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| Florence is currently a Category 4 hurricane |
Hurricane Florence is on its way to the eastern shores of the US and, like Irma and Maria last year, is expected to cause widespread havoc.
Hurricanes are quite a common phenomenon in the US and most people have one or two hurricane stories to tell: How they couldn’t get home because transport had broken down, how they ran out of food, how electricity cut out and they were left in the dark…
Me, I’m so new to the world of storms that I don’t even know the difference between them: Typhoon, hurricane, tropical storm, cyclone? Tomato, tomatoe…
Not quite, it turns out, as there is actually a difference between them: As a rule of thumb, hurricanes originate in the Atlantic Ocean, typhoons in the North-Pacific and cyclones in the South-Pacific Ocean. Tropical storms were born (surprise!) in tropical seas and cyclones (surprise!) spin.
But knowing the correct terminology is unfortunately going to be of little help when the storm hits and I’ve been told to stock up on water, food and buy a torch and some batteries - even though Florence isn’t even predicted to hit New York. And even if it did, apparently, there’s not much reason to be concerned out here in the sticks of Brooklyn. If you live in Manhattan though, river and harbour-views suddently stop being charming and turn prime real estate into a prime hurricane flooding area.
Despite encouragement by colleagues, I have to admit I haven’t actually stocked up on anything yet. The hurricane is not even predicted to hit New York, so the danger that we’re gonna run out of anything seems quite small. But talking about stocking up…
The concern of my colleagues and the title of this post actually reminded me of my time in Italy, where I wish someone had told me to stock up on food and drinks when I lived there. Not because there was a hurricane in the Mediterranean (I didn't even see a word for storms originating in the Med!), but because in August any self-respecting Italian, takes the month off work (all of it!) and goes to the beach. This means, that slowly but steadily the supply chain breaks down and shops cannot restock. By the end of August, my local supermarket had nothing (!) left as desperate shoppers had even bought the last bits and bops of random food that were left in the shop.
Despite encouragement by colleagues, I have to admit I haven’t actually stocked up on anything yet. The hurricane is not even predicted to hit New York, so the danger that we’re gonna run out of anything seems quite small. But talking about stocking up…
The concern of my colleagues and the title of this post actually reminded me of my time in Italy, where I wish someone had told me to stock up on food and drinks when I lived there. Not because there was a hurricane in the Mediterranean (I didn't even see a word for storms originating in the Med!), but because in August any self-respecting Italian, takes the month off work (all of it!) and goes to the beach. This means, that slowly but steadily the supply chain breaks down and shops cannot restock. By the end of August, my local supermarket had nothing (!) left as desperate shoppers had even bought the last bits and bops of random food that were left in the shop.
Rome in Italy, Florence in the US… can't really tell the difference!
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| US during Florence.. |
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| ...Rome in August |
PS: I came across this article today - seems like I was not the only one confused about the difference between hurricanes, typhoons, cyclones...
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