Tropical Storm Jeane kills 600+ in Haiti

[redrumloa]

HERE (http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-jeanne,0,5082345.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines)

600? From a tropical storm? Thank god it wasn't a hurricane when it hit them:-( Haitins have it too hard.

[whabang]

Seems like it's going to stay clear of the U.S. coast. Let's hope it stays out in the water.

[Karlos]

@Red

Tragic :-(

I guess that there is a crossover region between "tropical storm" and "hurricane" - surely it can't be too rigidly defined?

[KennyR]

Karlos wrote:
I guess that there is a crossover region between "tropical storm" and "hurricane" - surely it can't be too rigidly defined?

It's defined by sustained wind speed. Any cyclonic wind storm above 74 mph is a hurricane. Anything between 39 mph and 74 is a tropical storm. Smaller ones are called tropical depressions.

[Karlos]

@Kenny

Yeah. What I meant that telling someone the 74mph cyclone that demolished their home "wasn't a hurricane" wouldn't really make much difference to them.

[asian1]

Hello
This remind me of the annual Bangladesh Cyclone Tragedy in 1990s.
Several thousands people died each year because lack of warning and lack of shelter against the cyclone and floods.

After the warning system and adequeate shelters are build by UN agencies, the number of casualties dropped significantly.
Unfortunately the captain of a ferry ignored the warning and capsized on May 2004. 61 people are drowned and several other missing.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3741749.stm