A candlelit vigil on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 19, 2021, honored the hundreds of thousands of Americans killed by COVID-19.
Credit: © Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images

One year ago, on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus disease COVID-19 a pandemic—that is, a disease that spreads over an extremely wide geographic area. In one year, the deadly respiratory disease has infected nearly 115 million people and killed more than 2.5 million people worldwide.

The first COVID-19 cases occurred in Wuhan, China, near a seafood and live animal market. This fact suggested to scientists that the disease may be zoonotic (spread from animals to people). Researchers proposed that, like the related diseases MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome) and SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), COVID-19 may have its origin in bats. Further analysis of the virus SARS-CoV-2 showed that it had clearly originated in bats. SARS-CoV-2 stands for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. How the virus crossed over into human beings has not been determined. After the virus entered humans, human-to-human transmission became the chief way in which the disease spread.

As the pandemic progressed, some authorities closed schools and such nonessential businesses as restaurants, movie theaters, and hair salons. Some officials issued stay-at-home orders. The orders forbade people from leaving their homes except for such necessary activities as working at an essential job, buying food, or seeing a doctor.

To pass time over the long year and help stay cheerful while stuck at home, many people turned to baking treats, reading books, and making arts and crafts. For instance, some people recreated famous paintings. Such museums as the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California, provided people with prompts. Then, using household products and costumes buried at the bottom of toy chests, people recreated famous works of art. Emanuel Leutze’s “Washington Crossing the Delaware,” for example, became “Wagon Crossing the Street.” Re-enacting masterpieces was a great way to past the time, while you waited for your treats to bake.

Sandra Lindsay, left, a Black nurse, is injected with the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer on Dec. 14, 2020, in the Queens borough (section) of New York City. The rollout of the vaccine, the first to be given emergency authorization by the Food and Drug Administration, begins the biggest vaccination effort in U.S. history.
Credit: © Mark Lennihan, Getty Images

In December 2020, hope began to arrive in the form of vaccines. Vaccines are special medicines that can help make a person immune to a particular disease. The long-awaited “V-Day,” short for Vaccine Day, arrived in the United States on Monday, Dec. 14, 2020. Sandra Lindsay—a nurse at a hospital in the Queens borough (section) of New York City—was hailed as the first person in the United States to receive an authorized COVID-19 vaccination.

Not everyone who wants a vaccine has been able to get one right away. The first doses were given to healthcare workers. Then, frontline workers (workers likely to encounter the disease) followed, along with people vulnerable to the virus, including the elderly and those with such risk factors as obesity or diabetes.

Since December, nearly 10 percent of the U.S. population has received the vaccine. Tens of thousands more get vaccinated each day, raising hopes that the end of the pandemic is near.

A koala mother and her joey (young) rest in a eucalyptus tree. Eucalyptus leaves and shoots make up the main part of a koala’s diet.
© Shutterstock

It’s summer in Australia, so you know what that means—time for a koala count! The Australian government has funded a project to count the population of the beloved teddy-bearlike mammals, as well as record where the marsupials (pouched mammals) live. The government commissioned this project because, in recent years, estimates of the koala population have varied greatly. In 2016, for instance, there were an estimated 300,000 koalas in Australia. Three years later, that number was down to 80,000, with some scientists saying the number was as low as 43,000.

In previous counts, people merely counted how many koalas they saw. But, koalas spend almost all their time in eucalyptus trees, making it difficult for people to spot them among the leaves. For the new count, humans will still venture into the forests to search for koalas. But, to ensure a koala-ty count, the government has also introduced some new methods. It will employ heat-seeking drones. A drone is an aircraft designed to operate without a pilot on board. The drones will detect the body heat that a koala gives off. The government will also use dropping-detection dogs—that is, dogs that identify koala droppings. The droppings serve as evidence that koalas live in the area. In addition to detecting droppings, these dogs can sniff out koalas themselves.

In recent years, the koala population has declined. People have cut down eucalyptus forests for housing developments, resorts, and farmland. In addition to spending most of their time in the forks of eucalyptus trees, koalas eat mainly the leaves and young shoots of eucalyptuses. They even get most of the water they need from eucalyptus leaves. Koalas are also vulnerable to natural disasters. Tens of thousands of koalas were killed when bushfires devastated large areas of Australia in late 2019 and early 2020. In fact, a study by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) estimated that more than 60,000 koalas had been either killed, injured, or displaced by the fires. This staggering number led some scientists to say that the animal was “functionally extinct.”

