It's an Ill Wind Trivia Quiz

Answer: Hurricane Harvey

Hurricane Harvey struck Texas in 2017 and left much of the city of Houston flooded. Hundreds of thousands of homes were destroyed. Harvey was the wettest hurricane on record when it made landfall with some place receiving over 60 inches of rain. One of the main problems with Harvey was that the storm was slow moving and practically rested over Texas and the nearby states.

Harvey tied Hurricane Katrina's total damage cost. Katrina made landfall in Louisiana in 2005 and flooded the city of New Orleans and also damaged the state of Mississippi. In Katrina, over 1,800 people were killed.

Answer: Puerto Rico

Much of the Caribbean was ravaged by Hurricane Maria with Puerto Rico sustaining the biggest hit and the strongest winds. Ninety percent of Puerto Rico was left without power and the island's energy infrastructure had to be almost entirely rebuilt. The official death toll in Puerto Rico was 64 deaths but the actual total number of casualties could be as high as several thousand as the aftermath caused diseases to spread.

The lack of power was also an issue. In addition, Hurricane Maria struck soon after Hurricane Irma devastated the Caribbean and the recovery efforts from that storm were not completed by the time Maria came.

Answer: Typhoon Haiyan

Typhoon Haiyan was called Super Typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines. It is one of the deadliest storms ever in the Pacific, specifically in the Philippines. Over 6,000 people were killed and over 1,000 people remain missing. When it made landfall, it was the strongest storm for a tropical cyclone in history.

The typhoon caused an oil spill in the city of Estancia that forced people to evacuate do to unsafe air conditions.

Answer: Mayon

Mayon is a volcano on the island of Luzon that has had frequent eruptions throughout history. It erupted in September 2006, two months before Typhoon Durian struck. Durian caused over 2,000 deaths in total with over 1,200 of casualties happening as a result of landslides on Mayon that buried villages.

These landslides are called lahars and refer to the mix of water, mud and ash that slides down the volcano.

Answer: Florida

Tornadoes can and do occur anywhere although they are frequently associated with the so-called Tornado Alley of the North American Great Plains. In 2007, 21 people were killed and thousands of homes were destroyed in central Florida when a serious of tornadoes broke out in quick succession.

A tornado warning was issued but many residents were unprepared to handle a tornado because they are not typically common in Florida even though the central part of Florida has the ideal conditions for one.

Answer: Bangladesh

The Daulatpur-Saturia tornado killed an estimated 1,300 people in Bangladesh which would make it the deadliest tornado on record. However, the exact death toll is unclear because it hit a severely impoverished and crowded region and population records were not always accurate in the country. Over 80,000 people were left homeless.

The severity of the tornado may have been enhanced by a nearly six month drought in the months proceeding the tornado.

Answer: Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy made landfall in the United States in October 2012. The storm rampaged through the Caribbean and 24 U.S. states. The states of New Jersey and New York were the hardest hit. The storm caused significant political debate in the USA over climate change. In addition, the storm hit the USA. a week before the 2012 elections and during a period of early voting in some states. Elections experts noted that this could have caused a drop in voter turnout. President Obama was praised for his efforts and halted his reelection campaign. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who supported Obama's opponent Mitt Romney, was one of the president's praisers. This caused some controversy and Republicans blamed Christie for Romney's loss.

In addition, there was a political battle for federal relief funds in the U.S. Congress. Politicians from southern and western states blocked the funds since they were not offset and deficit-neutral. Northern politicians argued that states like Texas and Louisiana often received much more federal disaster aid that was never offset.

Answer: Dust storm

The 2009 Dust Storm hit up and down the eastern coast of Australia. Temperatures plummeted and many people compared the redness of the dust storm to living on Mars. Thousands of tons of sand, dirt and other debris were dumped on cities. There were no fatalities and no serious lasting damage to the infrastructure, although the debris needed to be cleaned up especially in the waterways.

The winds that carried the sand were so strong, some red sand wound up in New Zealand.

Answer: Blizzard

Cyclone David or Cyclone Friederike hit the Northern and Eastern parts of Europe in the winter of 2018. It caused freezing temperatures and blizzard conditions throughout the continent. Almost 500,000 power outages occurred and over a dozen people were killed, mostly in Germany which received the strongest winds.

The storm hit Europe unexpectedly which led to the name differences between countries (storms are only named in some places when they are expected to hit that place) while other countries did not officially name the storm at all.

Answer: Serbia

Tornados are very rare in Serbia so this storm was unexpected. The hailstones were as large as tennis balls and did severe damage to homes and cars as there was no warning given for people to prepare and secure their possessions. The exact cost and damage (including fatalities) is unknown. Residents of Pancevo collected the hailstones and showed them off on social media, something that became instantly popular in the country.