Hurricanes are intense, rotating storms with heavy rains and strong winds (120 km/h or more). They form over warm ocean waters and often cause widespread destruction when reaching land. They are called cyclones in the South Pacific and around the Indian Ocean, and typhoons in the Western Pacific.

Hurricane season in the northern hemisphere begins in June and ends in November, with peak season in September. In the southern hemisphere, the season begins in November and lasts through April.

Hurricanes are especially destructive in coastal regions, since their intensity diminishes as they move further inland. When hurricanes strike, they can cause cascading impacts such as critical service failure (power, water, waste etc.), disruption to emergency health services and wage losses for employees who lose work but do not have wage protection. Hurricanes can also cause environmental impacts dangerous to human health when flood waters mix with other pollutants

People who are most at risk when hurricanes strike are those living in shelters or poor quality homes that aren’t built to withstand extreme storms, who are unhoused or located in flood prone areas. Those who are marginalized, experience disabilities or have little wealth may have more difficulty accessing services pre- and post-disaster, and may have reduced trust in government evacuation orders.

Hurricanes gain their energy and intensity from warm ocean waters. As ocean temperatures rise due to the climate emergency, the intensity of hurricanes is also rising. The rate at which hurricanes intensify is also getting faster than it used to in the past. It is unknown if hurricanes will also become more common.

Early warning systems, coupled with evacuation plans, can help to drastically reduce hurricane deaths. In addition, household and community infrastructure built to withstand hurricanes can reduce damage and economic losses. Ensuring marginalized communities have access to key services before, during and after a hurricane strikes is also crucial.

Every player must add 1 Community in Crisis per Temperature Band.

Players can reduce this effect by 1 for each Ecological Resilience token in their player board.

For example: 5 Temperature Bands – 3 Ecological Resilience = add 2 Communities in Crisis.

Resilience tokens are not discarded.

• Hurricanes, Cyclones, and Typhoons Explained (National Geographic)

• Tropical cyclone (Wikipedia) 

• If you live in a hurricane prone area, engage your local government in ensuring marginalized communities have access to services before, during and after the disaster.

• Regardless of where you live, if a friend or family member (or yourself!) are under a hurricane evacuation order, encourage following it.

• Campaign for your government to have robust emergency actions plans in place, including plans to support vulnerable communities and those living or working in remote areas.

• Join community networks to support people affected by hurricanes, such as homeless people, or people whose homes are damaged by hurricane impacts.