There are efforts to increase the koala population in Australia. For instance, the WWF hopes to use drones to drop eucalyptus-tree seeds in forests. The WWF will also create a fund to sponsor koala sanctuaries (safe spaces).

Sandra Lindsay, a Black nurse, is injected with the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer on Dec. 14, 2020, in the Queens borough (section) of New York City. The rollout of the vaccine, the first to be given emergency authorization by the Food and Drug Administration, begins the largest vaccination effort in U.S. history.
Credit: © Mark Lennihan, Getty Images

The long-awaited V-Day, short for Vaccine Day, arrived in the United States on Monday, December 14, with the beginning of widespread vaccination against the coronavirus disease COVID-19. Vaccination involves the administration of special medicines called vaccines, which can help make a person immune to a particular disease. Sandra Lindsay—a nurse at a hospital in the Queens borough (section) of New York City—became the first person in the United States to receive the authorized COVID-19 vaccination. COVID-19 has killed more than 1 million people and infected more than 60 million people around the world. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted an emergency use authorization for the vaccine, by the pharmaceutical company Pfizer, on December 11. V-Day provided a moment of hope against the COVID-19 pandemic (worldwide outbreak of disease) even as the U.S. death toll topped 300,000.

The fact that Lindsay—a Black health care worker—was first in line to receive the vaccine is significant. In the United States, COVID-19 has disproportionally affected Black Americans, and medical workers have been on the front line of the fight against the disease. Lindsay said it was important for her to take the vaccine, in part because of the history of unequal and racist treatment of minorities in the medical system. In particular, she mentioned the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, a notorious medical experiment involving Black Americans. Beginning in 1932, medical workers conducted blood tests among 4,000 Black men in Tuskegee, Alabama, and selected for the study about 400 who were found to be infected with the sexually transmitted disease syphilis. The participants in the study were not informed that they were infected with syphilis or told about the expected outcomes of the experiment. Lindsay hoped to inspire Black people and other minorities who may be skeptical about the vaccine. After receiving the first of two doses, she said, “It feels surreal. It is a huge sense of relief for me, and hope.”

The first doses of the Pfizer vaccine to be given to Americans were shipped on Sunday, December 13. The United States is not the first country to approve the vaccine. On December 8, Margaret Keenan of the United Kingdom became the first person in the world to receive the authorized vaccine. Canada has also approved the vaccine, administering its first dose the same day as the United States.

In many cases, administration of a COVID-19 vaccine will be voluntary. But, it will be a while until everybody who wants a vaccine can get one. In the United States, the first doses will be given to health care workers. Frontline workers (workers likely to encounter the disease) and people who are vulnerable to the virus, including the elderly and people with such risk factors as obesity or diabetes will be next. Some of these people may receive the vaccine by the end of 2020. But, most people will have to wait until the spring of 2021.

Most vaccines are administered into the body by injection. A vaccine contains substances that stimulate the body’s immune system to produce molecules called antibodies. The immune system uses antibodies to fight against germs that enter the body. Antibodies produced in response to a vaccine can protect a person who is exposed to the actual disease-causing organism. The process of protecting the body in this way is called immunization. Vaccines have been successful in fighting many other diseases, including chickenpox, meningitis, and yellow fever.

Pfizer and Moderna began clinical trials in July. During these trials, participants were given either the vaccine or a placebo. A placebo is a substance that contains no active ingredient. Comparing infection rates in subjects who received the placebo with those among subjects who got the vaccine can help determine if the vaccine is effective. In the Pfizer and Moderna clinical trials, half the participants were given a placebo of salt water, and half were given the vaccine. The researchers then waited to see who might get sick. The results were very promising—both vaccines were about 95 percent effective in preventing COVID-19. By contrast, commonly administered influenza vaccines (known as flu shots) are 40 percent to 60 percent effective.

In late November, the companies Pfizer and Moderna each applied for emergency approval from the FDA for their COVID-19 vaccines.  The two companies are among dozens of drugmakers that have worked tirelessly to develop a vaccine against the deadly virus.

