Naming Hurricanes
By Jeff Moffitt
@moffittjc (118449)
Gainesville, Florida
August 27, 2017 12:02pm CST
I've been closely watching the situation developing in Texas. And it's got me thinking. They have to change this hurricane naming system. Who is scared of of a storm named Harvey? Nobody is going to leave. If you want people to pay attention, heed warnings, and respond, you've got to make your storms have intimidating names. You'll see people properly evacuate if they hear Mike Tyson is coming. And, not just any Mike Tyson. But, Prison Mike Tyson. Nobody wants that. They should've called this hurricane Prison, Hangover, Gonna Kick Your A$$, or Prepare to Die . Or in conjunction with last night's prize boxing match, Floyd Mayweather. That would have gotten people to listen and pay attention. Godspeed East Texas. I'm praying for all of you.
22 people like this
21 responses
@Kandae11 (53679)
•
27 Aug 17
They often refer to females as being deadlier than the male, but judging from the hurricane names - those with male names have been more deadly. The worst I experienced was hurricane Gilbert - then you had others like Alan, Hugo, Dean, Ivan , Matthew and the latest - Harvey.
5 people like this
@moffittjc (118449)
• Gainesville, Florida
27 Aug 17
And you forgot Andrew, which hit south Florida and pretty much wiped out everything. Probably the second worst hurricane in our history behind Katrina. But yes, some of the male storms have been the worst!
3 people like this
@moffittjc (118449)
• Gainesville, Florida
28 Aug 17
Poor Harvey! I take it you rejected his attempts at love? Haha
I probably would have had a crush on you as well if I had known you back then!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118449)
• Gainesville, Florida
28 Aug 17
@DianneN I'm not surprised that you said that! If you've got the goods, you flaunt it! And you've got the goods...even now!
1 person likes this
@DianneN (246838)
• United States
28 Aug 17
@moffittjc I met him again years later. He's a friend of my friend and told her he still has a crush on me. He was looking forward to seeing me at our high school reunion last year, but I had to cancel due to my husband's surgery. He was very disappointed I was told. He was a big dufus, but his parents owned the market we shopped in. My parents hoped for a match. Lol! No deal!
I'm sure you would have had a crush on me back then. Everyone else did! 
. Bet you didn't expect me to say that!
. Bet you didn't expect me to say that! 1 person likes this
@rebelann (111189)
• El Paso, Texas
27 Aug 17
Corpus Christi is gettin slammed by that storm. I doubt the name has anything to do with why people won't leave their homes, sometimes I get the feeling people just figure it'll blow over and life will go on.
I'm curious, when hurricanes hit florida do the people there also stick around?
1 person likes this
@rebelann (111189)
• El Paso, Texas
28 Aug 17
Boy am I glad I live here @moffittjc at least I don't have to worry about hurricanes, tornadoes or blizzards. I'm a woossie when it comes to severe storms ..... earthquakes and volcanoes would be worse though.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118449)
• Gainesville, Florida
28 Aug 17
@rebelann Are you seeing any effects at all of the current storm situation in east Texas?
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118449)
• Gainesville, Florida
28 Aug 17
Not only do we stick around, we throw hurricane parties!
It's hard to evacuate Florida, since there's only one safe way people can go...north. But we only have two interstates that go north, and on good days there is often gridlock on both of them, so you can imagine how bad it would be trying to evacuate people. If a hurricane hits Florida, pretty much the entire state is in the danger zone. With a population of over 19 million people, safe evacuation would be nearly impossible.
1 person likes this
@nanette64 (20364)
• Fairfield, Texas
28 Aug 17
Boy ain't that the truth @moffittjc . And they need to fire the Mayor of Houston for not telling the people to evacuate. I'm just north of Houston and it's been raining since Friday. We've only gotten 6" so far.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118449)
• Gainesville, Florida
28 Aug 17
Obviously the decision to not evacuate people has turned into a hot and controversial topic. The only thing I would say in support of the mayor is where the heck do you evacuate 6 million people to?
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118449)
• Gainesville, Florida
28 Aug 17
@nanette64 How far are you from Houston?
1 person likes this
@nanette64 (20364)
• Fairfield, Texas
28 Aug 17
@moffittjc I know some of the people who had common sense came up I-45 to Fairfield. All the motels here were full. And we've still gotten 6" of rain so far.
1 person likes this
@Morleyhunt (21737)
• Canada
27 Aug 17
Some of the most innocuous sounding names have the worst disasters in their wake.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118449)
• Gainesville, Florida
27 Aug 17
That is true. You can never predict the severity of these storms based on names alone. There's been some bad ones with some cute-sounding names. Katrina is one that comes to mind.
@moffittjc (118449)
• Gainesville, Florida
27 Aug 17
@Morleyhunt I dated a Katrina years ago, and she was such a cutie pie! So my perception of the name Katrina is slightly biased! haha
1 person likes this
@Morleyhunt (21737)
• Canada
27 Aug 17
@moffittjc funny....I never thought of Katrina being a particularly innocent sounding name.....but the storm was spectacular.
1 person likes this
@RubyHawk (99425)
• Atlanta, Georgia
28 Aug 17
From what I've seen and heard many of these people didn't go looking for safer shelter. Maybe there was no safer place to go. I just heard that the hospital has collapsed, the floods are worse and rain keeps falling. It's really bad.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118449)
• Gainesville, Florida
28 Aug 17
@RubyHawk I think it's going to be worse than anyone ever imagined!
Did you know that in Texas, flood insurance is not required by homeowners. And guess what's going to happen when all those homeowners try to file insurance claims to get their homes fixed? They're going to get denied because standard homeowners insurance doesn't cover floods.
