SERVPRO celebrates National Red Cross month after the busy storm season.

3/8/2018 (Permalink)

SERVPRO of Alachua County West is proud to be a National partner with the Red Cross.

The 2017-2018 storm season has been one of the most active in recent memory, and as for any storm disaster SERVPRO is there to assist.  Another presence that is there to help others in need is the Red Cross, an organization that is made up of 90% volunteers and of which SERVPRO is a proud national sponsor.  In order to get an idea of what these volunteers which are comprised of our friends, family, neighbors and complete strangers have responded to this year lets recap our storm season.

The 2017 Atlantic storm season was especially deadly and destructive this past year.  The hurricane season runs from June 1^st to November 30^th because this is historically the period of the year that most tropical cyclones form.  Here are just a few facts about our 2017 hurricane season.

• The 2017 Atlantic hurricane season featured 17 named storms.
• It is the 5^th most active season since records began in 1851.
• All 10 of the active hurricanes this season occurred in a row. This has only happened once before since records began.
• It was the costliest season on record with over $281 billion dollars in damages and most of the damage was due to 3 of the hurricanes – Harvey, Irma, and Maria.
• This is season one of only 6 seasons that had multiple category 5 hurricanes.
• The 2017 season is the only season on record to have 3 hurricanes that had an accumulated cyclone energy score over 40 – Irma, Jose, and Maria.

The 2017/2018 winter storm season has been equally devastating, creating storm scenarios all over the country.  Although, we are still not out of the official storm season, this is what we have seen so far.

• The month of November began with the highest snow extent in over 15 years, covering over 1/4 of the United States.
• An early December winter storm affected areas from the deep-south from the Gulf of Mexico all the way up to New England. This meant many areas such as Florida who rarely see snow were affected by extreme cold, ice, snowfall.
• This December storm system left up to 400,000 people without power, closed schools and roads and left 3 people dead.
• A post-Christmas early January cold wave left us with cities in Minnesota and Indiana having record breaking cold temperatures.
• Times Square recorded the second coldest temperature on New Year’s Eve during festivities on record.
• A severe blizzard swept across the country early January. This bomb cyclone dumped snow, freezing rain and caused coastal flooding which is attributed to at least 22 fatalities and cancelled 4,020 flights across the U.S.
• Mid-January sent 2 more winter storms causing freezing temperatures, freezing pipes, and snow throughout the country. The city of Galveston had hundreds of pipes freeze and burst which depleted their water reserves to drought levels and bridges in Florida had to be closed due to ice after the 3 time of receiving snowfall this winter season.

These are just a few facts about our storm seasons this year, and they make us feel grateful for not only our self-less storm team members, but also our partners at the Red Cross who make up an amazing network of volunteers across the country.