Motorists stop to observe the Walbridge fire, part of the larger LNU Lightning Complex fire, from a vineyard in Healdsburg, California, on Aug. 20, 2020. A series of massive fires in northern and central California forced evacuations as flames quickly spread, darkening the skies and polluting the air.
Credit: © Josh Edelson, AFP/Getty Images

Wildfires have ravaged the U.S. state of California, killing at least 5 people and forcing thousands to evacuate (leave) their homes. Fueled by a heat wave and sparked by lightning strikes, the wildfires have set the state ablaze and covered the air in thick smoke.

Wildfire is the uncontrolled burning of large areas of vegetation. Wildfires may be ignited by human activities or by natural causes. Such natural causes include lightning, volcanic activity, or even intense sunlight. Wildfires occur on every continent except Antarctica. They are most common in the temperate forests and grasslands midway between the equator and the poles. They are less common in tropical and desert ecosystems.

These are far from California’s deadliest wildfires. Numerous major wildfires occurred in California in the early 2000′s. In 2003, wildfires in southern California destroyed thousands of homes and killed more than 20 people. In 2007, deadly wildfires forced the evacuation of about 500,000 people in San Diego County. In 2013, the so-called Rim Fire burned large areas of the Stanislaus National Forest near Yosemite National Park. Some of the largest wildfires in California history burned during the summer of 2018.

The unhealthy air quality caused by the wildfires is especially concerning, because of the pandemic (global outbreak) of the respiratory disease COVID-19. Smoke-polluted air can weaken lung function, reducing the body’s ability to fight infection.

The current round of fires was made worse by an intense heat wave baking the American Southwest. On August 16, temperatures in California’s Death Valley reached 130 °F (54.4 °C). If these measurements are confirmed, they would be the hottest surface air temperatures ever recorded on Earth.

March 18, 2020

Earlier this month, on the night of March 2-3, massive thunderstorms spawned a cluster of tornadoes in Tennessee, killing 25 people and causing widespread destruction. The two most powerful tornadoes struck Nashville, the state capital, and nearby Putnam and Wilson counties. Tornadoes from the same storm system also touched the neighboring states of Alabama, Kentucky, and Missouri. Tennessee’s tornado outbreak was the worst since a group of more than 50 tornadoes killed 35 people in the state in April 2011.

Storm debris litters Putnam County, Tennessee, on March 4, 2020, a day after a tornado ravaged the area. credit: Brett Carlsen/Getty Images

Thunderstorms grew in size and intensity over Tennessee on March 2, and tornadoes were reported in eastern and northern parts of the state. Just after midnight, an EF3 strength twister hit downtown Nashville (in Davidson County) and quickly tracked eastward more than 60 miles (100 kilometers) into Wilson County. EF stands for the Enhanced Fujita scale, used to rate the strength of tornadoes. The scale rates tornadoes from 0, the weakest, to 5, the strongest. EF3 tornadoes have winds between 136 and 165 miles per hour (218 and 266 kilometers per hour) and can tear away roofs and walls from houses and overturn cars. An even stronger EF4 tornado—with winds up to 200 miles per hour (322 kilometers per hour)—then hit nearby Putnam County, but spared most of Cookeville, the county’s largest town. Of the 25 deaths from the Tennessee tornadoes, 18 of them occurred in Putnam County. Hundreds of people were injured in the storms, and numerous buildings were destroyed.

Tornadoes struck Nashville and nearby ares of central Tennessee on the night of March 2-3, 2020. credit: World Book map

In the days after the storms, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee declared a state of emergency, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provided millions of dollars in assistance to the hardest-hit areas. Schools, public offices, and interstate highways were closed for days in the region, and tens of thousands of people were without electric power.

January 13, 2020

Earth has been a particularly dangerous place in recent weeks. Airplane crashes, military clashes, terror attacks, and political unrest have taken a toll on human life and happiness lately, but it is a series of natural disasters that has caused the most trouble. A typhoon ravaged the Philippines, deadly flash floods hit Indonesia, bushfires continued to rage in Australia, a measles epidemic continued to kill in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and a series of earthquakes rattled Puerto Rico.

Firefighters confront a bushfire near the Blue Mountains town of Bilpin, New South Wales, on Dec. 19, 2019. Credit: © 1234rf/Shutterstock

On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Typhoon Phanfone (also called Ursula) struck the Philippines, producing high winds and flooding that killed 105 people in the Visayan Island provinces of Biliran, Capiz, Iloilo, and Leyte. Phanfone was a Category 2 storm (moderate strength) with sustained winds of more than 90 miles (150 kilometers) per hour. Storm surges and deadly flash floods hit communities just as families were gathering to celebrate the Christmas holiday. Thousands of homes were damaged or destroyed.

