CoconutCandy
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Loc: Beautiful Honolulu Hawaii
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As we rapidly approach the 'Official Start' of hurricane season, both in the Atlantic and here in Hawaii, Tropical Cyclones elsewhere are already wreaking havoc and inflicting misery.
I noticed a storm of near hurricane strength approaching Bangladesh a few days ago on the website, but didn't think too much about it.
After all, this region is frequented by early season tropical systems in mid-to-late May, sometimes in conjunction with the advancing "Monsoon Season", which arrives over India about this time of year. Most TC's bring beneficial rains to the area, provided they are not too severe.
TC Aila, however, was strong enough ('only' about 60 mph at landfall) to claim over 200 lives (at last count) in Bangladesh and Eastern India, injured well over 800 persons, destroyed at least 34 THOUSAND homes, decimated the fish and shrimp farms from the 10 foot storm surge, inundated vast agricultural areas with salt water, and felled all the precious mangos over a huge area. As many as 2.5 Million persons were evacuated or otherwise displaced from Aila.
Additionally, the storm surge may have killed more than a dozen of the very beautiful but highly endangered Bengal Tigers, which habitate the mangrove swamps in the affected area. A crushing loss for a dwindeling species.
The Cyclone's Impact to the Highly Endangered Bengal Tigers
TCs' Kujira and Chan-Hom in the Western Pacific (see previous post) also claimed a few dozen lives, mostly indirectly, in the Phillipines a few weeks ago.
But now, TC 'Aila' holds the dubious distinction as being the most destructive and costly Tropical Cyclone thus far into the Northern Hemisphere's season. And there are sure to be many more before all is said and done and '09 is 'in the books'.
Always sad to see the video footage of ruin and the destruction of villages and the severe hardships inflicted on a population that already had so little to begin with.
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Hopefully, there will be supressed activity this year in the Atlantic, perhaps due to a mild to moderate El Nino event still to take shape, and hoping that there will be no 'Ike's this year for the US to contend with.
But you know what they say: It only takes ONE (Andrew, for example, occured in an otherwise subdued season) to turn your life upside down, and inflict massive environmental and property damage.
Here's hoping everyone will have a safe and uneventful year. But, as always, be prepared! "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." 
Please Review: Hurricane Preparedness & Disaster Planning
Edited by CoconutCandy (Wed May 27 2009 11:29 AM)
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