The hurricane season in the Atlantic begins in the first days of July and lasts almost five months. During this period, as a rule, a pair of very strong cyclones of the hurricane type and at least a dozen less significant cyclones are formed. Over the past three months of the 2012 season, the strongest hurricane in this part of the world was Isaac, which in its most active phase was assigned the second category on the US five-point scale.
Having originated in the equatorial part of the Atlantic Ocean, tropical cyclone Isaac quite accurately repeated the trajectory of Hurricane Katrina five years ago. Then the most destructive tropical cyclone in the history of the United States practically destroyed the largest city in Louisiana, New Orleans, and claimed the lives of almost two thousand Americans.
The islands near the Gulf of Mexico were the first to experience the power of Isaac. In Haiti, at its approach, about 15 thousand inhabitants were evacuated, as a result of which only 24 people died and three were missing. The hurricane destroyed 335 houses to the ground and seriously damaged about 2,500 more. Five deaths are reported from the Dominican Republic. In the Gulf of Mexico, emergency measures were taken - for example, oil companies suspended the operation of platforms and evacuated their personnel.
When Isaac approached the southern coast of the United States, its strength was rated first on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Then it increased to the second category, but after the hurricane came ashore, it began to fall and gradually dropped to the level of a completely normal atmospheric front. Geographically, "Isaac" walked along the coast of Florida, then went deep into the states of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi. The disaster tested the strength of the system of dams and protective hydraulic structures built after a disaster five years ago. The protection system withstood this hurricane blow, the wind force in the center of which reached 120 km / h, although it was not without casualties - 7 people are considered dead.
The main damage was caused to power lines - in the settlements of Louisiana, about 400 thousand residents were left without electricity. Insurance companies in the US are still calculating losses from hurricane winds and floods, but it is already clear that the amount will exceed a billion dollars.
