Episode 120
Hurricane Harvey
Thu, 2017-Aug-31 01:34 UTC
Length - 3:53
Direct Link
Welcome to popular Wiki of the Day where we read the summary of a popular Wikipedia page every day.
With 189,754 views on Wednesday, 30 August 2017 our article of the day is Hurricane Harvey.
Hurricane Harvey is an active tropical cyclone that is causing unprecedented and catastrophic flooding in southeastern Texas, and was the first major hurricane to make landfall in the United States since Wilma in 2005, ending a record 12-year period with no hurricanes of Category 3 intensity or higher making landfall in the United States. In a four-day period, many areas received more than 40 inches (1,000 mm) of rain as the system meandered over eastern Texas and adjacent waters. With peak accumulations of 51.88 in (1,318 mm), Harvey is the wettest tropical cyclone on record in the contiguous United States. The resulting floods prompted more than 13,000 rescues, displaced more than 30,000 people, and inundated hundreds of thousands of homes.
The eighth named storm, third hurricane, and the first major hurricane of the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season, Harvey developed from a tropical wave to the east of the Lesser Antilles, reaching tropical storm status on August 17. The storm crossed through the Windward Islands on the following day, passing just south of Barbados and later near Saint Vincent. Upon entering the Caribbean Sea, Harvey began to weaken due to moderate wind shear and degenerated into a tropical wave north of Colombia early on August 19. The remnants were monitored for regeneration as it continued west-northwestward across the Caribbean and the Yucatán Peninsula, before redeveloping over the Bay of Campeche on August 23. Harvey then began to rapidly intensify on August 24, regaining tropical storm status and becoming a hurricane later that day. While the storm moved generally northwest, Harvey's intensification phase stalled slightly overnight from August 24–25, however Harvey soon resumed strengthening and became a Category 4 hurricane late on August 25. Hours later, Harvey made landfall near Rockport, Texas, at peak intensity.
Harvey has caused at least 27 confirmed deaths; 1 in Guyana, and 26 in the United States. Catastrophic inland flooding is ongoing in the Greater Houston area. FEMA director Brock Long called Harvey the worst disaster in Texas history, and expected the recovery to take many years. Preliminary estimates of economic losses range from $10 billion to $160 billion, with a large portion of losses sustained by uninsured homeowners.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:34 UTC on Thursday, 31 August 2017.
For the full current version of the article, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Harvey.
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