Hurricane Irene Batters Caribbean, Heads Toward US

August 23, 2011 from Euronews

Hurricane Irene looks set to be the first hurricane to hit the United States since Ike ripped along the Texas coast in 2008. In the Caribbean Sea, authorities on the island of Puerto Rico said hundreds of people took to emergency shelters for safety while Irene passed. It strengthened into a Category 2 hurricane (on a five-step scale) as it swept north of the Dominican Republic. The storm season in this part of the Atlantic has been busy, with Irene the ninth to be named, in a very costly year for natural disasters.

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Hurricane Irene

The ninth named tropical storm and first hurricane of the 2011 Atlantic season. Explore this topic

Caribbean Sea

The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean located in the tropics of the Western hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico and Central America to the west and southwest, to the north by the Greater Antilles, to the east by the Lesser Antilles, and to the south by South America... Explore this topic

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico, is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands. Puerto Rico comprises an archipelago that includes the main... Explore this topic

Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic; Spanish: República Dominicana, is a nation on the island of Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands,... Explore this topic

Hurricane

A tropical cyclone is a storm system characterized by a low-pressure center and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce strong winds and heavy rain. Tropical cyclones strengthen when evaporating water from the ocean is released as saturated air rises, resulting in t... Explore this topic

Tropical cyclone

The Tropical Cyclone type holds all hurricanes, typhoons, tropical storms and other 'warm core' storm systems. A tropical cyclone is a storm system fueled by the heat released when moist air rises and the water vapor in it condenses. The term describes the storm's origin in... Explore this topic

Severe weather

Severe weather refers to any dangerous meteorological phenomena with the potential to cause damage, serious social disruption, or loss of human life. Types of severe weather phenomena vary, depending on the latitude, altitude, topography, and atmospheric conditions. High winds... Explore this topic

Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale

The Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale, or the Saffir–Simpson hurricane scale for short, classifies hurricanes – Western Hemisphere tropical cyclones that exceed the intensities of tropical depressions and tropical storms – into five categories distinguished by the intensitie... Explore this topic

Hurricane Ike

Hurricane Ike was the costliest hurricane ever to impact Cuba, the third-costliest hurricane ever to make landfall in the United States, the costliest hurricane in Texas history, and the last hurricane to make landfall in the United States until Hurricane Irene in 2011. It was... Explore this topic

United States

The United States of America, commonly called the United States and America, is a federal republic consisting of fifty states and a federal district. The 48 contiguous states and the federal district of Washington, D.C. are in central North America between Canada and Mexico. T... Explore this topic

Also See

Hurricane Irene

Caribbean Sea

Puerto Rico