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The Saffir Simpson Categorisation

Hurricanes have been categorised under the Saffir Sampson scale, based off their wind speed, estimated property damage, and storm surge. Preparation for hurricanes includes purchasing enough food for a month or two, boarding up one's house, unplugging electronics that may be fried in power loss, buying tens of gallons of potable water, staying indoors throughout the hurricane in your strongest room (which would be the room without windows), charging any electronics, moving furniture as far away from windows as possible, downloading entertainment, keep pets indoors, wash clothes, showering before power goes out, and putting on hurricane shutters to protect your house from flying debris, water leakages, Hurricanes are categorised as hurricanes once the wind speed reaches 119 km per hour. This is a category one hurricane which produces some damage to unstable buildings, rips apart some trees, lost roofs, and could cause power to be off for a week or two. Category one hurricanes do not cause drastic damage, but lives could be lost if one does not remain in a stable building indoors. Once a hurricane's wind speed has gone up to 154 km per hour, then the hurricane has become a category two hurricane. Category two hurricanes are fairly uncommon, as normally the hurricane degrades back down to a category one or progresses to a stronger hurricane. In any case, category two hurricanes include 154 to 177 km per hour winds, dangerous winds that may cause extensive damage, power loss up to several weeks, even months. Trees will most certainly be uprooted or tilt over due to the wind speed. If a hurricane indeed does progress to a category three, then it is not only considered a major hurricane, but can cause devastating damage. The wind speed can range from 178 to 208 km per hour and can cause damage such as stable buildings receiving collapsing, losing roofs, collapsing walls, and similar types of destruction. Devastation can also spread to blocked roads and weeks or months before power restoration. The Saffir-Sampson scale extends to category four hurricanes, which includes 208 km per hour winds to 251 km per hour, The type of catastrophic damage related to this type of event is linked with houses entirely destroyed, well structured buildings in ruins, fallen trees, and power loss for many, many months. The next and last category that a hurricane can fit into is the infamous category five hurricane. Category five hurricanes can range from 252 km per hour winds and up. They cause devastatingly catastrophic conditions. The category five hurricane leaves an uninhabitable area, with power lost for many months, years, even. All buildings are destroyed or affected. Missing objects end up in the sea or in other locations. All trees are bent or have fallen over. Hurricane Irma, which hit where I lived and where I grew up, was nicknamed a Category 7 hurricane as the wind speed per hour was over 400 km per hour. We were not able to measure exactly how hard the wind hit our islands, as anemometers broke. Where I grew up is where the eye of the hurricane passed over. The wind was so incredibly strong that it peeled concrete off roofs as easily as one peels plastic off a new toy. Irma moved animals from one island to another. She pulled houses off land as easily as one pulls out a weed. She made single story concrete houses collapse. She left a trail of awful devastation behind her.

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