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Forecasters ran out of traditional names for the storms on Friday, forcing them to start using the Greek alphabet for only the second time since the 1950s, with more than two months left for the record-breaking hurricane season.
Tropical Storm Wilfred developed in the eastern Atlantic, but was weak and far from land. Two hours after Wilfred took shape, the National Hurricane Center switched to the Greek alphabet when Subtropical Storm Alpha formed off the coast of Portugal. Next is Beta and so on. Forecasters are observing at least two other systems, including one that is a tropical depression in the western Gulf of Mexico.
The only time the hurricane center dipped into the Greek alphabet was the deadly hurricane season of 2005, which included the impact of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. The previous record for the 21st first named storm was Wilma on October 8, 2005, according to Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach.
The onslaught of hurricanes has focused attention on climate change, which scientists say is causing wetter, stronger and more destructive storms.
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Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of people in the United States remained without power along the Alabama coast and the Florida peninsula in the aftermath of Hurricane Sally. Authorities continued to assess millions of dollars in damage that included a broken bridge in Pensacola and boats dumped ashore.
Tina Austin / AP
Damage at Barber Marina in Elberta, Alabama, caused by Hurricane Sally.
In Loxley, Alabama, Catherine Williams lost power and part of her roof to Sally. The storm also destroyed three walnut trees in her garden that she used to try to make ends meet.
“There is no food, there is no money. I took my last heart pill today, ”said Williams, who has been fired twice from her job as a cook due to financial problems caused by Covid-19. She hoped the Red Cross would show up at her house soon.
Two people in Alabama were reported to have died – a drowning and a death during the cleanup in Baldwin County. In Florida, authorities were looking for a missing kayaker who was feared dead in Escambia County.
In Pensacola, Mamie Patterson was cleaning the garden of her cousin who was recovering from heart surgery after they lost power in a low-income neighborhood in Pensacola.
Patterson’s mother uses an oxygen machine brought to an uncle’s house to charge her because she had power. She saw utility trucks all over the city and wondered when power would be restored in her neighborhood, where there was several inches of water on the streets more than 48 hours after the storm.
“We feel very forgotten here,” he said. “I hate to say it, but it’s the ghetto neighborhoods. We don’t have lights. “
Gerald Herbert / AP
A car in Pensacola, Florida, is covered in branches after Hurricane Sally on Friday.
In another part of town, Karen Robinson sat on the steps of her first-floor apartment and recited a list of belongings ruined by Sally’s 120 centimeters of water: clothes, shoes, furniture and food.
It took months to recover from a 2015 flood after a severe storm sent nearly the same amount of water from a stream to the 200-unit complex. I was concerned because the hurricane season runs through the end of November.
“This could happen again. That’s the problem, ”Robinson said as the men threw soaked items out the window of a nearby apartment.
Gerald Herbert / AP
Fanchiskia Gulley goes shopping on Friday after Hurricane Sally.
In Louisiana, some 41,000 people remain without power around Lake Charles, where Hurricane Laura made landfall on August 27. In Oak Island, North Carolina, which was the ground zero for Hurricane Isaiah on August 3, some rental houses finally reopened on Labor Day.
“It wasn’t pretty. We had piles of sand everywhere, layers of debris everywhere, but the roads were open, “said Mayor Ken Thomas.
“There is a hurricane for everyone out there,” he said.
Escambia County, which includes Pensacola, estimated that Sally caused at least $ 21 million ($ 31 million) in damage to public infrastructure, such as roads and drainage. It will likely cost an additional $ 8 million to restore washed sand at Pensacola Beach, authorities said.
The one-year-old Three Mile Bridge connecting Pensacola to the beaches was severely damaged in at least two places, and authorities don’t know how much money or time it will take to repair.
Back in the Atlantic, Hurricane Teddy was a powerful Category 4 storm about 840 miles southeast of Bermuda. The island was hit directly by Hurricane Paulette on Monday, and forecasters said a hurricane watch for Teddy will be issued soon.
