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Damage From Hurricanes and Tornadoes Still Not Foreseen

Natural disasters on this planet cause human pain and suffering. This includes financial loss from destroyed properties. The science in forecasting such events is still developing. Tornadoes are very unpredictable. Hurricanes move slower; yet the amount of damage is still an unknown quantity. The whole history of the US has included repeated "attacks" by hurricanes and tornadoes. Tracking of these events began in 1873 with the first hurricane warning by the U.S. Army Signal Corps. Advances were made in understanding flooding from storm surges. This did not prevent the most destructive hurricane of 1900 hitting without warning killing 12,000 citizens. In 1943 a pilot was sent into the eye of a hurricane. This marked the beginning of an intensive period of study into natural weather events. Ultimately, hurricane forecast models were developed. The 1960s saw the first use of satellites. In 1975 the Saffir-Simpson scale rating hurricane strength of one to five was fo