48 Hours

Nature's Fury

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

October 1, 1998 / 1:04 PM EDT / CBS

After ravaging parts of the Caribbean and Florida, Hurricane Georges recharged and slammed into the Gulf of Mexico, flooding the Gulf Coast with rain measured in feet instead of inches.

Property damage from the storm -- which once packed 174 mile-an-hour gusts -- are expected to reach the $2 billion mark. With at least 300 confirmed dead in the Caribbean, the human costs are incalculable.

Click here for the CBS.com Hurricane Tracker. You'll need Shockwave to use it.

But even with such grisly statistics, Hurricane Georges was by no means the most powerful or costly storm to blow through this part of the world. And even in a field as unpredictable as the weather, it is a virtual certainty that the coming years will bring more hurricanes, more damage and more death.

What causes these monstrous storms to form? If a hurricane were headed your way, would you know what to do?

On Thursday, CBS News 48 Hours took an in-depth look at hurricanes and the path of misery left in their wake. Online, CBS.com points you to some of the Internet's best resources for tracking, understanding and preparing for these deadly storms.

Hurricane Links -- What is a hurricane? What can you do to prepare or help the victims? The Internet has a storehouse of information for both the casually interested and those caught in a hurricane's path.

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