Ilan Kelman:
I have a small collection of novels based upon natural disasters, but have
not read Erik Larson's "Isaac's Storm". Thank you for the reference. I have
also "lived through" typhoon Rose in in Hong Kong and hurricane Allen in St
Vincent, but fortunately have never had to face a storm surge.
Storm surge, when there is one, is surely the most destructive aspect of a
hurricane. As a part of my work in Bangladesh, I tried to find out more of
the nature of storm-surge but sadly, survivors of the experience were rare!
Storm surges reached up to nine metres depth when geographically
enclosed/trapped and were "observed" at the Naval Academy in Chittagong at
seven metres in 1991 (Lewis, James "Development, vulnerability and disaster
reduction: Bangladesh cyclone shelter projects and their implications" in
"Reconstruction after disaster" Awotona, A. Ashgate. 1997).
With Bangladeshi academics, we concluded that storm surges would be fast
flowing and choppy, with degrees of waves caused by hurricane winds. We may
of course have been wrong or, all storm surges may not have the same
characteristics. I have no idea why a surface blown smooth by wind should
be ominous, therefore.
I do recall reading a report of an earthquake occuring during a hurricane
(in the Caribbean ?) but there were no causative connections either way.
Larsen to me sounds far fetched on that, though I have some respect for
authors' research.
Thank you for an interesting message.
James Lewis.
At 13:33 19/09/00 GMT, you wrote:
>I recently read "Isaac's Storm" by Erik Larson (1999, Fourth Estate, London)
>which describes the destruction of Galveston, Texas in 1900 by a hurricane.
>The author describes storm surge as the most destructive aspect of a
>hurricane and also details the effects of wind, waves, and debris in causing
>casualties and damaging buildings.
>
>He also includes the following phrases in describing people's observations
>at the height of the storm when most of the city was under water and the
>wind was at its strongest:
>"He saw no waves, however. The sea was strangely flat, its surface
>blown smooth by the wind...The fact he saw no waves was ominous,
>although he did not know it." (pp. 210-211)
>"The wind grew so strong it planed the sea. 'The surface of the water
>was almost flat. The wind beat it down so that there was not even a
>suspicion of a wave'". (p. 226)
>
>I would be curious to know more about this phenomenon, how the transition to
>smoothness from wave height increasing with wind speed and fetch occurs, and
>why it would be "ominous".
>
>As well, for those who have read the book--and perhaps lived through a
>hurricane--how accurate is Larson's account?
>
>For example, Larson writes "[Hurricane] Camille’s rain fell with such
>ferocity it was said to have filled the overhead nostrils of birds and
>drowned them from the trees" (p. 98) but qualifies this statement in an
>endnote that a hurricane researcher "called this an urban legend". Larson
>also references a 1942 source to propose that the storm surge from a typhoon
>catalysed the September 1, 1923 earthquake in Japan: "low pressure and high
>water, acting in concert, might have caused the earthquake...The sudden
>differential...might have been enough to fracture a fault line already
>stressed to its limits" (pp.135-136).
>
>Would anyone be able to comment further about, or have more information on,
>these statements?
>
>Thank you for your time and assistance,
>Ilan
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James Lewis
Architect RIBA
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