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HURRICANES
Q: Dr. Dixon, can you tell me what
destroyed over 80,000 homes and
meteorologists do?
damaged more than 55,000 others
A: They are scientists who study the
here in Homestead.
weather.
Q: I can see a lot of fallen trees.
Q: How did people study the
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What were the gardens like before
weather before there were
the hurricane?
meteorologists?
A: There used to be beautiful gardens
A: There were many ways. One way
and tall trees, but Andrew pulled most
was by looking at the clouds, the
of them out of the ground.
same as we do today. But today we
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Q: Why are hurricanes given
have much better equipment. Another
names?
way was by looking at the behavior of
A: First of all, there are many
animals. Many people believe that
hurricanes and we want to be able to
animals behave differently before
tell the difference between them. We
natural disasters. They say that dogs
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could call them just by numbers, but
run wild, cats run away, chickens fly
that would be boring so we give them
into trees and fish jump out of the
people’s names. We used to give
water. The Chinese say they could
them only women’s names, but about
predict 11 earthquakes by studying
20 years ago women became very
animal behavior. However, some
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angry about that. They said that not
people say there is no proof of that.
only women yell a lot and act like a
So believe what you like!
storm, men also act that way. So now
Q: Dr. Dixon, I asked you to join me
we go through the alphabet once with
here on the streets of Homestead,
women’s names, then once with
Florida. Can you tell me what we’re
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men’s names. As a matter of fact, the
looking at?
two worst hurricanes recently had
A: We see the destruction a hurricane
men’s names!
can do just in a few hours.
Q: Did you have any warning that a
Q: What happened?
hurricane was coming?
A: Hurricane Andrew was one of the
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A: Yes, we did. You know, hurricanes
strongest hurricanes ever to hit the
used to hit with very little warning and
United States. And it was especially
there was a lot more damage and loss
strong here in Homestead, Florida.
of life than there is today. Hurricane
The wind blew at more than 320
Andrew hit Florida on August 24, but
kilometers per hour. Andrew
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we knew about it 11 days before. At
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first it was just a thunderstorm in the
Sometimes tornadoes go faster than
Atlantic Ocean near Africa. Then we
450 kilometers per hour and cause
saw it get stronger as it came closer
great destruction. In Kansas a man
to eh southern tip of North America.
was sitting in his living room when a
We warned people 24 hours in
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tornado hit. The wind was so strong
advance. The government ordered
that it picked him up, pulled his shoes
one million people to leave their
off, and lifted him, unhurt, to the top of
homes. Most of them did, but many
a tall tree. Another tornado picked up
didn’t and suffered because of it.
a schoolhouse, turned it around and
Q: In what ways did they suffer?
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put it down again in the same place.
A: Some of them died when their
In May 1986, a group of 12
houses collapsed on them, while
schoolchildren were picked up by a
others were in their cars, which were
tornado. It carried them 20 kilometers, 50
blown away. One man, who was
and then dropped them on soft sand.
lucky, had a sick daughter and
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Not one of the children was hurt! And
decided to stay home and take care of
of course the most famous tornado
her. He was giving her some milk
was the one that took Dorothy to Oz
when he heard the wind get stronger
in the story “The Wizard of Oz”.
and windows start to break. He took
Q: I hope we won’t have any more
his whole family, along with their dog
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natural disasters here or anywhere
and two cats, into a tiny closet. They
else.
were hiding there while the hurricane
A: I also hope so, but I’m sure there
destroyed their house. It pulled the
will be. The important thing is to know
door off the closet and they were sure
about the disasters before they
they would be next. They saw pieces
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of their house and pieces of other
They were very lucky that they all
stayed alive, even the dog and cats.
Q: Dr. Dixon, I heard about a lot of
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small tornadoes that were part of
Hurricane Andrew and that caused
a lot of damage. Exactly what is a
tornado?
A: A tornado is a wind that you can
actually see turning around. Luckily
these tornadoes weren’t so bad.
happen so that we can prepare and
warn as many people as possible.
people’s houses going past them.
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