PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX 1254 PM CDT TUE MAY 23 2006 ...HURRICANE HAZARDS...HIGH WINDS AND TORNADOES... HURRICANES PRODUCE A NUMBER OF WEATHER HAZARDS. ARGUABLY THE MOST AWESOME AND DANGEROUS FORCE AT WORK DURING A HURRICANE IS THE WIND. WINDS IN A HURRICANE CIRCULATE COUNTER CLOCKWISE AND BECOME INCREASINGLY STRONGER AS YOU APPROACH THE CENTER OF THE STORM IN A REGION CALLED THE EYE WALL. THE DESTRUCTIVE WINDS IN THIS EYE WALL REGION REACH SUSTAINED SPEEDS OF 74 MILES PER HOUR OR GREATER AND WIND GUSTS CAN BE CONSIDERABLY HIGHER. WIND SPEED USUALLY DECREASES SIGNIFICANTLY WITHIN 12 HOURS AFTER LANDFALL. HOWEVER...WINDS CAN STAY ABOVE HURRICANE STRENGTH WELL INLAND. IN 1970...HURRICANE CEILA GENERATED HURRICANE FORCE WINDS AS FAR INLAND AS DEL RIO. HURRICANE FORCE WINDS CAN EASILY DESTROY POORLY CONSTRUCTED BUILDINGS AND MOBILE HOMES. DEBRIS SUCH AS SIGNS...ROOFING MATERIAL AND SMALL ITEMS LEFT OUTSIDE BECOME FLYING MISSILES IN HURRICANES. EXTENSIVE DAMAGE TO TREES...TOWERS...WATER AND UNDERGROUND UTILITY LINES FROM UPROOTED TREES AND FALLEN POLES CAUSE CONSIDERABLE DISRUPTION. HIGH RISE BUILDINGS ARE ALSO VULNERABLE TO HURRICANE FORCE WINDS...PARTICULARLY AT THE HIGHER LEVELS SINCE WIND SPEED TENDS TO INCREASE WITH HEIGHT. RECENT RESEARCH SUGGESTS YOU SHOULD STAY BELOW THE TENTH FLOOR...BUT STILL ABOVE THE LOWER FLOORS IF THEY ARE AT RISK FOR FLOODING. IT IS NOT UNCOMMON FOR HIGH RISE BUILDINGS TO SUFFER A GREAT DEAL OF DAMAGE DUE TO WINDOWS BEING BLOWN OUT. HURRICANE INTENSITY IS DETERMINED BY THE SPEED OF THE WIND AND POTENTIAL DAMAGE. A CATEGORY 1 HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON HURRICANE SCALE HAS LIGHTER WINDS COMPARED TO STORMS OF HIGHER CATEGORIES. A CATEGORY 4 HURRICANE WOULD HAVE WINDS BETWEEN 131 AND 155 MPH AND WOULD USUALLY BE EXPECTED TO CAUSE 100 TIMES THE DAMAGE OF THE CATEGORY 1 STORM. DEPENDING ON THE CIRCUMSTANCES...LESS INTENSE STORMS MAY STILL BE STRONG ENOUGH TO PRODUCE DAMAGE... PARTICULARLY IN AREAS THAT HAVE NOT PREPARED IN ADVANCE. A HURRICANE CAN STRENGTHEN RAPIDLY. WHEN PREPARING FOR A HURRICANE LANDFALL...YOU SHOULD CONSIDER PLANNING FOR A STORM AT LEAST ONE CATEGORY HIGHER THAN FORECAST. HURRICANES CAN ALSO PRODUCE TORNADOES THAT ADD TO THE STORMS DESTRUCTIVE POWER. TORNADOES ARE MOST LIKELY TO OCCUR IN THE RIGHT FRONT QUADRANT OF THE HURRICANE. HOWEVER...THEY ARE OFTEN FOUND EMBEDDED IN THE RAINBANDS...WELL AWAY FROM THE CENTER OF THE HURRICANE. ONE EXAMPLE OCCURRED IN 1988 WHEN TORNADOES...ASSOCIATED WITH RAINBANDS FROM A DECAYING HURRICANE GILBERT...HIT THE CITIES OF SAN ANTONIO AND DEL RIO AFTER THE STORM MADE LANDFALL 125 MILES SOUTH OF BROWNSVILLE. SOME HURRICANES SEEM TO PRODUCE NO TORNADOES...WHILE OTHERS DEVELOP MULTIPLE TORNADOES. STUDIES HAVE SHOWN THAT MORE THAN HALF OF THE LANDFALLING HURRICANES PRODUCE AT LEAST ONE TORNADO. HURRICANE BEULAH...WHICH STRUCK THE SOUTH TEXAS COAST IN 1967...SPAWNED 114 TORNADOES. IN GENERAL TORNADOES ASSOCIATED WITH HURRICANES ARE LESS INTENSE THAT THOSE THAT OCCUR IN THE GREAT PLAINS. NONETHELESS...THE EFFECTS OF TORNADOES ADDED TO THE LARGER AREA OF HURRICANE FORCE WINDS CAN PRODUCE SUBSTANTIAL DAMAGE. FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION REGARDING HURRICANES OR HURRICANE PREPAREDNESS...PLEASE VISIT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WEBSITE AT WWW.SRH.WEATHER.GOV OR CONTACT YOUR LOCAL NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE.