Where Did The Ocean Go?

Long Island seafloor the Bahamas, 9-9-2014  (credit: YouTube)

The National Weather Service created an animation to illustrate 'storm surges' that can be produced by hurricanes and extreme storms. They are powerful and dangerous. However, one ocean event in this otherwise important topic can happen when a hurricane acts like a tsunami and sucks water directly from the oceans into the storm. Tourists visiting Long Island in the Bahamas woke up to a dry sea bed where the day before had been blue ocean waters. The seafloor had been sucked dry by Hurricane Irma. Tsunamis work in a similar manner but they return the sea as a 'wall of water' in big waves that surge back onto the beach. It wouldn't be smart to be standing on the flats when the waves rush in. WHB

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