Milford chronicle., 1954-10-22
We Will LONG REMEMBER HAZEL

Hazel, carrying death and destruction,
struck Delaware late last Friday afternoon.
Those who have not been through these
dangerous phases Of nature have no idea of
what 70 expect when hurricane strikes with
deadly destruction. Here in Kent and Sus-
sex Counties the property damage was ex-
ceedingly heavy. The great poultry industry
IS completely stalled. Millions of dollars in
losses to p0ultrymen have resulted. 1t is
probable that many people in the business
VIII be unable to re-eStablish themselves.
Their plants are completely demolished. Hum
dreds OF thousands Of dollars loss to industry
and mercantile establishments have resulted
IN the two lower counties Manufacturing
plants were handicapped and production
schedules shot to pieces when the storm
struck. Here at the Chronicle schedules had
TO be completely rearranged due to power
failure and outside damage which disrupted
weekend production.
Taking a course from the South Carolina
Coast and sweeping inland on up into Cam
ada, Hazel was dangerous until she died.
The eighth of Caribbean origin this autumn.
Hazel was the most devastating in their eff
fect There is reason for this method of
naming storms that destroy property and
Kill people and live stock. 1t has been found
less confusing to identify storms by name
than code number Hazel, which begin with
the eighth letter in the alphabet, got
her name for that reason.
At her peak Hazel was spending energy
at the rate of 500 trilliOn horsepower a sec
ond--a force that is greater than that of all
d the American and Russian stOckpiles of
bombs should they explode simultaneously.
Scientists have proposed schemes for divert
ing hurricanes. One was plan Of igniting
expansive oil sticks on the ocean and Great
ing an updraft like that in a chimney to
suck IN the surrounding air. The only trou-
bic with this scheme is that it would take
tremendous fire to persuade a mighty hur-
rlcane to change it's course.
MeteOrologists believe that II viii be more
immediately profitable to find out more about
the. mechanism Of hurricane, so that its
probable course can be more accurately pre-
dlcted than is at present possible BY un-
manned sounding balloons that radio to a
station below temperature, humidity and
WIND velOcities miles in the air, by inter-
pretlng radar reflections from distant soggy
masses, by flying right into the "eye'' Of q
hurricane much has been discovered that
was not even suspected twenty years ago.
Radar, for example, made it possible for the
meteorologist to see how rains are concen-
trated IN spiraling squali lines. In 1947 nine
scientists flew right into a hurricane and
came out with the valuable information that
hurricane protrudes q tongue" of warm
air several hundred miles IN the direction in
which It IS mOving-a help in warning the
right communities Of impending danger. The
Old notion that an updraft originating in a
surface eddy is enough to explain q hurri-
cane turned out to be wrong. The updraft
Is there, but air also pOurs down from above
One Of the bold meteorOlOgists who plunged
INTO hurricane IN 1947, has written vivid
descriptions Of what he saw and others saw
ana experienced. If the Weather Bureau is
Destef a0le 70 deal with the vagaries of hur-
ricanes chan was possible before the recent
war At is because Of this combination of cour-
age and technical knowledge. 1t is not likely
tnat we shall ever conquer hurricanes. but
we can reduce loss Of life and destruction Of
property by studying them just as we study
a colossal heat-engine- is all that any
storm is.
NS2oNG