Overview

Hurricane Dorian is a tropical cyclone expected to hit Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Caribbean, the Bahamas, and Florida at the end of August 2019. Prior to making landfall, the hurricane was upgraded to a category 4 storm, greatly increasing its power and potential for destruction.

Background

At first predicted to be a tropical storm that would end in the Caribbean, the storm escalated to a category 1 hurricane on Wednesday, August 28th, and preceded to hit Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands the same day.

On August 29th, Hurricane Dorian upgraded to a category 4 and was predicted to hit parts of Florida by Monday, September 2nd. By the time it was announced as a category 4, the cyclone had already stormed over the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Although they escaped without serious damage, a State of Emergency was issued to Florida.^[1]

Developments

Online Reaction

Following the announcement that the storm had been updated, both #HurricaneDorian and #Category4 began trending on Twitter. Those tweeting about the storm shared memes about the expected destruction and the fervor to evacuate the area (examples below).

On August 30th, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shared satellite video of the storm. They tweeted, "Watch as the eye of #HurricaneDorian2019 begins to form in this 1-minute visible loop from NOAA's #GOESEast. 'Dangerous Hurricane #Dorian poses a significant threat to #Florida and the northwestern #Bahamas,' according to the @NHC_Atlantic." The tweet received more than 8,500 likes and 3,000 retweets in 24 hours (shown below).

Watch as the eye of #HurricaneDorian2019 begins to form in this 1-minute visible loop from NOAA's #GOESEast. "Dangerous Hurricane #Dorian poses a significant threat to #Florida and the northwestern #Bahamas," according to the @NHC_Atlantic. Latest: https://t.co/W7u6rft9x2 pic.twitter.com/AuDJst6smv

— NOAA Satellites (@NOAASatellites) August 30, 2019

President Trump's Response

On August 29th, 2019, United States President Donald Trump announced that he would be canceling his trip to Poland to monitor the hurricane.^[2] That day, he tweeted,^[3] "Puerto Rico is in great shape with Hurricane Dorian taking a largely different route than anticipated. Thank you to FEMA, first responders, and all, for working so hard & being so well prepared. A great result! The bad news, Florida get ready! Storm is building and will be BIG!" Within 24 hours, the tweet received more than 48,000 likes and 10,000 retweets (shown below, left).

He followed the tweet,^[4] "Hurricane Dorian looks like it will be hitting Florida late Sunday night. Be prepared and please follow State and Federal instructions, it will be a very big Hurricane, perhaps one of the biggest!" The second tweet received more than 57,000 likes and 13,000 retweets in 24 hours (shown below, right).

Additionally, he posted a video about the hurricane to YouTube, promising that he and the government were working on safety precautions for the hurricane. The post received more than 32,000 views in less than 24 hours.

Bahamas

On August 30th, 2019, Dorian hit the Bahamas "leaving at least five dead and an estimated 13,000 homes destroyed" according to USA Today.^[8] Twitter users began sharing videos of the devastation. On September 1st, @ShevrinJones posted a video from their "family in the Bahamas" (shown below). The video gained over 500 likes and 300 retweets in two days.

That same day, CNN correspondent Patrick Oppmann posted another video of the damage cause by the hurricane in Marsh Harbour, Bahamas (shown below). The tweet gained over 240 likes and 200 retweets in two days.

Florida

On August 29th, 2019, as Dorian was approaching the Bahamas Twitter users continued to post humorous images and tweets regarding the hurricane, especially Florida residents. Twitter user @EmilyWunderlich^[7] posted a Are You Challenging Me image in which Dorian responds to Floridian's memes (shown below, left). The tweet gained over 100 likes in five days. The next day, Twitter user @steffie_steff^[6] tweeted an image comparison of "Floridians during #HurricaneDorian2019 vs “chilly” weather" (shown below, right). The tweet gained over 3,100 likes and 700 retweets in four days.

On August 31st, Twitter user @KalhanR created a thread of TikTok videos regarding the hurricane which generally illustrated Florida's indifference to the storm (shown below). The initial tweet gained over 360 likes and 70 retweets in three days.

That same day, many news outlets reported a change in the path of Dorian which was expected to hit Florida on September 2nd but could miss the state all together.^[5] Twitter user @AlmondJooy posted a video illustrating Floridians feelings toward the path change (shown below). The tweet garnered over 40,000 likes and 13,900 retweets in three days.

Search Interest

External References