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Summer Weather
Wednesday
July 4, 2001
A
twister touches down in Iowa. Hail the size of
golf balls hits Minnesota. A tropical storm named
Allison cuts a deadly path from Texas all the
way up to New England. Summer has arrived and
the weather is getting wild!
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Allison's rainfall was awesome, flooding at least seven states and killing fifty people.
In Texas alone, damages are estimated at over four billion dollars! The storm's path and pounding precipitation took many meteorologists by surprise.
The Weather Channel’s Paul Goodloe says, "The trick is there's no way you can forecast today or even next week where a tropical storm or hurricane will hit."
Paul says after last year's hurricane-free summer, chances are this year we're gonna get drenched. “The odds are of having two years in a row without having a hurricane hit the mainland U.S is very small."
Hurricanes are generally limited to the southern and eastern seaboards ...but they're not the only summer weather threats. Twisters have already taken a toll in Wisconsin and Iowa while lack of precipitation is the problem out west.
A California wildfire is the result of the driest weather conditions in more than fifty years. Goodloe says no significant rain is in the forecast. “Definitely, it's gonna be a dry summer for the Pacific Northwest.”
Dry or wet, tropical or twister, you can weather these storms. “Whether you have a specific warning or not you can always be prepared for disaster."
Peggy Brutsche, Disaster Services Director with the American Red Cross, says there are three basics to surviving wild weather.
Have a family disaster plan, including an evacuation plan with two escape routes in case one is blocked.
Have a disaster supply kit with food, water, flashlight, batteries, first aid supplies, prescription medicine, important family documents and cash - because no power means no ATM.
Prepare your home so it suffers the least amount of damage. That includes shuttering windows and shutting off utilities.
Brutsche has a special note for summer travelers. Storm warnings are issued on a county by county basis so, when you're on the road, know which one you're passing through!
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