doubt that a significant reduction 

 can be made in the destructive po- 

 tential of hurricanes, including the 

 damage due to hurricane tides, by 

 strategic seeding of the eye wall. 



This is the most exciting prospect in 

 all geophysical research and develop- 

 ment, both because of the immediate 

 potentialities for reducing property 

 losses and saving lives in hurricanes 



and because the insight gained from 

 this experiment should open the door 

 to more far-reaching experiments 

 aimed at modifying other threatening 

 large-scale storms. 



A Report on Project STORMFURY: 

 Problems in the Modification of Hurricanes 



Damage to property in the United 

 States caused by hurricanes has been 

 increasing steadily during this cen- 

 tury. Hurricanes caused an average 

 annual damage in the United States 

 of $13 million between 1915 and 

 1924. By the period 1960 to 1969, 

 this figure had soared to $432 million. 

 Hurricane Betsy (1965) and Hurri- 

 cane Camille (1969) each caused more 

 than $1.4 billion in damage. Even 

 after adjusting these values for the 

 inflated cost of construction in recent 

 years, there remains a 650 percent 

 increase in the average annual cost 

 of hurricane damage in less than 50 

 years. Since Americans are accelerat- 

 ing construction of valuable buildings 

 in areas exposed to hurricanes, these 

 damage costs will probably continue 

 to increase. 



The loss of life from hurricanes 

 has been decreasing about as dra- 

 matically as the damages have been 

 increasing. This decrease in number 

 of deaths can be attributed largely 

 to improvements in hurricane warn- 

 ing services and community prepared- 

 ness programs. The reduction in loss 

 of life is especially notable consider- 

 ing that the population has been in- 

 creasing in hurricane-vulnerable areas 

 just as rapidly as the value of prop- 

 erty. Figure V-4 illustrates the trends 

 with time in damages and loss of 

 life in the United States caused by 

 hurricanes. 



When warnings are timely and 

 accurate, lives can be saved by evacu- 

 ating people to safe locations. Prop- 

 erty damages can be reduced only 

 by building hurricane-resistant struc- 

 tures or by reducing the destructive 



potential of hurricanes. But the first 

 solution may be quite expensive. 



Extreme destruction may result 

 from any one of three different at- 



tributes of a hurricane: (a) the storm 

 surge, associated ocean currents, and 

 wave action along the coast; (b) the 

 destructive wind; and (c) rain-created 

 floods. The hurricane winds that 



Figure V-4 — HURRICANE LOSSES BY YEARS 



Millions of Dollars 

 16001 



1400 



1200 



1000 



800 



600 



400 



200 



DAMAGE 



ADJUSTED TO 

 1957-59 BASE 



DEATHS 



Number of Deaths 

 4000 



- 3500 



Hhn 



3000 



- 2500 



2000 



1500 



1000 



500 



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The bar graph shows the trends in loss of life and damage due to hurricanes. The 

 damage figures have been adjusted to eliminate inflationary and other fluctuating 

 trends in the cost of construction. 



127 



