Three hundred years later, Wilbur and Orville Wright flew the first airplane with a motor at a place called Kill Devil Hills. And many, many times the Outer Banks has been the first place that large ocean storms … hurricanes … have begun their destruction.
A family sitting in front of their flooded home after a storm surge on the Outer Banks in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina last month
JIM TEDDER: The Outer Banks are known as barrier islands. They are nothing more than long thin strips of sand that are separated from the mainland. To the right of the Outer Banks is the Atlantic Ocean. To the left are large waterways called sounds. In some places, the land is less than a kilometer wide, with water on both sides.
Because the Outer Banks stick so far out into the ocean, they are a windy place where storms often occur. Last month, Hurricane Irene moved through the Caribbean Sea and turned northward. The next land it touched was near Cape Lookout at the southern end of the Outer Banks. Over the next few days, the storm killed people, ruined homes and businesses, and flooded large parts of eastern North America.
KATHERINE COLE: Many scientists say that if Irene had not hit the Outer Banks first, the damage could have been worse for areas to the north. The Outer Banks was badly damaged. The main road near Cape Hatteras was washed away in at least two places, leaving many people unable to travel.
Hurricanes always do some damage to the Outer Banks. But this long, thin chain of sand also helps to take a lot of destructive energy out of the storms. When a hurricane hits land, it begins to lose strength since it no longer has the warm, wet air that it needs.
最新
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25