How USAID Prepares for Hurricane Season

Just one major hurricane can be devastating. That’s why USAID – through its  Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance  – prepares year-round to help communities in Latin America and the Caribbean prepare for the Atlantic hurricane season.

Hurricanes are intense storms that form near the equator over tropical or subtropical waters, where the water is at least 80 degrees fahrenheit.

They are typically steered by east-to-west moving trade winds, which drive storms across the Atlantic toward the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. Other factors—like areas of high pressure, strength of trade winds, and sea surface temperatures—can influence the direction of the storm, making it difficult to predict the exact route. 

Hurricanes are seasonal, meaning that regions of the world experience them at different times of the year. From June to November they are most active in the Atlantic Basin. From April to November they're more active in the Pacific and Indian basins.

Hurricanes also vary in strength and speed. A tropical storm is not classified as a hurricane until its winds reach 74 miles per hour or higher.

However, just because a hurricane is slow does not mean it is not dangerous.

As a hurricane hits land, it loses its main source of energy, but other things—including storm surges (rises in seawater level during a storm), flooding, and mudslides—are now a threat. In fact, more people are killed from flooding and storm surge than by a hurricane’s powerful winds.

The Caribbean, despite its relatively small landmass and total population, gets hit hard by hurricanes and tropical storms. Since 2000, the Atlantic region has experienced more than 180 hurricanes affecting tens of millions of people and causing hundreds of billions of dollars in damage. 

At USAID headquarters in Washington, DC, the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance leads the U.S. government's overseas disaster preparedness and response efforts. Our Washington team works with disaster experts all over the world, including in the Caribbean, to help countries prepare for hurricane season year-round.

In Miami, USAID has a warehouse stocked with hundreds of tons of emergency relief supplies. In the event of a hurricane, we can immediately transport emergency shelter materials, blankets, hygiene kits, household items, water purification equipment, and more to affected countries.

In Haiti, USAID works with partners to pre-position relief supplies to ensure they’re quickly available to help vulnerable communities. Our partner the International Organization (IOM) for Migration stocks emergency commodities including shelter materials, blankets, hygiene kits, household items, and water purification equipment to help up to 175,000 people. Our partner the UN World Food Program (WFP) also maintains warehouses in Haiti and the Dominican Republic and is in the process of stockpiling emergency food assistance to feed nearly a quarter of a million people for a month.

In Costa Rica, USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance operates a regional office where disaster experts are ready to respond immediately to disasters in Latin America and the Caribbean. These experts are constantly monitoring storms as they develop and providing updates to U.S. government staff and disaster officials in the region.

We also have a network of disaster risk management specialists and more than 300 on-call disaster consultants across Latin America and the Caribbean. These consultants know the country, culture, and local officials, and can quickly report on conditions on the ground to help USAID prioritize humanitarian needs.

Climate-related disasters—including hurricanes, storms, and flooding—are increasing in intensity and magnitude. While we can’t stop them from striking, we can, and do, work with local communities to become more resilient in the face of these disasters to better withstand the impacts of climate change.