Hurricanes are the unstable, unreliable creatures of a moment in our planet's natural history. But their brief life ashore can leave scars that never quite heal. In the mid-1970's, the hand of 1969's Camille could still be seen along the Mississippi gulf coast. Most of a hurricane's destructive work is done by the general rise in the height of the sea called storm surge.

Hurricane winds are a force to be reckoned with by coastal communities deciding how strong their structures should be. As winds increase, pressure against objects is added at a disportionate rate. Pressure force against a wall mounts with the square of wind speed so that a threefold increases in windspeed gives a ninefold increase in pressure. Thus, a 25 mph wind causes about 1.6 pounds of pressure per square foot. A four by eight sheet of plywood will be pushed by a force of 50 pounds. In 75 mph winds, that force becomes 450 pounds, and in 125 mph, it becomes 1,250 pounds. For some structures, this force is enough to cause failure. Tall structures, like radio towers, can be destroyed by gusty hurricane force winds. Winds also carry a barrage of debris that can be quite dangerous.

All the wind damage does not necessarily come from the hurricane. As the storm moves shoreward, interactions with other weather systems can produce tornadoes that work around the fringes of the hurricane. Although hurricane-spawned tornadoes are not the most violent form of these whirlwinds, they have added to the toll we pay the hurricane.

Floods from the hurricane rainfall are quite destructive. A typical hurricane brings 6 to 12 inches of rainfall to the area it crosses, and some have brought much more. The resulting floods have caused great damage and loss of life, especially in the mountainous area where heavy rains mean flash floods. The most widespread flooding in the United States history was caused by the remnants of Hurricane Agnes in 1972. Rains from the dying hurricane brought disastrous floods to the entire Atlantic tier of states, causing 118 deaths and some $2.1 billion in property damage. Also Tropical Storm Claudette (1979) brought 45 inches of rain to an area near Alvin, Texas, contributing to more than $600 million in damage. Long after the winds of Hurricane Diane (1955) subsided, the storm brought floods to Pennsylvania, New York, and New England that contributed to nearly 200 deaths and $4.2 billion in damage.