IN THE NEWS - Wilma Adds to the Damage of a Record Hurricane

IN THE NEWS - Wilma Adds to the Damage of a Record Hurricane Season
By Nancy Steinbach

Broadcast: Saturday, October 29, 2005

I'm Steve Ember with IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

People in the American state of Florida are trying to recover from the twenty-first powerful storm to develop in the Atlantic Ocean this year.

The hurricane called Wilma hit the southeastern state on Monday. At least twenty-seven people died. Officials say Wilma also caused at least twelve deaths in Haiti, four in Mexico and one in Jamaica.

About six million people in South Florida lost electric power as a result of the storm. Many remain without electricity. Officials say it could take at least until late November to get the power situation back to normal.

More than four thousand people in the southern part of the state have not been able to return to their homes.

 
Key West, Florida
Experts say the storm damage to Florida could total about ten thousand million dollars. That would make it one of the ten most costly¹ storms in United States history.

But Wilma was only the latest in a series of damaging storms to hit the American South in the past few months. Hurricane Katrina in August was one of the worst natural disasters in American history. It killed more than one thousand people. Government officials estimate² that it caused at least one hundred twenty-five thousand million dollars in damage.

Floodwalls around the city of New Orleans failed. The flooding that resulted caused destruction³. Officials in the city are now trying to get people who left to return. Mayor⁴ Ray Nagin says the city's population will be reduced to nearly half its number from before the storm. As many as two hundred fifty thousand houses still cannot be lived in, and many areas still lack basic services.

Some businesses in the city have re-opened. But city officials say they have had to travel outside Louisiana to urge many people to return. They say their biggest problem is providing places for people to live.

In September, Hurricane Rita damaged the coasts of Louisiana and Texas. The loss of life and damage estimates⁵ were much lower than for earlier storms. Officials say that was because people learned⁶ from what had happened to New Orleans and left the area before the storm hit.

But the hurricane season is not yet over. The official period continues until the end of November. The National Hurricane Center says this is the busiest Atlantic season on record. After Wilma, weather experts did not have any more storm names left for the season. So they named the next two tropical⁷ storms with letters of the Greek alphabet: Alpha and Beta.

Weather experts say the number of storms began to rise in about nineteen ninety-five. They say the increase in the number of hurricanes is a result of an increase in water temperatures. The director of the hurricane center told Congress⁸ earlier this year that this increased storm activity could continue for another ten years.

IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English was written by Nancy Steinbach.  I'm Steve Ember.

1 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

2 estimate   

n.估计，估量；评价，看法；vt.估计，估量

参考例句：

• We estimate the cost to be five thousand dollars.我们估计费用为5000美元。
• The lowest estimate would put the worth of the jewel at ＄200.按最低的评估这块宝石也值200美元。

3 destruction   

n.破坏，毁灭，消灭

参考例句：

• The enemy bombs caused widespread destruction.敌人的炸弹造成大面积的破坏。
• Overconfidence was his destruction.自负是他垮台的原因。

4 mayor   

n.市长

参考例句：

• The new mayor said he would clean the city up.新市长说，他要整顿本市。
• The mayor hurried into his office,brushing off the reporters.市长赶快走进办公室，拒不接见记者。

5 estimates   

估计

参考例句：

• Unofficial estimates put the figure at over two million. 非官方的估计数字为200万以上。
• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

7 tropical   

adj.热带的，热带的，炎热的

参考例句：

• You must grow these tropical flowers in a glasshouse.你必须把这些热带花卉种在温室里。
• This disease is widespread in tropical areas.这种疾病在热带地区蔓延很广。

8 Congress   

n.(代表)大会；(C-:美国等国的)国会，议会

参考例句：

• There were some days to wait before the Congress.大会的召开还有几天时间。
• After 18 years in Congress,he intented to return to private life.在国会供职18年后，他打算告老还乡。