2005 hurricane season begins

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Orville F. Desjarlais Jr.
  • Air Force Print News
SAN ANTONIO --  Forty years may seem like a long time, but not long enough for people in Florida. The 2004 season was the first time since 1964 that Florida was slammed by four hurricanes in one season and caused $1.7 billion in damage.

This year’s hurricane season, which began June 1, may prove to be just as stormy.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists predict a 70-percent chance of above-normal hurricane activity in the Atlantic region.

The outlook calls for 12 to 15 tropical storms, with seven to nine becoming full-fledged hurricanes and three to five bulking up to become major hurricanes. The threat of hurricanes in the Pacific is below normal, scientists said.

“Each year, from June through November, Americans living on the Eastern seaboard and along the Gulf of Mexico face an increased threat of hurricanes,” President Bush said. “To prepare for the 2005 hurricane season, I urge all our citizens to become aware of the dangers of hurricanes and tropical storms and to learn how to minimize their destructive effects.”

In 2004, many Airmen living in the Florida region assumed they were ready, but they were not prepared for the destruction that fell upon them.

Hurricane Ivan was the monster that wreaked the most havoc. It caused the evacuation of 20,000 neighboring Eglin Air Force Base Airmen, civilian employees and their families before it struck Sept. 14.

Immediately after the storm, base officials used jet skis to assess damage throughout portions of an off-base housing area. Ivan’s 90-mph winds stirred up a storm surge that flooded much of that housing area’s waterfront property and left 200 off-base families homeless, like Maj. Joseph Siedlarz.

While he stood next to his 48-inch television, which had floated outside his living room and come to rest in a field next to his home, Major Siedlarz said water got so deep in his house that his friend launched a kayak from his kitchen.

“I learned that material things don’t really matter,” said the major, who works at Air Force Special Operation Command Headquarters at Hurlburt Field, Fla. “But you can’t replace photos or family videos, so I suggest everyone take special care of those items.”

Tech. Sgt. Diane Thomas, the noncommissioned officer in charge of the personnel and family readiness section of the family support center, said the storm opened her eyes. The arrival of Hurricane Ivan was the first time she was activated as a member of a family assistance center, which is a team of people who can help hurricane victims during their times of need. The team consists of chaplains, housing and lodging officials, Red Cross volunteers, an Air Force Aide Society representative, finance and legal specialists and the family support center staff.

“The number of people who visited our (center) was overwhelming,” Sergeant Thomas said. “We had 500 spouses left behind by their (military) spouses who deployed to the war. They were expected to put up the plywood themselves and fill out a travel voucher for the first time in their lives.”

In the three weeks after Hurricane Ivan, center officials estimated they had helped about 5,000 people.

For Ivan alone, Hurlburt officials estimated the damage to be $52 million. Eglin officials guessed it to be $86.9 million. Fortunately, no one from either base was injured.

On a beach on Passage Key Island, Fla., beachcombers found a World War II-era bomb that was washed ashore by one of the hurricanes. Airman 1st Class Ed Howell, an explosive ordnance disposal specialist from MacDill AFB, Fla., placed a charge on it and destroyed it Oct. 13.

There was a ray of hope among all the destruction. An aircrew from the Air Force Reserve Command’s 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron at Keesler AFB, Miss., flew 15 times into Hurricanes Ivan and Jeanne and tested a new weather radar system. They flew a WC-130J Hercules, a modified version of a C-130, which bucked 155 mph winds and flew straight into the eye of hurricanes to gather critical information about active storms.

At the time, the C-130J’s weather radar could not penetrate the high-density rain fields characteristic of hurricane conditions, said Maj. Clifton Janney, 418th Flight Test Squadron project pilot and WC-130 flight commander.

“This weather avoidance radar operates outside the hurricane and looks in,” he said

Once tests are complete, experts hope to better predict hurricane paths and speed. (Some information gathered from base newspapers and Air Force Materiel Command News Service.)