On New Year’s Day in Indonesia, abnormally heavy monsoon rains caused flash floods that killed 66 people and displaced hundreds of thousands of others in Jakarta, the capital. Some 14.5 inches (37 centimeters) of rain fell on New Year’s Eve, causing the Ciliwung and Cisadane rivers to overflow. Floodwaters submerged more than 150 neighborhoods and caused landslides in the Bogor and Depok districts on the outskirts of Jakarta. Flood water levels in some areas peaked at more than 13 feet (4 meters). Electric power was cut off, and closed schools and government buildings were converted into emergency shelters.

On January 7, the World Health Organization announced the 6,000th death from measles in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) since an epidemic began there in 2019. More than 300,000 suspected measles cases have been reported in the DRC—a nation also troubled by recent terror attacks. The epidemic has continued and grown because of low vaccination coverage, malnutrition, weak public health systems, outbreaks of other epidemic-prone diseases (such as Ebola), and the difficulty of getting health care to people in remote areas.

In Puerto Rico, after several smaller earthquakes, a 6.4-magnitude temblor struck the southwestern part of the island on January 7. The earthquake, the strongest to hit Puerto Rico in more than 100 years, killed one person, toppled hundreds of structures, and forced a state of emergency. Many people lost their homes, the island briefly lost electric power, and schools and public offices were closed. In the 10 days before the 6.4-magnitude earthquake, the United States Geological Survey recorded hundreds of temblors in Puerto Rico—including 10 of 4-magnitude or greater.

A number of major bushfires have lately devastated southeastern Australia. Since September, the wild fires—mostly in New South Wales, Queensland, and Victoria—have burned more than 25.5 million acres (10.3 million hectares), an area the size of South Korea. The bushfires have destroyed more than 2,100 homes and killed 27 people and hundreds of millions of animals. On January 8, the Australian government ordered the mass slaughter of thousands of wild camels and horses that have invaded rural towns looking for water. Many people are without electric power and telecommunications in Australia’s southeast, and some were without drinking water and other supplies. Smoke has obscured the city skies of Canberra, Melbourne, and Sydney. The bushfires followed a three-year drought that experts link to climate change.

December 27, 2019

A little more than two weeks ago, on December 9, the violent eruption of a volcano on New Zealand’s White Island killed 19 people and severely injured many more. Also known also by its Māori name, Whakaari, White Island is normally uninhabited. It is a popular tourist destination, however, and all of the volcano victims were people visiting the island for the day.

Ash, gas, and smoke billow from a volcanic eruption on White Island off the northern coast of New Zealand on Dec. 9, 2019. Credit: © Michael Schade

White Island is in the Bay of Plenty, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from the coast of New Zealand’s North Island. White Island is small, about 1 1/4 miles (2 kilometers) across. The island is the peak of an underwater volcano that rises around 5,200 feet (1,600 meters) from the sea floor. The volcano is extremely active. It has vented gas almost continuously for its recorded history. The volcano also undergoes more violent eruptions spewing lava, ash, and pyroclastic flows (clouds of hot ash and gas that travel mostly along the ground). White Island became popular with volcano scientists and tourists because it is so active and fairly easy to reach.

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New Zealand.
Credit: WORLD BOOK map

On December 9, the day of the eruption, 47 people were visiting White Island. The volcano erupted with a violent explosion just after 2 p.m. local time, spewing deadly ash and gas some 12,000 feet (3,700 meters) into the air. Soon after the eruption, tourist boats and helicopters rescued many people from the island, but several people had already died and many others had suffered bad burns and other injuries. Of those rescued, three died from their injuries in the days following the eruption. Fifteen of the dead were from Australia. The other four were from New Zealand and the United States.

The British explorer James Cook became the first European to spot White Island, in 1769. The name he gave it may refer to white clouds of volcanic steam rising from the island, or it may refer to a thick, white covering of sea bird guano (waste). A sulfur mine operated on the island from 1885 until 1914, when 12 people died in a landslide at the volcano’s crater. A later mining camp was also abandoned and its remains now serve as a tourist attraction. Thousands of people visit White Island each year, but tourism was suspended after the eruption, pending the results of an investigation into the health and safety practices of tour companies and visitors.

