Shadowing Practice: Hurricane Isaias: Storm surge swallows walkway - Learn English Speaking with Video
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the powerful center of Hurricane Isaias made landfall, as Hannah said, near Destin as a Category 2 hurricane last night.
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Yeah, the storm was packing winds of 100 miles per hour when it came ashore.
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This is the first hurricane landfall in the U .S since Hurricane Milton.
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Isaias is the fourth named storm to make landfall in the U .S this season and the strongest.
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The other three were short -lived tropical storms.
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Isaias is the first and only hurricane of the current Atlantic season to date.
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The storm is still spreading rain and damaging wind gusts, as Hannah said, as it moves inland today.
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Tornadoes and flooding are possible for parts of Florida and southern Georgia.
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Well, just look at this video coming in from Destin.
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You can see storm surge pushing water right over a fence and across a beach walkway.
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A reminder just how quickly conditions can turn dangerous along the coastline.
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Storm surge, they were talking about how that will be one of the main concerns of this storm.
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It's often the most dangerous part of a hurricane.
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It can rise fast and catch people off guard, even in areas that don't normally flood.
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Officials are urging anyone in low -lying
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or beachfront areas near destined to stay away from the shoreline until conditions are declared safe.
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We'll, of course, continue to monitor conditions along the coast and bring you updates as we get them.
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Of course, you heard Governor DeSantis yesterday say we hide from wind run from storm surge this right here,
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a perfect example of what he was trying to to drive home to people who live in that area.
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We also have video that was shot yesterday Friday near a gas station in Fort Walton Beach.
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Take a look at the stop sign being pushed
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and moved by the force of the wind as heavy rain and gusty conditions move through the area during the daytime hours.
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We were able to get a good look at just how strong those winds were.
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We did have reports of wind speeds Hannah just talked about
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them in the you know 110 117 105 depending on where
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you were that's clear this kind of wind damage residents in
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our area dealt with as the storm system moved through
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and there are a lot of videos
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and pictures we have of gas station awnings like this
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that didn't weather well in this storm we'll be showing you more as we work our way through the morning
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but the wind gusts definitely doing damage and
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that is responsible for a lot of those power outages we're seeing today as well
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and what you're looking at right now this is video from okaloosa island strong winds here sent trees thrashing back
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and forth a wind of course whistling through the area an
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early sign of what was to come as the storm approached
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the florida panhandle this was just a taste of the conditions
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residents would feel as the system moved closer to the coast
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take a look at the flag not only is the flag kind of holding on for dear life
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but the flagpole basically stretching and bending from the force of the wind along with those, of course, those tropical trees there, the palm trees there, just,
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you know, flapping in the wind.
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And this, again, illustrating the sheer wind power that came with East Aeas.
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Okaloosa County residents, a heads up this morning.
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Okaloosa County plans to open its first point of distribution, which we are calling POD, for residents this morning.
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The site will provide bottled water, tarps, and meals ready to eat or MREs.
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Now, at this point, we are still waiting for For the locations to be announced, we will bring you those as soon as that information comes out.
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But again, 10 a .m this morning, the first point of distribution to open in Okaloosa County.
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And these distribution sites are for Okaloosa County residents who need supplies.
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We will have additional PODs, additional points of distribution that are expected to open across the county as more supplies arrive.
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We will, of course, bring you all of that information, let you know where those are and what time those will open.
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But officials are warning folks to sign up to stay off the roads until absolutely necessary
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and also to sign up for Alert Okaloosa at alertokaloosa .com.
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Or you can text OkaloosaFL to 888 -777 to get your name on the list for all of these supplies.
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And as crews work to restore power across the Gulf Coast, Florida Power and Light is also warning residents to watch their step today.
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The utility says a week of rain before Hurricane Isaias soaked up the ground, loosening tree roots across the region.
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That means some trees and power lines that survived the storm could still come down.
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That is the potential that could happen out there.
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Foxton's Brendan Kirby asked FPL spokesperson David Peten what people should watch out for as they assess damage in
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and around their homes this morning.
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There's also some that are wobbly that didn't fall that can always fall after the fact.
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So we just make sure that people are safe and careful and use their best judgment on what they're doing.
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He also says even if a tree or line doesn't look dangerous, it could still come down without warning.
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He's urging anyone surveying damage to treat all downed lines as live.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Hurricane Isaias: Storm surge swallows walkway”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: wind, storm, hurricane, okaloosa, residents. This video has 62 sentences and 911 words to shadow. The speech runs for 5:09. The speaker talks at a natural 177 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 84% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| hurricane noun | /ˈhʌɹɪkeɪn/ | A severe tropical cyclone; an intense storm rotating around a central eye. |
| landfall noun | /ˈlænd.fɔl/ | An arrival at the shore by a ship, or sighting of the shore from a ship. |
| surge noun | /sɝd͡ʒ/ | A sudden transient rush, flood or increase. |
| gust noun | /ɡʌst/ | A strong, abrupt rush of wind. |
| urge verb | /ɜːd͡ʒ/ | To press; to push; to drive; to impel; to force onward. |
| tropical adjective | /ˈtɹɑ.pɪ.kəl/ | Of or pertaining to the tropics, the equatorial region between 23 degrees north and 23 degrees south. |
| awning noun | /ˈɔnɪŋ/ | A rooflike cover, usually of canvas, extended over or before any place as a shelter from the sun, rain, or wind. |
| beachfront noun | /ˈbit͡ʃˌfɹʌnt/ | The portion of land or property that runs alongside and facing a beach. |
| flagpole noun | /ˈflæɡˌpoʊl/ | A tall pole up which one or more flags may be raised and flown. |
| loosen verb | /ˈluːsən/ | To make loose. |
| outage noun | /ˈaʊ.tɪd͡ʒ/ | A temporary suspension of operation, especially of electrical power supply. |
| panhandle noun | /ˈpænˌhæn.dəl/ | The handle of a pan. |
| shoreline noun | The divide between land and a body of water. | |
| thrash verb | /θɹæʃ/ | To beat mercilessly. |
| walkway noun | /ˈwɔkˌweɪ/ | A clearly defined path for pedestrians. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| come down verb | To descend, fall down, collapse. | |
| come out verb | /ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/ | To be discovered; to be revealed. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 9 contractions and reduced forms, such as didn't, we'll, doesn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: thrash /θɹæʃ/, ashore /əˈʃɔɹ/, sheer /ʃɪɚ/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like hurricane, landfall, surge.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.