Hurricane Flossie Heads toward Hawaii

Currently packing 140 mile per hour winds with no luggage, is a Pacific Ocean Hurricane named Flossie heads towards the Big Island. Hawaii is a major beef producing state, so the name Flossie absurdly fits, but undermines the image of a devastating storm. A category 4 Hurricane out over warm water is the potent stuff for storm nightmares.

Forecasters are showing a shift that will spare the Islands, but nothing is a certainty with storms of this magnitude. Hurricanes strengthen and weaken rapidly over open the sea. Flossie is no exception. The Big Island has shifted into emergency mode. Hawaii is remote so additional help, if needed, from the mainland is hours, if not days away. It has been fifteen years since Hawaii suffered a direct hit on the island of Kauai from a powerful hurricane. Iniki caused USD $3 billion in damage. Katrina destroyed the vaunted American myth of being invincible.

Informative books about Hurricanes include, Divine Winds: The History and Science of Hurricanes by Kerry A. Emmanuel and and Susan Emmanuel. By Michael Eric Dyson is the textbook, Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina Natural, Racial and Economic Disasters.