Hurricane Dorian: Florida braces as storm fears grow

August 29, 2019

Florida residents fearing the worst rushed to their local grocery stores on Thursday as panic buying increased ahead of the expected impact of Hurricane Dorian.

Shelves were emptied of bottled water and gas stations experienced long lines of people urgently stockpiling fuel. Some fuel shortages were also reported in the Cape Canaveral area.

Along Florida’s east coast, authorities started giving out sandbags in efforts to stave off potential floods. A state of emergency was declared earlier this week and Georgia, located to the north of Florida, has followed suit.

Gathering momentum

The damage caused by Dorian so far was not as bad as first feared in the regions of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, but the hurricane is gathering momentum as it nears the US peninsula. The National Hurricane Center said the Category 1 storm is expected to strengthen into a potentially catastrophic Category 4 with winds of 130 mph (209 kph). Experts have suggested it will hit the US mainland on Monday, somewhere between the Florida Keys and southern Georgia.

“If it makes landfall as a Category 3 or 4 hurricane, that’s a big deal,” said University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy. “A lot of people are going to be affected.”

Nevertheless, with the outlook still unclear, no mass evacuations have been planned.

Natural disasters as seen from outer space

Only tears of sand remain

Earth observation satellites such as the European Space Agency’s Proba-V collect daily images that allow for the tracking of environmental changes over time. The images above – taken in April 2014, July 2015 and January 2016 (left to right) – offer crystal-clear insight into the gradual evaporation of Lake Poopo, once Bolivia’s second largest lake – due at least in part to climate change.

Natural disasters as seen from outer space

The beast has awoken

No matter how long volcanoes sleep, they’re always in a bad mood when they wake up. The International Space Station was passing overhead when the Sarychev volcano, located in the Kuril Islands of Russia, erupted in 2009. Astronauts were able to snap a picture through a hole in the clouds. From dense ash to clouds of condensed water, virtually all natural phenomena can be examined from outer space.

Natural disasters as seen from outer space

Don’t play with fire

Every year, wildfires devastate the landscape – and ecology – in numerous countries around the world. Too often, these are caused by humans. This was also the case in Indonesia, where farmers burned peat rainforest areas for agriculture. On the island of Borneo and Sumatra, satellites detected fire hot spots in September 2015, and the plume of grey smoke that triggered air quality alerts.

Natural disasters as seen from outer space

German kids misbehaved

In Germany, parents warn their children that if they don’t finish their meals, it’s going to rain. And indeed, in 2013 it rained, so much that some of central Europe’s major rivers overflowed their banks. As shown in this image from 2013, the Elbe burst its banks following unprecedented rainfall. In the photo, muddy water covers the area around Wittenberg, in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt.

Natural disasters as seen from outer space

At the eye of the hurricane

A strong storm can cause irreparable damage through intense winds and storm surges from the sea. Space-based information is crucial in following development of such storms: intensity, the direction it’s moving, wind speed … in the eastern Pacific Ocean near Mexico, this satellite image helped determine how tropical storm Sandra reached winds of 160 kilometers per hour by November 25, 2015.

Natural disasters as seen from outer space

Melting away from under us

Satellites also play a key role in monitoring climate change and, inevitably, the process of melting ice. From space, scientists were able to document how several glaciers around the globe have receded – as well as the subsequent rise in sea level. This photograph, taken from the International Space Station, shows the retreat of the Upsala glacier in Argentine Patagonia from 2002 to 2013.

Natural disasters as seen from outer space

Hold your breath!

Dust often covers remote deserts – however, in September 2015, satellites offered this impressive view of Middle East areas enveloped by a dust storm, or haboob, affecting large populated regions. What satellites can observe from space supports air quality sensors on the ground to understand patterns on how the storms start and develop. These findings can improve forecasting methods.

Natural disasters as seen from outer space

‘Naked mountain’

These are the words NASA used to describe the lack of snow on California’s Mount Shasta, a crucial source of water for the region. Images documenting drought over the past years have consistently been showing brown mountains that should be white, and bare earth where people seek water. As ice melts, drought grows.

Author: Irene Banos Ruiz