Ocean Storms Can Cause Great Damage

September 10, 2013

Scientists watch ocean storms using NASA satellites.

From VOA Learning English, this is Science in the News. I’m Mario Ritter.

And I’m Caty Weaver. Today we tell about the science of severe ocean storms. Severe storms that develop over the Indian Ocean are called cyclones. Storms that form over the northwestern Pacific Ocean are typhoons. And storms that form over the eastern Pacific and the Atlantic Ocean are hurricanes.

Hurricane Sandy brought death and destruction to the eastern United States last October. Today rebuilding efforts are still in progress in some areas.

Sandy was one of the country’s deadliest hurricanes. It also was the second most costly in American history.

The storm kept hitting coastal states for a week. It caused major destruction in New Jersey and New York.

Estimates of the number of dead from the storm differ. But as a hurricane and what is called a post-tropical cyclone, Sandy was said to be directly responsible for at least 117 deaths in the United States. It also was blamed for 69 other deaths in Canada and the Caribbean Sea.

Some experts have linked other deaths to the storm. People died of the cold because of loss of power in their homes – or loss of their homes. Others died in accidents while cleaning up the damage. Or, they suffered carbon-monoxide poisoning.