Hurricane Iniki

Hurricane Iniki

              On September 11, 1992, Hurricane Iniki hit Kauai, Hawaii at a massive speed. Iniki killed 6 people and affected over 14,000 homes. Its wind speeds went up to 130 mph putting this hurricane as a category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson Scale. The Saffir-Simpson Scale is a scale that categorizes a hurricane's intensity class by its wind speeds, with category 5 being the highest. Hurricane Iniki costed up to $3 billion dollars in damage. They also interrupted the last day of filming for Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park. The whole entire film crew was trapped inside their hotel In Oahu but were able to record some footage of the storm itself. Hurricanes in Hawaii are a very rare occurrence. This is due to 4 main protective factors. These factors are a high pressure factor, cold water, dry and stable air, and wind shear. These all push any upcoming disasters away from Hawaii.
              Unfortunately Iniki broke through and hit Hawaii hard. Iniki is the forth hurricane Hawaii has ever had and it remains the most destructive. Hurricane Iniki formed in Africa and rapidly traveled to Hawaii with so much force allowing it to break through the four protective factors. People to this day are frightened of this hurricane and since Hawaii rarely gets them, they never know when or how to expect and deal with an upcoming disaster.