Hurricane Dorian has caused hundreds of people to leave the Bahamas after a significant amount of damage has been done in recent weeks.
This category five hurricane was devastating to many. It destroyed many things in its path and left thousands of families homeless; homes and businesses were without power and many lacked food and shelter, struggling to get by on a daily basis. Meanwhile, the Celebrity Equinox, a cruise ship, terminated their regular cruise to help the survivors of Dorian.
The damage from this storm slowly made its way up to Canada and North Carolina as well. Many things are damaged in North Carolina including trees, homes and power lines. It is said this could take weeks to fix. Floods are spreading to both areas and this hurricane is clearly affecting many places.
Gina Meadows, a teacher at Pleasant Valley High School, has personal experience from Hurricane Katrina, which occurred 14 years ago. She was asked how it affected her life and she said, “My husband lost his job, we lost our home, and we had four kids in school.” Overall she said, “Our life turned upside down.”
Meadows and her family had to start their lives over in Iowa. When asked if it was hard to start over, she said, “We knew nobody. It was basically starting from scratch.” Eventually, the Pleasant Valley School District offered her a job and she was very grateful for that.
Although the Bahamas is far away from the Midwest, the hurricane can still affect the Quad City area. Hurricanes have air circulation patterns that form hundreds of miles away from the center of the storm. These patterns can influence the amount of rain that comes into the Midwest.
Since this storm was so big, it could affect weather patterns later on in the year as well. The hurricane could also influence the amount of rain the Midwest receives and possibly lead to floods. Professors from the University of Iowa said, “Flooding from a single tropical cyclone often impacts 10 to 15 states located hundreds of miles from the coast and covering a wide area.”
Even though the Bahamas experienced the main impact, other areas can be impacted by the damage as well. Because of this, the local area should take into account the many effects this hurricane may have on the Midwest, including the Quad Cities.
