These were flash floods that caused the village to be shocked and un-prepared. These floods were among the most extreme ever experienced in Britain, as literally the whole village had be torn apart and obliterated. The peak flow was about 140 m’s cubed. This was an unexpected flood, and the chances of this happening again are very slim, the chance of this happening in any one year is 1/400. The heavy rainfall started falling at midday on the 16th August, and it was recorded that 5 inches fell in 8 hours.
Of these, 74 were in Haiti, which was already trying to recover from the impact of three storms earlier that year:Fay, Gustav, and Hanna. In the United States, 112 people were killed, and 23 are still missing. Due to its immense size, Ike caused devastation from the Louisiana coastline all the way to the Kenedy County, Texas region near Corpus Christi, Texas. [6] In addition, Ike caused flooding and significant damage along the Mississippi coastline and the Florida PanhandleHYPERLINK \l "cite_note-6"[7] Damages from Ike in U.S. coastal and inland areas are estimated at $29.6 billion (2008 USD),[2] with additional damage of $7.3 billion in Cuba (the costliest storm ever in that country), $200 million in the Bahamas, and $500 million in the Turks and Caicos, amounting to a total of at least $37.6 billion in damage. Ike was the second costliest Atlantic hurricane of all time, only surpassed by Hurricane Katrina of 2005 (not adjusted for inflation; if adjusted, Ike would be the third costliest storm).
This earthquake is remembered as one of the most destructive natural disasters next to the Galveston hurricane of 1900, and hurricane Katrina of 2005. The death toll is believed to have soared past the 3000+ casualty mark. San Francisco was the 9th largest city in the US, and the largest city on the west coast. Over the years San Francisco had become a financial, trade powerhouse and was even referred to as “gateway to the pacific” because they had the busiest port on the West coast. The initial impact was devastating which left about 300,000 people homeless out of a population of about 410,000.
The casualties are what make this hurricane the 3rd most deadly hurricane in history. By the end of this hurricane approximately 8,000 out of 36,000 people died from the destruction it left. To put these numbers into perspective that’s around 1 out every 5 people dead. To imagine the pain of the survivors think of 5 people you care about and imagine if one at random where to die due to such a tragedy. As if the hurricane hasn’t taken enough already there was several million dollars worth of property damage, that comes out of everyone’s pocket to rebuild.
In this section of the report, the authors detail the rate at which destructive fire kills, injures, and causes property loss to Americans. The report states that fire claims the lives of 12,000 people every year in the U.S., making it the second highest cause of accidental death. That isn’t the only human toll, because there are also 300,000 people who are injured by fire on an annual basis. The authors expound on the injuries by detailing the painful experiences of patients who must endure numerous plastic and reconstructive surgeries. The price of destructive fire is estimated at over $11 billion a year in the U.S. Loss of businesses leads to loss of jobs, which is a price that is beyond calculation.
This tragedy has left more than 11,000 people dead with more than 15,000 people missing. The Earthquake and Tsunami have caused extensive structural damage in Japan. More than 100,000 buildings are reported damaged or destroyed, including damage to roads, railways, fires in many areas with a dam collapse. More than 4 million household in Northeastern Japan are left without electricity and 1.5 million without water, with electrical generators taken down. It does not end here.
For example, between 50,000 and 100,000 people died during the drought in East Africa which affected the countries of Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya. These countries have dry climates all year round and increased droughts due to climate change are making the survival of these people more and more difficult. However, not only LICS are affected by droughts, other areas, such as Australia, also suffer. Sydney has been experiencing the worst drought in 100 years, called the Big Dry, which has only recently ended. With global warming and climate change weather is becoming more extreme, with
Over 1,800 people died and more than $81 billion dollars in damage was done to the cities. Life in New Orleans would never be the same after that day. The people of the United States just watched as Mother Nature destroyed years of hard work and labor in a matter of minutes and days. “The storm surge breached the city's levees at multiple points, leaving 80 percent of the city submerged, tens of thousands of victims clinging to rooftops, and hundreds of thousands scattered to shelters around the country”(Ted Jackson). “The American Red Cross, Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity, Common Ground Collective, Emergency Communities and many other charitable organizations provided housing, food, and water to victims of the storm.
Earthquake in Haiti January 12, 2010, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 hit Haiti. Earthquake caused a lot of damage in Port-Au-prince, Leogane, Jacmel, and many of the surrounding communities. The earthquake left many Haitians homeless and with ruined crops. After 15 days the earthquake hit, the government estimated that their was 230,000 deaths, and about one million displaced people within the area of port-au-prince. 598,000 people migrated from the affected areas to other locations in Haiti.
Within this past century, there have been five major floods that were recorded to have claimed hundreds of millions of lives, millions of acres of farmland, destroyed thousands of homes, and billions of dollars of damage. In 1998, a flood of such catastrophic level in the Three Gorges area caused 4,000 casualties, left 14 million people homeless, and created $24 billion in economic loss. The proponents of the Three Gorges Dam believe that it will serve to protect 15 million people and 1.5 million acres of farmland in areas of the Yangtze River that are vulnerable to flooding. In order to do this, the water height of the reservoir upstream from the dam will change according to season. During the dry season, from November to April, the water level will be allowed to reach 185 meters above sea level, but during the flooding months, the water level will be reduced to 135 meters in order to attempt to contain flood waters.