Major Hurricanes Result in Millions of Dollars of Destruction

Roger Coleman graduated with high honors from Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York, where he studied international business and marketing. Now serving as president and chief strategy officer of Disaster Technologies Incorporated, Roger Coleman oversees the facilitation of software that allows leaders to manage and make split-second decisions during natural disasters, such as a hurricane.

Between 2018 and 2019, weather disasters, including hurricanes, caused $136 billion in damages across the country. The hurricane season, which lasts from June through November, often results in the loss of homes and property for many families nationwide.

During the 2019 season, 18 storms grew large enough to earn names, and six of those evolved into hurricanes, with winds reaching 74 miles per hour or higher. Three of the 2019 hurricanes reached the status of category three or more, meaning they sustained winds higher than 111 miles per hour. These storms wreaked havoc along coastlines, causing damage with high winds and storm surges and resulting in deaths and destruction. The most expensive of these three storms proved to be Hurricane Dorian.

Hurricane Dorian reached the devastating level of category five on September 1, 2019. The storm then hit the Abaco Islands in the Bahamas as well as Grand Bahama Island. It later restrengthened, impacting the Outer Banks in North Carolina. With over 185-mile-per-hour winds, Dorian recorded the highest sustained winds of an Atlantic Ocean-based hurricane since the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935. Damage caused by the disaster totaled around $2 billion.