Normally, a submerged submarine will not rock with the motion of the waves on the surface. It is only in the most violent hurricanes and cyclones that wave motion reaches as much as 400 feet below the surface. In these conditions, submarines can take a five to ten-degree roll.

Andrew became a hurricane on August 22 at 8:00 a.m. The center of the eye of Hurricane Andrew made landfall near Florida City, 25 miles south of downtown Miami, at 4:52 a.m. on 24 August 1992 with sustained winds at the eye wall of 145 miles per hour (mph) and gusts up to 175 mph.

In Louisiana, where more than 1,500 people are believed to have died due to Katrina’s impact, drowning (40 percent), injury and trauma (25 percent), and heart conditions (11 percent) were the major causes of death, according to a report published in 2008 by the American Medical Association.

Slow-moving fish and turtles and shellfish beds are often decimated by the rough undercurrents and rapid changes in water temperature and salinity wrought by a hurricane. Sharks, whales, and other large animals swiftly move to calmer waters, however, and, generally speaking, are not overly affected by hurricanes.

Seek Deeper Waters Other ocean animals, typically smaller ones whose habitats are confined to localized areas, can’t swim away to safety or dive deep into the ocean’s depths. Dolphins’ size and keen sense of changes in the ocean help them escape unharmed in advance of hurricanes.

Some ocean-dwelling birds will keep flying in the eye of a storm while a hurricane is at sea, staying there until the storm passes over the coast and they can find refuge on land. Burrowing animals such as some owls and snakes will dig down to escape the storm, staying protected from winds and rains.

Dolphins don’t like rain. In the wild they go deeper to avoid the stuff.