Hurricane Season 2020
It
is hurricane season again, so here is my annual blog post about it. The prediction
for this year’s hurricane season is out and they call for a similar season as
last year. They are predicting 13 named storms and 5 hurricanes, two of which
will be in the “major” range.
Although it is predicted to be an average season,
that doesn’t mean it is without danger. Last year Harvey was a Category 4 storm
when it hit Texas and people are still recovering. Irma came into Florida as a Category
3 and Maria hit Puerto Rico as a Category 4 and they still haven’t recovered.
Fifteen
years ago when I began writing SURGE, I had just read a similar article about
how active the next ten to fifteen years were going to be for
hurricanes. After much research and many visits to hurricane
conferences, interviewing lots of folks with the National Weather Bureau and
emergency managers in our area, I came to know how vulnerable Houstonians and
the people who live in New Orleans were to a major hurricane.
I
decided on writing a novel because I didn’t want to write about hurricanes that had
been here, ie, the great Galveston hurricane of 1900 or Carla, I wanted to
write about the one that was still out there. After talking with a lot of
different people in the area, I knew there was a certain amount of apathy about
hurricanes. I was guilty of it myself. My foremost priority was to
have an exciting story that would be a good read no matter what part of the
country you lived in, but I also wanted to try to make people who live in
coastal areas aware of what could happen if we were to take a direct hit by a
Category 4 or 5 storm.
SURGE
was published in 2004, the same year that Florida got slammed with four hurricanes, but we here in Texas were unscathed. Then things got really scary in 2005. We all
sat in front of our TV’s and watched the terrible scenes unfolding from
Katrina’s visit to New Orleans which was only a Category 2 storm by the time it
came ashore.
I
still remember very vividly coming home from a live interview via satellite
with Rita Cosby on MSNBC as Hurricane Rita churned as a Category 5 in the Gulf
heading straight for Houston. This was a scenario that I had been
living with for almost 5 years and now it appeared to be coming true. Fortunately as we
all know, Rita weakened to a Category 2 and turned right before hitting us, doing
the most damage to Beaumont and southern Louisiana.
If
you are interested in what could have happened had she not made a little jog
and stayed a Category 5, I invite you to read SURGE. It’s still
available at Amazon; book or Kindle (you can click on the button by the book
cover), or you can order it at any book store in the world. I have
been told by a number of weather experts including the fine people at the
National Hurricane Center in Miami and hurricane consultants that SURGE is an
accurate portrayal of what could happen if Houston has to face a direct hit
from a Category 5 storm.
Below are a few quotes from some of them.
“….It presents a scary scenario that is entirely
possible in the Houston/Galveston area. The type of storm described
in this book is a Meteorologist’s nightmare.”
Gene Hafele, National Weather Service, Houston/Galveston.
“Being an emergency manager, I was a bit reluctant to get
started, thinking I wouldn’t really care for it, but when I finally got to it,
I couldn’t put it down. A great story with some good surprises.”
Eliot Jennings, Emergency Manager Coordinator, City
of Galveston
“What made Surge a gripping,
“couldn’t put it down” read, was Tanner’s physical descriptions of Dolly. Few
in this area understand the enormous destructive power of a Category 5
hurricane and how a direct hit will transform this area. Tanner
translates the dry statistical data and predictions into a frightening
description of what will happen to those unfortunates caught in such a storm’s
path. I could hear the howling winds and see the angry storm surge
charging up Galveston Bay. I could feel the “soaked to the bone”
exhaustion as the characters fought to survive Dolly’s wrath.”
Bill
King, Mayor, City of Kemah
“In SURGE, Tanner has dotted his work with a cast of
characters as colorful as his background. There’s the good, the bad,
the beauty and those in-between. From politicians to Joe
Blue-collar, they’re all there and then some.”
Chuck Hlava, Editor Mariner’s Log
“Mr Tanner’s highly
descriptive narrative brings the story alive showing what emergency managers
along the coast fear more than any type of event, a major hurricane, what I
call a Tropical Terrorist. His wordsmithing has made this
storm story a very human one - thanks to the use of real
locations known to people that live in the area today. As I
read it, I could picture the event happening.”
Lew
Fincher, VP of Hurricane Consulting
So hurricane season is
here again and once again the same thought is running through my mind. That
storm is sill out there.
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