Tropical Storm Hermine Research Paper

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Rating the News Sites Tropical Storm Hermine, which is projected to make landfall early Tuesday morning about 50 miles south of Matamoros, a city bordering Brownsville, Texas, has authorities taking action in Texas and Mexico in order to prepare for the storms arrival. According to Fox News (http://www.foxnews.com/weather/2010/09/06/tropical-storm-hermine-forms-gulf/?test=latestnews), in preparation of the storm, Mexican authorities opened shelters and warned people to watch out for mud slides. Texas officials, according to msnbc.com (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39025081/ns/weather/), warned people of flash flooding and distributed sandbags as the storm headed towards the Gulf Coast. While cnn.com (http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/09/06/tropical.weather/index.html?hpt=T2)…show more content…
from Mexico. In the Hermine storm reports, MSNBC and Fox News mention that the cattle-ranching region of Mexico where the storm is projected to hit, is one of the most dangerous in Mexico's turf war between two drug cartels. It is the same area 72 migrants were killed two weeks ago in what is believed to be Mexico's worst drug gang massacre to date. CNN mentioned nothing of the incident, sticking only to the news reports of the storm. CNN did mention that Hermine could dump 4 to 8 inches of rain over northeastern Mexico and south Texas and as much as 12 inches in isolated areas, with the potential for flooding and mudslides, especially in northeastern Mexico. In addition, CNN also states that a storm surge will raise water levels by as much as 2 to 4 feet along the immediate coast near and to the north of where the center makes landfall. Fox News stated in their report that heavy rain is predicted with northeastern Mexico into south Texas getting 4 to 8 inches with as much as a foot in some places. MSNBC reported that officials are worried about flooding because the ground is already saturated from earlier rains. Some areas could get up to 12 inches of rain. Fox News and MSNBC also mention in their reports that Hermine is expected to hit in the same area where Hurricane Alex roared ashore in June, killing at least 12 people as remnant rains drenched a wide…show more content…
CNN also kept their report focused on the main topic rather than including past information and additional information related to the area where the storm is projected to hit. For example, CNN was the only site of the three to leave out information on Hurricane Alex, as well as the drug gang massacre, which were both mentioned in Fox News and MSNBC's reports. While CNN gave more detailed information on the effects the storm will have such as the rainfall predicted to come from the storm and the storm surge that will raise water levels, MSNBC and Fox News gave more information on how authorities in Mexico and Texas were preparing for the storm, such as opening shelters, warning people about mudslides and flooding, readying pumping equipment, and distributing sandbags. CNN includes in their report a projected path of the storm for viewers to watch. MSNBC includes a satellite image of tropical storm Hermine, as well as a video showing flooded areas in Mexico and a project path for the storm. Fox News also includes a satellite image of the storm, along with a link to myfoxhurricane.com for additional maps, forecasts and more. Fox News and MSNBC seem to be similar in the information they report and how they report it. CNN stands apart from the two by being precise and to the point with their information, giving readers only the details they need from the storm
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