December 23, 2019

Saturday, December 21, was the winter solstice in the United States and the rest of the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere—which includes Australia, New Zealand, and other lands south of the equator—the solstice marks the beginning of summer. In Australia, summer is a season known for bushfires. Such wildfires are common in Australia, due in part to the country’s hot and dry climate. Many wildfires start in the remote countryside known to Australians as the bush. Bushfires can be extremely destructive, especially if they reach urban areas. The fires often kill people and destroy property and farmland. They also devastate forests, along with the koalas and other animals that live there.

Police in Jimboomba, Queensland, rescued this koala and her joey from a bushfire in late November 2019. Many other koalas were not so lucky. Credit: Jimboomba Police

A number of major bushfires have plagued Australia in 2019. Late last summer, in February, bushfires consumed more than 50,000 acres (20,000 hectares) of land in northern New South Wales. Far more destructive bushfires ignited again in New South Wales in September, burning nearly 5 million acres (2 million hectares) there and in neighboring Queensland. Some of those fires lasted for weeks, while others continue to burn, turning skies black or orange, causing severe damage, and killing a number of people. The bushfires also killed thousands of vulnerable and slow-moving koalas trapped by the rapidly spreading flames.

Bushfires are relatively common in Australia. These fire-damaged buildings are seen alongside a house that survived Christmas Day bushfires near Melbourne in 2015. Credit: © Julian Smith, EPA/Landov

Koalas live only in the forests of Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria, in eastern Australia. They are found in significant numbers in only a few areas, and the animals are protected by law. Bushfires, however, ravage the koala’s natural habitat and its population. Koalas cannot escape the fast-moving fires, and their only defense is to climb to the top of a tree, curl into a ball, and hope the flames do not rise to reach them. Koalas sometimes survive this way, but they often burn their paws and claws descending charred trees, leaving them unable to climb properly again.

Koalas are not officially listed as endangered, but the population in New South Wales and Queensland has decreased by more than 40 percent since 1990. The animals are threatened by deforestation and habitat loss, as well as the effects of climate change, which is causing longer and more intense heat waves and droughts, leading to more frequent, intense, and longer-lasting bushfires. Beyond the flames and smoke of the fires, many koalas die from lack of water or exposure to prolonged periods of high temperatures. Australia just suffered through the driest spring in its history, and a brutal heat wave peaked on Dec. 19, 2019, when the highest ever nationwide average temperature—107.4 °F (41.9 °C)—was recorded.

October 4, 2019

Since the beginning of winter in South America (summer in the Northern Hemisphere), more than 200,000 wildfires have struck the Amazon rain forest of Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela. Some 30 million acres (12 million hectares) of wilderness have been lost in the fires, causing incalculable damage to the environment. The unusually severe fire season was blamed on winds and high temperatures as well as the ancestral practice of chaqueo (slash-and-burn farming). But many fires were thought to have been illegally set to clear land for large corporate agriculture, logging, and mining interests. Blame also fell on lax policing and the weakening of the environmental protection system in Brazil, where most of the fires occurred.

On Aug. 27, 2019, smoke rises above charred trees in the Amazon rain forest of northern Brazil. Credit: © Joao Laet, AFP/Getty Images

Forest fires are common in the Amazon during the dry season, from July to October. The fires are sometimes caused naturally by lightning strikes and exacerbated by drought, but most of the recent fires were probably started by people wanting to clear the land for other uses. There has been a vast increase in large, intense, and persistent fires along major roads in the Amazon, for example, something inconsistent with the randomness of lighting strikes. Climate change too is making the fires worse, as dry seasons in the Amazon become ever dryer, hotter, and longer.

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The Amazon rain forest covers much of northern South America. About two-thirds of the rain forest lies in Brazil. Credit: WORLD BOOK map

The fires (and the fire starters) have received divided attention in the Palácio do Planalto, the official workplace of the president of Brazil in Brasília, the capital. There, President Jair Bolsonaro has decreased environmental protections since taking office in January 2019, allowing an increase in deforestation—both legal and illegal, and always a problem—in the Amazon. Bolsonaro too has refused much international aid to help fight the fires, which continue to burn and destroy large portions of the rain forest. Bolsonaro eventually deployed some 44,000 soldiers to help the understaffed firefighters in the rain forest, and he agreed to coordinate firefighting efforts with other Amazonian countries. At the end of August, after the fires had raged for months, Bolsonaro also announced a 60-day ban on the legal setting of fires to clear land.

