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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