I see another government bailout coming down the pike.
1 person likes this
@RubyHawk (99425)
• Atlanta, Georgia
29 Aug 17
@moffittjc What will happen to all the people who have lost their home? I wonder if ther can be relocated out of the flood area. If they manage to build back it could happen again. Probably many homeowners think they are covered by their insurance. It will be a hard awakening.
1 person likes this
@RubyHawk (99425)
• Atlanta, Georgia
28 Aug 17
@moffittjc That's so terrible. I hope it's not as bad as I think.
1 person likes this
@sumofalltears (3988)
• United States
28 Aug 17
There is a draw back to that one....people may stick around looking for an autograph...
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118449)
• Gainesville, Florida
28 Aug 17
Haha I never thought of that!
1 person likes this
@snowy22315 (169993)
• United States
27 Aug 17
Yeah, something to put the fear of God into people!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118449)
• Gainesville, Florida
27 Aug 17
I think even then some people would be defiant and refuse to leave. Some people just don't get the seriousness of these storms!
@moffittjc (118449)
• Gainesville, Florida
27 Aug 17
Maybe the next catastrophic hurricane should be named Trump. That will get people all riled up to take action!
1 person likes this
@dodo19 (47076)
• Beaconsfield, Quebec
27 Aug 17
@moffittjc Lol. That would get things riled up for sure. I'd be surprised if it didn't.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118449)
• Gainesville, Florida
27 Aug 17
@dodo19 Let's just skip that name when we have the next hurricane pop up. Things are already on edge with him now, let's not stir the pot any more than we have to.
1 person likes this
@much2say (53958)
• Los Angeles, California
27 Aug 17
Right? Harvey is certainly big, but he should be invisible and have rabbit ears 
. I don't know how they come up with these names, but certainly this one was worthy of a much more powerful name. Hoping the people there are staying as safe as possible and will get through this!1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118449)
• Gainesville, Florida
27 Aug 17
I think there is some kind of United Nations type of agency in Geneva, Switzerland (or somewhere in Europe) where they determine the list of hurricane names each year. I'm not sure if they name typhoons as well in the Pacific, but it would make sense if they do it for Atlantic hurricanes. I would be interested to know how they determine names for these storms each year.
1 person likes this
@sabtraversa (12941)
• Italy
27 Aug 17
I thought female names were the only names given to hurricanes or other events that cause disasters. 
It could have been worse that way though. 
It could have been worse that way though. 1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118449)
• Gainesville, Florida
27 Aug 17
For decades, storms were only given female names, but not too long ago they changed the rules and started allowing male names. One of our worst hurricanes was a male named Hurricane Andrew which hit Miami in Florida and pretty much wiped out everything in its path. I was on the disaster response team for that hurricane, and when we got there we were left in shock and awe, because there was literally nothing left. That hurricane destroyed everything in its path.
2 people like this
@CookieMonster46 (13447)
• United States
30 Aug 17
yes, they names are simple, I hope everyone is safe.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118449)
• Gainesville, Florida
30 Aug 17
I just hope all those millions of people can rebuild their lives after this.
1 person likes this
@Courtlynn (66921)
• United States
27 Aug 17
I've actually thought of this before too. Wonder how they even pick names for them. Do they put names for the l its supposed to be next in a hat and draw one out.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118449)
• Gainesville, Florida
28 Aug 17
They set the names well in advance, and they will publish the entire list of names for the year at the beginning of hurricane season. And I think they also have the names set for next year too.
1 person likes this
@Courtlynn (66921)
• United States
28 Aug 17
@moffittjc oh. Well im not into that stuff so didnt know.
1 person likes this
@andriaperry (116860)
• Anniston, Alabama
27 Aug 17
I agree, name one "Opal" that is a little old ladies name. Katrina? Wait a minute! I think when we are told " HURRICANE" we all should just move up north, inland, and not try to compete with nature.
1 person likes this
@lovinangelsinstead21 (36850)
• Pamplona, Spain
27 Aug 17
From what I have seen of the damage its caused its pretty bad going so far.
1 person likes this
@velvet53 (22528)
• Palisade, Colorado
30 Aug 17
You hit the nail on the head with this. My brother live in east Texas and the last I heard, which was this morning, they are still there. If my leg was long enough I would be doing some kicking.
The name for this hurricane is definitely all wrong. They didn't put enough into the name to get peoples attention.
@Hate2Iron (15730)
• Canada
27 Aug 17
My Dad's name was Harvey lol... and he knew how to put the fear of God in us when we were little. Funny how he mellowed as he got older. :) Even my 6 year old son wasn't the least bit unnerved by him.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118449)
• Gainesville, Florida
27 Aug 17
So for you, the name Harvey would have been intimidating enough to prompt you to action! When I think of the name Harvey, I think of comedian Steve Harvey, who currently hosts the game show Family Feud. I just can't take it seriously when a comedian is what comes to mind when I hear the name.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to make a farce of the entire situation going on in Texas. My heart goes out to all the people there. But there's got to be a better way for the government to scare the living shyt out of people to prompt them to take action in advance of these approaching storms.
2 people like this
@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
28 Aug 17
Some people always seem to disregard the direst warnings because perhaps the last disaster predicted did not happen. They were okay once, so will be again. Maybe a scary name would help, like Hurricane Reaper.
@mukuldreamy (18)
•
28 Aug 17
Good innovative idea. But to me,the name storm itself has intimidating effect on people's mind.It is due to the havoc it has caused from time to time in people's life.
