U.S. weather forecasters announced last week that residents along the Gulf and East coasts should expect an above average Atlantic hurricane season. Oh goody, just what we wanted to hear. They say between 12 and 18 named storms are likely during the up-coming hurricane season which begins today.. Six to 10 are likely to be hurricanes; and three to six could become major hurricanes, ranging from Category 3-5.
Here is something that might get your attention if you live in the Houston area as I do. We have not had a major storm or Category 3 hit the U.S. coast since 2005. And you say, “Listen Rod,” I went through Ike in 2008; what are you talking about? The fact is Ike was only a Category 2 when it blew through Houston and Galveston causing $10 billion dollars in damage.
The real point I am trying to make is that we haven’t had a major storm hit us since Carla in 1961 and she wasn’t a direct hit. We were very lucky last year because El Nino winds steered most of the tropical storms away from our coastlines. This year we may not be so fortunate as it doesn’t look like El Nino is going to develop at this time.
Eleven 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 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 4 hurricanes but we here in Texas were unscathed. 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 was coming true. Fortunately as we all know, Rita weaken to 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.
“….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
“Not only will you not be able to put it down, you’ll also get up the next morning; want to board up your house; get your boat prepared for a storm and head for Colorado.”
Gene Rutt, Editor Tropicalattitude Magazine.
So hurricane season is here again and once again the same thought is running through my mind.
That storm is sill out there.
Stay tuned for future adventures
