Hurricanes: Past, Present and Future
All summer, residents of the Gulf Coast were bracing for the worst -- again. But the 2006 defied scientific predictions of another season of monster storms. The winds and weather all along the Gulf Coast was mild and calm.
Joining host Mike Tidwell in the studio to discuss how scientists conduct hurricane predictions and what happened in the 06 season is Howard University's Director of Atmospheric Sciences -- Greg Jenkins.
---
Flood victims in New Orleans recently won a legal battle with their insurers. The companies argued their policies did not cover man-made disasters like levees bursting, but a judge did not buy it -- and if it stands up on appeal, the insurance industry will have to pay out billions more to Hurricane survivors.
How is the industry weathering these continuous storms? Carolyn Gorman, a vice president with the Insurance Information Institute in Washington, DC explains the industry point of view, and Wendy Fullerton Powell, the business editor of the Fort Myer Newspaper, the News-Press, discusses how her reader are reacting to sky-high insurance prices.
---
While residents of the Gulf Coast took the mild 2006 season to rebuild, there's another kind of boom going on -- a baby boom. Joining host Mike Tidwell on the telephone from New Orleans is Micah Walker Parkin, a program director for the Alliance for Affordable Energy and one of the city's many new moms.
Download this edition of Earthbeat.
NOAA satellite image of Hurricane Katrina