Ernesto opens the 2006 hurricane season
The 2006 hurricane season is underway. Tropical storm Ernesto is now a category 1 hurricane, crossing Cuba and on route for Florida and the beleaguered city of New Orleans.
As Ernesto, the first hurricane of the 2006 season, crosses the Gulf of Mexico is it expected to pick up steam and hit the city as a category 3 hurricane, much like last year’s devastating hurricane Katrina. Tuesday marks the first year anniversary of Katrina which followed an almost identical path and destroyed large parts of the famous US city. 1800 people died as a result, almost 90,000 homes were destroyed and the US faced its largest internal refugee situation since the Oklahoma dust-bowl in the 1930s.
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The local TV news is covering it, Katrina Evacuees Watch Ernesto, but some people remain unconvinced:
Despite the widespread destruction caused by Katrina, New Orleans native Tony Johnson said Saturday night he still wants to go back home. “My belief is that this only happens once in a lifetime,” Johnson said, “it can’t happen, shouldn’t happen two years in a row.”
Climate scientists agree that rising CO2 levels are heating the oceans and the warmer waters are causing more frequent, more powerful storms. — DS
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