By, Michael Hong

Staff Writer

By Michael Hong
Staff Writer
Over the course of the first two weeks in September, the southeastern United States and its neighboring territories were barraged with hurricanes that have only left destruction in their wake: Category 4 Hurricane Harvey in Texas, Category 4 Hurricane Irma in Florida and the Caribbean, Category 4 Hurricane Jose in the Leeward Islands, Category 2 Hurricane Katia in Mexico, and Category 5 Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and Turks and Caicos Islands.

For the Leeward Islands, which includes Barbuda as we as the U.S. Virgin Islands, Hurricane Jose passed by relatively harmlessly as a tropical storm
on Sept. 20, leaving behind rain and weaker winds. According to USA Today, over 95 percent of the structures in Barbuda were already damaged, so it was fortunate that Jose missed landfall there. However, other afflicted nations suffered greater damage than Barbuda.

On Sept. 9, Hurricane Irma, once a Category 5 Hurricane, struck the Caribbean
and Florida. It destroyed islands like Barbuda and continued to move north to the continental United States. Its 130 mile per earthquake struck off the Pacific Coast and rocked Oaxaca, Mexico. Katia has killed at least two people, bringing the total death
toll to 61 people, stated the Los Angeles Times.

The initial Hurricane Harvey, which ravaged through Texas from Aug. 25 – 30 with more than 40 inches of rain, has killed at least 39 people. ABC News reported that though precautionary measures taken in light of previous storms in the United States may have saved a countless amount of lives, the hurricanes caused at least $200 billion in damages, comparable to some of the worst
storms in United States history.