Over the years since even in time before this country was founded, tropical cyclones have caused more death and destruction than any known terrorist attack on our nation’s shores. 

Since 2001 and the attack on September11 of that year, the nation has focused so much energy and funding to protect its citizens from another attack from terrorist groups that launched those assaults that took the lives of many Americans.  Since 9/11, it had seemed that our focus on other threats to our nation’s citizens and industrial base had been blurred or at least distracted when it was needed most. 

Since 2001, our country has been impacted yearly by hurricanes in record numbers.  In that short time period since then, such major hurricanes as Dennis, Katrina, Ivan, Charlie, Rita, and Wilma have struck terror into our nation’s economy and our citizens.  Thousands of lives have been lost, and Hundreds of thousands of businesses have closed their doors at least temporally after those major hurricanes marched inland just as an armed force does in an invasion.  Back in 1898, then US President William McKinley established a hurricane warning network to protect against an enemy he feared more than the opposing military forces that we were at war with, the West Indian Hurricane, as they called Tropical Cyclones in the Atlantic Basin back the.  Today we face those same threats that he tried to better protect the nation’s interests, and what I describe as a Tropical Terrorist.  I define it as a major hurricane, of at least 111 mph, or one that causes major impact upon more than just the local area it directly impacts, with its landfall upon or shores.  I am sure the reader of this abstract can fill in a few names of historical tropical cyclones. 

In my presentation, I will present an awareness that all that work and live in areas that are impacted by these true terrorists, need to grasp.  Terror has been described as a pronounced state of fear, an overwhelming sense of imminent danger. It is often characterized by a lack of knowing what to do next.  Of course, I am not talking about mere human-beings causing this type of terror, but the powerful forces of nature itself.  I feel that we can indeed mitigate much of the impact from these storms if we plan better and use the skills of our great engineers in the correct design.  This threat does need to be protected against if we are to live with this treat to our country and our nation’s citizens.  If you are reading this small abstract, then I would expect you to be in the field of engineering, and have pondered many problems in your life.  I really can’t believe that we have sent Man to the Moon, and space probes into deep space; while at the same time turned our attention away and cut valuable funding that is needed in the field of hurricane mitigation research. 

June 1 is the start of the official 2007 Hurricane Season, ask yourself, are we ready  for the next wave of terror from the tropics?  Are we really prepared for the Tropical Terrorist?