On September 14, 2018, a major hurricane struck the Carolinas. It caused havoc in the area and took many lives. Its name was Florence.

Hurricane Florence caused major havoc and destruction. As a category one hurricane, It devastated the Carolinas. It took at least thirty-seven lives. This hurricane was the first major hurricane of the 2018 Atlantic Hurricane season.

A week before it struck, Hurricane Florence grabbed the attention of the world. It grew into a category four, almost a category five storm as it headed to the Carolinas. A category five storm is as bad as a hurricane can get, and is similar to the likes of hurricanes like Hurricane Katrina in 2005. As it neared the Carolinas, Hurricane Florence hit some wind shear. The shear lowered the intensity of the hurricane to a Category three, then a Category two, and eventually a Category one as it made landfall. The fact that it was a Category one doesn’t mean it didn’t do much though.

A lot of people stayed back hearing that it was downgraded. People assume  Category one is a small hurricane. Category ones though are extremely destructive. This allowed for a whole lot more devastation. Rescuers have had to work much harder to rescue everyone who stayed behind. Brett Neely, a firefighter from Pennsylvania who estimated that he rescued forty to fifty people commented on the hurricane. “The water got so high, I couldn’t believe it,” Neely said.

Since so many people decided to stay back, the death toll was considerably high for a Category one storm. For reference Hurricane Harvey, a category four storm in 2017, had a death toll of 82 people while Hurricane Irma, a Category five in 2017, had a death toll of 134 people. Hurricane Florence, a category one, had a death toll of 37.

Hurricane Florence was a deadly storm and a storm that is one to remember.