Warming-fueled hurricanes need new tactics-experts

WASHINGTON, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Global warming is expected to cause more severe hurricanes, and that means U.S. communities will need new tactics to minimize storm damage, emergency preparedness experts said on Monday.

These tactics range from restoring wetlands -- which may actually slow down approaching storms -- to making homes and other structures better able to withstand hurricanes to organizing finances so more can be spent on prevention, the panel of experts said.

Peter Webster, who teaches environmental engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology, noted the consequences of Hurricane Katrina, which hit the U.S. Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2005.

"We have a choice ... of being able to take hits like Katrina and pay the cost of $150 to $200 billion and many, many lives, or we have the choice of spending perhaps one-tenth or one-twentieth of that per year in hardening our infrastructure," Webster said.

Many scientists, including most of those working with the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, have reported a link between global warming and the severity of hurricanes.

World surface temperatures have risen about 1 degree F (.55C) over the last 100 years, and are forecast to rise further this century. Because hurricanes feed on warm ocean water, some climate scientists foresee more severe hurricanes.
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