Future Fury: Hurricane Effects Will Only Get Worse
Andrea Thompson
Senior Writer
LiveScience.com
The Caribbean and Gulf Coast have seen a spate of devastating hurricanes in recent years that have cost billions of dollars and thousands of lives. As residents recover from the latest hits, they may wonder about the potential for future Ikes and Katrinas.
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Hurricanes, of course, are nothing new to the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, where tropical storms form between June and November each year. But many factors, both natural and man-made, can affect the number, strength, size and impact of the storms that form each season. For example, the recent surge in storms followed an almost two-decade lull that was part of a natural cycle in hurricane formation.
During that lull, new coastal residents built homes in what they thought was a paradise. But now they've found out just how susceptible they are to nature's wrath. And it looks like the situation might only get worse.
Coastal build-up
In 2003, more than half the U.S. population (or about 153 million people) lived along the Gulf and Southeastern U.S. coastline - an increase of 33 million people from 1980 - and that number is just expected to keep rising.
The buildup of these communities in recent decades and the environmental damage that development has caused exacerbate the impact of hurricanes.
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20080919/sc_livescience/futurefuryhurricaneeffectswillonlygetworse
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