The Storm That Destroyed

Story by Sean Beach and Jerell King. Pictures from www.livescience.com and www.snopes.com

OCT. 25, 2016: Have you heard about the hurricane that went through Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia which are all southern states in the United States of America? This was the most dangerous hurricane since Hurricane Felix in 2007. Hurricane Matthew started on September 28, 2016 and ended on October 10, 2016. It went through Haiti and killed 842 people. All together there were 1,027 total deaths. Matthew is a category 4 hurricane, which means that the hurricane had 131-155 mph winds. The hurricane was a tropical cyclone so it really didn’t affect places like the DC, Maryland, and Virginia.

Hurricane Matthew affected each location in a number of ways. In North Carolina, there was severe flooding everywhere. Many people were left stranded because they had to evacuate their homes. As flood waters continued to rise, Woodlake Dam in Moore County was in danger of falling. People living downstream evacuated their homes to avoid the risk of flooding. The failure of the dam could cause flooding in places like Fort Bragg, Pope Air Force Base and Spring Lake. More than 253,000 homes and businesses lost power during the hurricane. A number of rivers reached or surpassed flood levels, and even entire roads split in half from the amount of rain and high winds!

In Florida, Hurricane Matthew affected that state in many different ways. There was a lot of flooding, and the water in some cities reached 9.88 feet above ground level. In Florida, the St. Johns River was actually flowing backwards. Hurricane Matthew was a really devastating time for Florida because it’s surrounded by water. As a result, a lot of cars and homes were washed away. Many homes were flooded and some homes were flooded to the middle of the house depending on the size of the house.

In South Carolina, the storm also made an impact as the death toll reached four. Power outages impacted a total of 861,000 customers. There are still 11 shelters holding 372 people from the storm. And, a total of six schools are still closed due to flooding.

Georgia had about 200,000 power outages from Hurricane Matthew. Georgia had the fewest deaths totaling three. In Georgia many people took almost everything out of their homes because of all the flooding. People had to actually pick up their carpets because they were so soaked from the floods. Some people weren’t able to get flood insurance. And, roads were covered by water as the flooding got worse.

Not only has the hurricane impacted our country, it also took a toll on Haiti. The death toll in Haiti has reached 1,027 from the damage of Hurricane Matthew. According to BBC News almost 90% of most areas in Haiti were destroyed. Clinics overflowed with patients whose injuries included broken bones. Many people were killed due to falling trees, flying debri and swollen rivers. There were many power and telephone lines that went out in Haiti during and after the hurricane. Even a disease called “cholera” began spreading and infecting people in southwest Haiti.

Since we are at Friendship Public Charter School and our mission is to contribute actively to our community, we would love to contribute to these great states of America and help build them back up. It is very sad that those states got flooded like that. We at Friendship Public Charter School can donate to the American Red Cross to help to our community and also donate Haiti Hurricane Relief to help the country of Haiti.  

Sean Beach is a 8th grade scholar and Jerell King is a 9th grade scholar at Friendship Tech Prep Academy.