Every summer, we have big typhoons many times in Japan. This year was also no exception, a lot of typhoons strike Japanese island, and many people had died, I heard.
In my seminar at home, we have an excursion twice a year. This summer they went to Okinawa, southern islands of Japan. At first, it was planned for four days, but at that time, a strong typhoon was hitting the islands, so airplanes were canceled. Reluctantly, it was shortened for three days.

However, around Central America, strong hurricanes come every year.

In these days, Florida was damaged by the hurricane. Now, another hurricane is coming.

Interestingly, each hurricane has its own name. Last time, the 窶廡rances窶� came, and next, the "Ivan" (pronounced 窶彳ye-van窶�) is coming. Now Ivan is in the Caribbean Sea, but headed for Cuba and the United States.

Ivan seems to be rather strong. According to the report, the situation can be summarized as the followings.
At least 44 people have been killed already, destroyed lots of houses. Over 11,000 people have evacuated to the shelter. Enormous wave broke the shore. 40 roads in Jamaica have been blocked. At large, it recorded 165-mph wind (that equals to 73.3 meters per second wind, it is incredible!).

Hurricane doesn窶冲 come to Iowa, but storm or tornado will come someday. I won窶冲 experience the strength of it, but it will be surely a hallowing memory.

The followings are helpful to understand Ivan and the geographic around Central America.
---Whether News
http://weather.yahoo.com/img/carib_websattropir_440_mdy_y.jpg.html
---Map
http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-577544-map_of_caribbean-i