Hurricane
a destructive wind of the West Indies and the Atlantic coast. To place the hurricane in its right relation to the winds, the reader should consult first the article on CYCLONE. A hurricane is a whirlwind, not a straight-away wind. It is more violent and covers a smaller area than a cyclone. It is larger and less violent than a tornado. The diameter of a tornado is so small that the whirling motion is apparent. The diameter of a hurricane is so great that it seems like a straight-away wind. If a hurricane were to contract to a mere column, it would become a tornado. If it expand in diameter and die out into an ordinary breeze, it becomes a cyclone.
Hurricanes are huge, violent whirlwinds that rise in the tropics and sweep across the West Indies and along the Atlantic coast toward the northeast. Once in a while one of these storms drives up along the western slope of the Alleghanies into the region of the Great Lakes, where it does damage to shipping. More frequently, however, the hurricane that takes this path expands in area and dies out into an ordinary cyclone. The path of the ordinary hurricane follows the Atlantic coast. In October, 1909, one of these characteristic storms followed this course. Notice was sent out that the wind was rising; the whirl was forming in the region of the Windward Islands. It passed across the western end of Cuba, unroofing buildings and uprooting trees. Twenty-five persons were injured; five lives were lost in Havana; fifty small ships and cargoes were sunk or blown ashore. Land and sea, $1,000,000 worth of Cuban property was destroyed.
This storm, foretold a week in advance, struck Key West, Florida, with a circular velocity, it is claimed, of 100 miles an hour. Of 100 vessels at anchor, ninety-five were torn from their moorings; business blocks were wrecked; factories were destroyed; railroads were carried away. Many lives were lost; the damage to property in the harbor and the town cannot have been less than $2,000,000. The high wind continued at Key West from eight A. M. to three P. M. By the time the storm reached Savannah the velocity of the wind did not exceed sixty miles an hour. Wireless messages were sent from stations along the coast to warn ships en route of the approach of the storm. A similar hurricane in 1906 cost the lives of 140 laborers engaged in railroad work on the Florida Keys. A storm of similar origin and direction is frequent in the East Indies, where it is known as a typhoon.