Answer to Question 1Storm surge is the leading cause of death and destruction. It is a mound of water in front of and under
the storm that has the effect of significantly raising sea level. This basically brings storm waves inland
and causes structures near the shoreline to be subjected to the direct force of the waves. Destruction
under these circumstances can be near total. The greatest death toll from an American natural disaster
happened in Galveston, Texas, in 1900, in just this way. Over 6,000 people drowned. What may have
been the deadliest coastal flooding of all time also occurred in this way in East Pakistan (now
Bangladesh) in 1970, where more than 300,000 people lost their lives.
Answer to Question 2The northeast quadrant of a hurricane is in reference to the direction that the storm is moving over the
sea or land surface, where north refers to the direction the storm is headed. The direction that the
storm came from, in this frame of reference, would be south. In other words, it is a relative frame of
reference that has to do with the way the storm is tracking. The wind in a hurricane circles the center
of the storm in a counterclockwise direction in the northern hemisphere. This means that the net wind
velocity in the northeast quadrant will be the sum of the rotational velocity of the storm plus the
velocity of its forward motion. For example, if the forward velocity is 30 miles per hour and the
rotational velocity is 90 miles per hour, the wind velocity in the northeast quadrant will be the sum of
these, which equals 120 miles per hour. The reverse situation is true in the northwest quadrant where
the net wind velocity would be only 60 miles per hour.
Eugène Delacroix, Study for The Death of Sardanapalus.
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