Hurricane Preparation

Are you prepared?

Hurricane Season begins June 1 and ends November 30.  This year a Hurricane Booklet was put together to inform all Brazoria County residents about changes in evacuation routes, destinations, and overall hurricane preparedness.

If you have not done so already, please read the 2007 Hurricane Booklet to help in your preparation.

HURRICANES
Hurricanes cause massive damage and loss of life.  Texas has weathered 10 of the 30 worst hurricanes in United States history. History teaches that a lack of hurricane awareness and preparation are common threads among all major hurricane disasters.

Hurricane hazards come in many forms:
 Storm surge
 High winds
 Tornadoes
 Flooding

STORM SURGE
Storm surge is simply water that is pushed toward the shore by the force of the winds swirling around the storm. This advancing surge combines with the normal tides to create the hurricane storm tide, which can increase the mean water level 15 feet or more.

HIGH WINDS
The intensity of a landfalling hurricane is expressed in terms of categories that relate wind speeds and potential damage. Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale
Tropical Storm — winds 39-73 mph
Category 1 Hurricane — winds 74-95 mph
Category 2 Hurricane — winds 96-110 mph
Category 3 Hurricane — winds 111-130 mph
Category 4 Hurricane — winds 131-155 mph
Category 5 Hurricane — winds 156 mph and up

TORNADOES
Hurricanes can also produce tornadoes that add to the storm's destructive power.   Tornadoes are most likely to occur in the right-front quadrant of the hurricane.  However, they are also often found elsewhere embedded in the rainbands, well away from the center of the hurricane.

Some hurricanes seem to produce no tornadoes, while others develop many.

FLOODING
When it comes to hurricanes, wind speeds do not tell the whole story.
Hurricanes produce storm surges, tornadoes, and often the most deadly of all – heavy rain - causing inland flooding.

While storm surge is always a potential threat, more people have died from inland flooding in the last 30 years. Intense rainfall is not directly related to the wind speed of tropical cyclones. In fact, some of the greatest rainfall amounts occur from weaker storms that drift slowly or stall over an area.