strong ridges high pressure system’s north forced it to change tracks. The storm continued to pass through the tropics and progressed into a Category 1 hurricane. August 11th the core passed forty miles southwest of Jamaica, although it did not actually hit the country, heavy rainfall, strong winds, and flooding affected the people of Jamaica. The storm continued to progress

August 11th, several countries issued storm warnings, hurricane watches, and hurricane warnings. The storm had still not hit Jamaica, governor Jeb Bush issued a state of emergency declaration because of the impending danger of the oncoming hurricane. Florida has many amusement parks as a tourist attraction. Due to the impending danger all parks were shut down, including Disney World. This was the second time in existence that Disney ever closed the park, the first being another hurricane. This hurricane also caused the rails between Miami and New York to shut down and the rerouting of cruise ships. Even as the storm neared Myrtle Beach they evacuated two coastal counties and redirected traffic away from the coasts. The total number of people who evacuated in the eastern seaboard is around