HURRICANE: MEANING:
According to a 1990 booklet, entitled “Be Prepared” and written by the National Disaster coordinator, “A hurricane is by definition a tropical cyclone (storm) in which the winds reach constant speeds of 74 miles per hour or more; and blow in large spiral around a relatively clam center: the eye of the hurricane. HOW HURRICANE START. The booklet stated “in order to develop ‘a hurricane must have a warm sea and calm air (over hanging the warm sea).” Now, (in my interpretation of further statements), the warm sea emits heat which warms the air about it. And the warmed air in turn sucks up (plenty) of water vapour and rises. With this rising occurring (and given that according to even ancient philosophers “nature abhors a vacuum)” the pace of the vapour laden rising air is taken by air in from the side of the formation . And given the pre-existent and constant rotation of the earth, the entire system begins to revolve.(in our Caribbean case, the system, with its Genesis of the coast of West Africa, starts moving towards the Caribbean)

Now the warm and rising air (with it’s water-vapour passenger)” meets cool air (over land masses?); and then, cooled accordingly, it release it’s water vapor in the form of rain, And, by the way, seeing that it makes a great amount of heat energy for air to leave water vapour, when the water vapour is released as rain there is also released the adjoining heat energy.
“And, when this heat energy is released “a cycle begins to develop. More water is released and also more heat; and the more water and heat released, the faster the cycle goes.”

Thrust from inside to outside
Another aspect of a hurricane is “centrifugal” force. Explain; (according to the booklet) since the wind systems are revolving the force moving outwards from the center tends to throw their air outwards so that the pressure in the center becomes very low.

The result is the formation of the “eye” of the storm. Within its ambit, winds are light skies are clear or partly cloudy but this is deceptive. You see on the border of the eye are lurking maximum force winds and to torrential rains according to the booklet, Many persons have been killed or injured when lured out of the shelter by the calm eye. They are subsequently caught in the maximum winds at the far side of the eye where the winds blow from the direction opposite to that of the leading half of the storm.

The action outside
Further given that the pressure on the outside of the eye is very high. The wind and water involved are correspondingly quickly dissipated the result that “new” wind moves in faster in attempt to fill that pressured area. However the faster these winds move, the more (strangely) the force in the center throw them outwards. The net result is very fast (circular) winds; and these reach 74 Miles or120Kilometres an hour or more convention accepts these systems as a hurricane.

Whence the word Grenadian structural engineer, Tony Gibbbs gave us an insight into the origin of the word “belt hurricane.” Writing in The Grenadian Voice,”1993 July 17, he said “the very name is derived from the Mayan storm god “hunraken” and the Arakawa word hurricane which meant “ Devil wind.”

Some slammers according to Gibbs too, the worst of all recorded storms was the “great hurricane” of 1780 October 10th – 18th. This storm struck virtually every island, from Tobago to the windward to the Leeward to Hispanola to Cuba, Killing some 20,000 persons.

He added that in the sixty-year period (i.e. about 1930 –1990) another 20,000 persons in the Caribbean were killed by hurricanes. In Grenada’s case hurricane Janet took at least 1000 lives.

And of course there was hurricane David in Dominica1979; Gilbert in Jamaica, 1989. Hugo in Montserrat and St.croix, 1989:and Andrew in catBay Bahamas, 1992.