Weather disasters

Weather disaster – is a natural disaster cased by snow, rain, extreme cold or hot, or wind. There different types of weather disaster such as tornadoes, cyclonic storms, blizzards, hailstorms, heat waves. Today I would like to talk about tropical cyclones.

What is tropical cyclone? A tropical cyclone is a storm system characterized by a large low-pressure center and numerous thunderstorms that produce strong winds and heavy rain. Depending on its location and strength, a tropical cyclone is referred to by names such as hurricane, typhoon, tropical storm, cyclonic storm, tropical depression, and simply cyclone. All of the specified extreme natural events have occurred repeatedly at various times and places throughout the centuries. Some famous cases are hurricanes in Florida and the Carribbean, cyclones in Australia, typhoons in south-east Asia; droughts in the mid-west of the USA in the 1920s and 1930s, and somewhere in north Africa nearly all the time.

The term “ tropical” mainly refers to the geographic origin and clarifies that cyclones take place almost exclusively in tropical regions . According to this, it is easy to assume, that all beach resorts and the entire coastal tourism are in direct risk. Also it is important to note, that coastal tourism is a significant segment of the tourism industry, people always desire the sun, the sea and the beach. So in case of any cyclone, tourism industry will be considerably affected.

Here is just one example:

Hurricane Georges

(watch a video)

• During September 1998, Hurricane Georges left a trail of destruction in the Carribean regionand acrossthe southern U.S. Gulf coast.
• Affected at least 6 different countries;
• Killed 604 people;
• Caused nearly $6 billion in damages;

“The impact of Hurricane Georges on the Caribbean tourism sector in 1998 has been well documented. In Antigua, six hotels were closed; while in Barbuda, there were two hotels with extensive damage. 15% of the 5,800 rooms in the Dominican Republic were damaged. In St. Kitts, 500-600 rooms were closed for one month; while in Nevis one hotel was closed for two months with eight of ten guest houses at the hotel being destroyed"(Tourist safety and security in the coastal zones of the Greater Carribean).