by Ben Rosenberg

Sports Editor

    On Aug. 25, Americans sat anxiously fearing another Hurricane Katrina. It was on this day that a dreaded cyclone called Gustav began forming off the southeast coast of Haiti. By the morning of Aug. 26, Gustav had become a full-blown hurricane, and by Sept 4, a more deadly Hurricane Ike was following.

    Predicted to strike on Sept. 1, meteorologists concluded that Gustav had approximately an 81 percent chance of remaining a category three hurricane or above. When Gustav struck along the Louisiana coast, however, it was confirmed as a category two. The hurricane reached a high speed of 150 miles-per-hour. Gustav was only one mile-per-hour below qualifications for category three when it hit. As the storm began subsiding, several tornadoes swept across the area.

    “We [do not] have more tales of people in grave danger and more loss of life…because everybody heeded the governor’s instructions, the mayor’s instructions, [and] the parish president’s instructions to get out of town,” said Michael Chertoff, Secretary of Homeland Security. Local residents are optimistic that future incidents will run as smoothly. It is estimated that Gustav will cost insurance agencies a total of about 10 billion dollars, while costing a total of 20 billion to the US government.

    Hurricane Ike also hit the US mainland, and had a profound effect on Cuba and Haiti, which had already suffered from both hurricanes Gustav and Hanna. At that point, Ike was a category four hurricane, but by the time it reached the mainland, it had spread to a much wider radius and consequently had weakened. Storms and floods swept across the southern states, forcing Texas to shut down several of its oil refineries, and it further delayed the several Louisiana citizens from returning after Gustav.

    Damages from Ike are projected to cost the US government approximately 22 billion dollars, which would cause it to rank third among America’s costliest hurricanes, behind Katrina and Andrew. Though it was not as costly to mainland America as Gustav, which ranked sixth, it will retain its fame in the US because it marked the first instance in 25 years that Texas was hit by a damaging hurricane.

    As of Sept. 4, Gustav had dissipated and resulted in 120 casualties, while Ike dissipated by Sept. 14, killing 147.  Though these events were traumatic, they were no match for Katrina, which single-handedly caused over 18,000 casualties. A category five hurricane, Katrina had a catastrophic impact on both the state of Louisiana and the national economy. Although Gustav and Ike were nowhere near the magnitude of Katrina, the hurricanes occurred at almost exactly the same time of year. Three years ago, Katrina began forming on Aug. 23, just two days before Gustav, though it dissipated by Aug. 30, a day before Ike began to form.

    Summertime has been dangerous for Louisiana and its bordering areas for the past few years. Hopefully, however, our response will continue to improve if events like these continue to occur. From what we have seen this summer, between Gustav, Hanna, and Ike, Americans can expect more of these deadly cyclones in the future.

(Sources: www.cbs11tv.com, CNN, news.nationalgeographic.com)