Hydrometeorological disasters – Hurricane Katrina and The Big Dry (20 questions) 1) What are the 3 main threats from hurricanes? Deadly winds The first one is deadly winds. These winds exceed 74 mph and have the capability to completely demolish and buildings, uproot trees and knock over power lines with ease. Tornadoes Tornadoes associated with hurricanes are caused by the numerous squalls and thunderstorms that make up the hurricane or tropical storm. Tornadoes in hurricanes and tropical storms can be difficult to detect and develop with very little warning and may be wrapped in rain making them almost impossible to see.
A lot of houses, buildings, cars and other vehicles will be ruined and people can be killed. When a hurricane is done, it rains very hard. Some hurricanes may cause floods or landslides depending on how much water falls. Hurricane Sandy has been one of the most recent hurricanes that have hit the US in the past 15 years. Hurricane Sandy destroyed millions of homes, brought a bunch of sand onto the roads, and killed 209 people.
The run-off from higher elevation combined with melt water from lower elevation was so forceful it broke levees and caused one of the most damaging floods the region has ever seen. The West Walker River caused extensive damage in Topaz, Coleville, California, Wellington and Nevada. It’s estimated that twelve miles of US Highway 395 have been destroyed and are going to be closed for around seven months! In Yerington and in the Mason Valley nearly 500 homes have been damaged and public and private property damaged substantially. Floodwaters deposited debris on Farmland and Damaged irrigation gates, ditches and canals.
Why was the Haitian earthquake so deadly? On January 12th 2010 at 16:53 local time (21:53 GMT) an earthquake hit the Caribbean island of Haiti. It was a colossal 7.0 on the Richter scale and lasted around 35 seconds, but inflicted a cataclysm which would take years to correct. It struck south of the capital Port-au-Prince destroying the presidential palace, UN HQ, as well as houses, schools and public buildings. The epicentre was a town named Leogane; about 19km (12 miles) west of Port-au-Prince, thousands were left homeless and up to 80-90% of buildings in Leogane were destroyed.
The effect of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans was extremely severe, resulting from one of the most deadly natural disasters in U.S. history. By August 30th, 2005, one day after the Category 4 storm made landfall, about 80 percent of the city of New Orleans, was flooded with some parts of the city under 20 feet of water. The flood was caused by several levees breaches, which most people didn’t believe it could breach, due to a combination of a powerful storm surge, strong winds and excess water in the bodies of water surrounding the city. After reading the author’s response, her curiosity was based on her belief that the delayed response time was due to racism. She first noticed when watching the T.V.
In 2008-2009 the island was ravaged by hurricanes causing massive destruction to the natural resources and causing strain on the already untrusted government. In 2010 a massive earthquake hit the Haiti killing thousands. The elections that followed did not have a large turn out and the election went to Michel Martelly. According to Time World (2012) Dominican Senator Félix Bautista, who owns or controls construction companies that in the past year have received Haitian government contracts worth more than $200 million and paid Martelly a total of almost $2.6 million during Martelly's presidential campaign and after his landslide victory in Haiti's 2011
Hurricanes range from a category one hurricane all the way to a category five reaching winds up to one hundred seventy miles per hour plus. Unlike hurricanes, tsunamis form from earthquakes that form a sudden displacement on the seafloor. Volcanic eruptions, landslides, underwater explosions, and meteorite impacts can also generate tsunamis. The most dramatic contrast between hurricanes and tsunamis is the death toll. Many people lose their lives because of hurricanes and tsunamis, which is a tragedy and disaster.
Adding to the disaster's massive scale, the huge amount of dust blasted into the upper atmosphere by the Tambora eruption contributed to a bizarre and highly destructive weather event the following year. And 1816 became known as The Year Without a Summer. The disaster on the remote island of Sumbawa in the Indian Ocean has been overshadowed by the eruption of the volcano at Krakatoa decades later, partly because the news of Krakatoa traveled quickly via telegraph. Accounts of the Tambora eruption were much more rare, however some vivid ones do exist. An administrator of the East India Company, Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles, who was serving as governor of Java at the time, published a vivid account of the disaster based on written reports he had collected from English traders and military personnel.
This type of devastation happened on March 11 2011 in Japan when a very powerful tsunami ruined the land, and on October 17 1989 when California was hit by huge earthquake named Loma Prieta. This essay will compare and contrast these two world shaking events and give some research about the two events as well. Maybe you will learn about some interesting facts about the two. A earthquake is described as a sudden and violent shaking of the ground, resulting from the movement within the earth’s crust or from volcanic action. It sometimes causes great destruction.
Haiti Earthquake 2010 The earthquake in Haiti occurred on the 12th of January 2010 16:53 local time around 25km from Haiti’s capitol Port au Prince the earthquake measured 7.0 on the Richter scale making it one of the most devastating earthquakes this . Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere with around 80% of the population living in extreme poverty. Access to healthcare in Haiti is almost non-existent more than 60% of the population has access to basic healthcare because of this disease is rampant. Most building in Haiti are structurally unsound meaning when the earthquake hit these houses crumbled to rubble leaving many people trapped. In February 2010 Prime Minister Jean estimated that 250,000 residencies and 30,000commercial buildings were severely damaged and needed to be demolished.