Impact
The 2007 season was severe in terms of damage, mostly in the Caribbean. Collectively, storms caused more than 423 fatalities and about $3 billion (2007 USD, $3.36 billion 2012 USD) in damage.
In Hispaniola, Hurricane Dean killed 15 people and destroyed hundreds of homes. Dean also left $616 million (2007 USD, $690 million 2012 USD) in damage on Martinique and $154 million (2007 USD, $173 million 2012 USD) on Guadeloupe. Hurricane Felix took a similar path, although its effects were not severe; damage on Tobago was estimated at $250,000 (2007 TTD; $40,000 2007 USD, $44.8 thousand 2012 USD). Hurricane Noel caused severe damage throughout the region. Torrential rainfall and mudslides caused by the storm killed at least 87 people in the Dominican Republic and at least 73 in Haiti. In addition, Tropical Storm Olga triggered flooding in the Dominican Republic, killing at least 37 people.
Hurricane Felix made landfall just south of the border between Nicaragua and Honduras, in a region historically known as the Mosquito Coast, as a Category 5 hurricane with 160 mph (260 km/h) winds on September 4. Residents of the region were reported to have been given little warning of the oncoming hurricane, which left many fisherman stranded at sea. In all, Felix killed at least 130 people, and damage in Nicaragua totaled C$869.3 million (2007 NIO; $46.7 million 2007 USD, $52.3 thousand 2012 USD). In Mexico, Hurricane Dean made landfall on the Yucatán Peninsula on August 21 as a Category 5 hurricane. Throughout its track, Dean killed 44 people and caused several billion dollars in damage. Hurricane Lorenzo struck central Mexico to the south-southwest of Tuxpan as a Category 1 hurricane, causing an estimated $1 billion (2007 MXN; $92 million 2007 USD, $103 million 2012 USD) in damage. Lorenzo caused six deaths in Tuxpan and destroyed 169 houses in Puebla.
During the season, five North Atlantic hurricanes affected the United States. However, these storms were relatively weak; three tropical depressions and one tropical storm and hurricane made landfall in the country, with their names being Gabrielle and Humberto. Subtropical Storm Andrea meandered off the Southeastern coast, producing 34 ft (10 m) waves on the coast of South Carolina. Almost a month later, Tropical Storm Barry struck the state of Florida. The rainfall resulted in slick roads, which caused two traffic-related deaths, and a woman was killed after being injured by rough surf. Tropical Storm Erin made landfall in Texas, flooding more than 40 homes and businesses. Along its path into the central states, Erin killed 16 people—9 directly—and left about $25 million (2007 USD, $28 million 2012 USD) in total damage. In the second week of September, Tropical Storm Gabrielle moved ashore on North Carolina, causing moderate wind gusts and light rainfall, although minimal damage. Shortly thereafter, Hurricane Humberto made landfall on High Island, Texas, with winds of about 90 mph (150 km/h). $50 million (2007 USD, $56 million 2012 USD) in damages were reported. An unnamed tropical depression struck the coast of the Florida Panhandle about one week after Humberto dissipated. It caused no known deaths or serious injuries and just $6.2 million in damage (2007 USD, $6.95 million 2012 USD).
Three tropical cyclones directly affected Canada, although the first, Tropical Storm Barry, caused no reported effects. The next storm, Tropical Storm Chantal, moved over the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland where flooding was observed. Insured damage across the area totaled $5.8 million (2007 CAD; $5.5 million 2007 USD, $6.16 million 2012 USD). The most notable storm was Hurricane Noel, which generated winds of 130 mph (210 km/h) in the Wreckhouse region of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Read more about this topic: 2007 Atlantic Hurricane Season
Famous quotes containing the word impact:
“One can describe a landscape in many different words and sentences, but one would not normally cut up a picture of a landscape and rearrange it in different patterns in order to describe it in different ways. Because a photograph is not composed of discrete units strung out in a linear row of meaningful pieces, we do not understand it by looking at one element after another in a set sequence. The photograph is understood in one act of seeing; it is perceived in a gestalt.”
—Joshua Meyrowitz, U.S. educator, media critic. “The Blurring of Public and Private Behaviors,” No Sense of Place: The Impact of Electronic Media on Social Behavior, Oxford University Press (1985)
“As in political revolutions, so in paradigm choice—there is no standard higher than the assent of the relevant community. To discover how scientific revolutions are effected, we shall therefore have to examine not only the impact of nature and of logic, but also the techniques of persuasive argumentation effective within the quite special groups that constitute the community of scientists.”
—Thomas S. Kuhn (b. 1922)
“If the federal government had been around when the Creator was putting His hand to this state, Indiana wouldn’t be here. It’d still be waiting for an environmental impact statement.”
—Ronald Reagan (b. 1911)