Weather.com Article Lists Top 5 Most Overdue Cities For Hurricane Strike

NU Online News Service, June 1, 3:11 p.m. EDT

Tampa, Fla. and New York City cracked a list of top five hurricane-overdue cities in an article posted on The Weather Channel’s website, Weather.com.

The article, written by hurricane expert Rick Knabb, looked at vulnerable cities that have gone the longest without a direct hit from the core of a significant hurricane.

“Many residents of the cities on this list...might be among the starkest examples of people who truly believe their hometown is immune from hurricanes,” Knabb says in his article. “As a result, they might not have chosen to make sure they have enough insurance to replace their home if damaged or destroyed by a hurricane.”

Tampa is the fifth-most overdue city, according to Knabb. He notes that the city’s population has increased about 20 times to 3 million since the last time a hurricane struck there in 1921.

For fourth-ranked Savannah, Ga., Knabb says, “The shallow Atlantic waters off the southeastern United States make the Georgia coast extremely vulnerable to storm surge that could penetrate several miles inland in a major hurricane.”

New York, ranked third, has not seen a hurricane in 118 years, Knabb says, making residents complacent. “They’ve watched some close calls go by to the east, most recently Bob in 1991, perhaps adding to the perception of a hurricane shield for the Big Apple,” Knabb says in his article.

San Diego, Calif. is ranked second, with Knabb noting that only one hurricane is known to have directly struck the California coast with hurricane-force winds.

Honolulu, Hawaii is ranked first. Knabb notes that available records do not show a hurricane ever striking the city, but officials are preparing for the occurrence. “The reason that their time is well spent is that there is no meteorological reason why the core of a major hurricane cannot directly strike Honolulu,” Knabb writes.

For more insight into the five overdue cities, see the Weather.com article, 2011's Top 5 Hurricane Overdue Cities.