Tropical areas of the western Pacific, including Hawaii, Guam and American Samoa, are also open to destructive hurricanes. Of these, six may strengthen to hurricane proportion, of which two are likely to strike the coast of the United States. Hurricane winds in the northern hemisphere circulate in a counterclockwise motion around the hurricane's eye, while hurricane winds in the southern hemisphere circulate clockwise. What was the most devastating hurricane in U.S. history. During a four week period in 1992, two major hurricanes hit the United States leaving an unprecedented array of devastation.
Hurricanes can kill, even after the winds stop blowing.
Eighteen of the 54 deaths directly attributed to Hurricane Andrew occurred during the recovery phase. Of those, eight were stress-induced heart attacks, three were either people falling in damaged buildings or hit by debris while cleaning up, and two were children who died in fires in damaged homes.