Ten things you never knew about... hurricanes

Hurricanes Harvey and Irma have been battering Caribbean islands and Florida over the last few days leaving devastation in their wake. Here are a few facts about hurricanes. 1. There are five categories of hurricane, from category 1 (74-95mph) to category 5 (over 155mph). 2. The National Hurricane Center began giving female names to storms in 1953. Since 1978, male and female names have alternated. 3. The deadliest US hurricane was a storm that hit Galveston, Texas in 1900, killing 8,000 people. 4. Tropical storms have winds from 39-73mph. Hurricanes have winds of 74mph and above. 5. Hurricanes rotate anticlockwise in the northern hemisphere, clockwise in the southern. 6. Hurricanes in the Pacific Ocean are known as typhoons; in the Indian Ocean they are cyclones. 7. When a hurricane is particularly bad, its name is removed from the list. Recently retired names include Katrina, Andrew, Mitch and Sandy. 8. There are six lists of hurricane names, used in rotation, each having names with every initial letter of the alphabet except U,X, Y and Z. 9. The Great Hurricane of 1780 killed an estimated 22,000 people in the Caribbean. 10. “Hurricane Irma” is an anagram of “I rear much rain”. “Hurricane” is an anagram of “raunchier”.