Deforestation results in the loss of vast areas of tropical rain forest each year. This photograph shows an area of the Amazon rain forest in Brazil that has been destroyed as part of slash-and-burn agriculture. In this method, farmers cut down trees and burn them. The ashes enrich the soil for only a brief period before the nutrients are depleted. The farmers then clear another area of forest. Credit: © Julio Etchart, Alamy Images

All seven Brazilian states that include parts of the Amazon have experienced sharp increases in fire activity in 2019. Numerous wildfires are also consuming alarming amounts of rain forest in the Amazonian regions of Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela. The massive number of wildfires has greatly increased emissions of toxic carbon monoxide and the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, a leading contributor to global warming. Smoke from the fires has obscured skies and aggravated such health problems as asthma, bronchitis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in people throughout the region.

September 23, 2019

Three weeks ago, on September 1, Hurricane Dorian savaged the Bahamas, a chain of islands east of Florida in the Atlantic Ocean. In the slang of the islands, Dorian mashed up (devastated) much of Grand Bahama and the Abaco Islands in the northwestern part of the archipelago. Dorian, one of the strongest hurricanes on record to strike the Bahamas, killed at least 53 people there. That number will almost certainly skyrocket, however, as more than 600 people remain missing.

Hurricane Dorian’s high winds and floods destroyed much of Freeport, Grand Bahama, seen here on Sept. 5, 2019. Credit: © Adam DelGiudice, AFP/Getty Images

Dorian struck the Bahamas as a category 5 storm on the Saffir-simpson scale, which measures hurricane intensity. Category 5 is the strongest hurricane rating, with winds above 157 miles (252 kilometers) per hour. Hurricanes of this strength typically occur about every three years, but Dorian marked the fourth consecutive year that a category 5 hurricane has struck the Caribbean, with two striking in 2017 when Irma and Maria killed more than 3,000 people, mostly in Puerto Rico. Hurricanes of all categories can cause terrible destruction and loss of life, but category 5 hurricanes are labeled “catastrophic” by the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Winds that strong will destroy most framed houses by tearing away roofs and collapsing walls. They will flatten trees and electric power poles and leave residential areas uninhabitable for weeks or months. Increases in the intensity of hurricanes and other bad weather align with what scientists expect as the world’s climate continues to change.

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Bahamas.
Credit: WORLD BOOK map

Dorian formed as a tropical depression over the Atlantic Ocean on August 24. A tropical depression is a low-pressure area surrounded by winds that have begun to blow in a circular pattern. Dorian developed into a hurricane four days later. The storm rapidly gained size and strength, reaching category 5 status by September 1. That day, the massive hurricane hit Elbow Cay and Great Abaco Island before moving on to Grand Bahama, where Dorian lingered for more than 24 devastating hours. Dorian lashed the islands with sustained winds of 185 miles (300 kilometers) per hour and gusts over 220 miles (350 kilometers) per hour. Storm surges (sudden onrushes of seawater) and torrential rains caused deadly flooding in many parts of the low-lying islands.

On Sept. 5, 2019, people search through the ruins of their home in Marsh Harbour, Great Abaco Island, days after Hurricane Dorian hit as a category 5 storm. Credit: © Jose Jimenez, Getty Images

Dorian then spun away along the coasts of eastern Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, greatly diminishing to a category 1—but still dangerous—hurricane before hitting Cape Hatteras in North Carolina’s Outer Banks on September 6. From there, Dorian further downgraded to an extratropical cyclone (a stormy low pressure system) and raced northward off the U.S. east coast. On September 7, Dorian’s final gasp brought heavy rains and fierce winds to Newfoundland and Nova Scotia in Canada. The storm at last dissipated near Greenland on September 10.

Dorian threatened many areas, and states of emergency were declared in several Caribbean and Atlantic islands and eastern U.S. states. But the storm’s rapid degradation after striking the Bahamas greatly reduced its deadliness. Dorian still killed people—directly or indirectly—outside the Bahamas, however, including one person in Puerto Rico, six people in Florida, and three people in North Carolina. Direct deaths are caused by such things as blown debris, flooding, or falling trees. Indirect deaths include people who die by accident or heart attacks while involved in storm-related activities, such as clearing trees or boarding up houses. They also include those who die in car accidents trying to evacuate.