The hurricane Ivan, at last, came to the United States. But it became much weaker than it battered the Caribbean countries.

According to the report, the situations are summarized as followings.
At least 20 U.S. people have been killed, destroyed lots of buildings although they prepared for the disaster; the hurricane was too strong. Ivan became a tropical storm soon after coming ashore. It poured with 15 inches (385mm) rain, and created the 10 to 16 feet large waves. The wind reduced its strengths to 130-mph. 1.2 million residents evacuated to the shelter in New Orleans State.

I always get information reading newspaper and from the Internet. It is interesting that the usage of the word in these materials. For example, today窶冱 newspaper said 窶廬van pummels Florida窶冱 Panhandle窶�. The word 窶徘ummel窶� is defined as to hit someone or something many times quickly with your fists (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English Third Edition, 1995). In this case, it should be interpreted Ivan hit people or building in Florida many times quickly. Usually, the subject should be human, but it could be the hurricane. The same thing happens to the other words such as batter, assault, and pound.
It is sometimes troublesome to look up each word in the dictionary, but to know the meaning of each word is enables me to imagine the situation more clearly and specifically. The words 窶彙atter窶� or 窶徘ummel窶� tell me how the storm hit Florida.
As you know, only to read the newspaper or to watch TV is to be a chance to study English for me. I have been in such circumstance everyday since I came here. It is still difficult to talk or think in English, but I don窶冲 feel reluctant to read or write in English so much. These skills would be getting better. The first one month has passed so quickly...

For further information, visit the Yahoo! News below. You will see the power of the hurricane in these photos.
Yahoo! News; Slideshows - Hurricane and Tropical Storms.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?g=events/ts/080304tropicalweathe&tmpl=sl&e=1",750,580

P.S. I heard the Mount Asama erupted, and volcanic ash sprinkled over Tokyo. It was not big or hot news in the United States. It was treated as one of the world news. Anywhere on the earth always exposed to the danger窶ｦ