Hurricanes Hurricanes can be one of the most deadly natural disasters in the world today. One of the most deadly hurricanes ever was Hurricane Hazel. This Hurricane struck in 1954 killing over one thousand people in Haiti, then it took landfall in the United States, South Carolina being its first stop. Through this essay, I shall explain the structure and the movements of Hurricane Hazel and explain how this hurricane was such a deadly force. Even though Hurricane Hazel had devastating winds, it was not known for that, it was known for its speed.
Hurricane Katrina was one of the deadliest and costliest hurricanes in the United States. Katrina made landfall as a category three hurricane on August 29, 2005. The initial landfall was made in the Gulf Region near Buras Louisiana and later at the Louisiana and Mississippi border at Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Katrina packed sustained hurricane force winds of 125 mph, and extended out 75 miles from the eye of the storm (NOAA, 2012). Katrina’s damage was devastating to residents of the area affected.
Haiti also has large rivers that overflow in the rainy seasons and dry up during the dry season. The most recent hurricane/tropical storm was Isaac which hit Haiti August 25, 2012. It dumped massive rain which caused flooding and very strong winds. The last recorded hurricane prior to Isaac, was Tomas in 2010 which caused massed flooding and mudslides. According to CBC News World, “The storm hit Haiti's rural western tip hard, flooding the refugee-camp homes of quake survivors.” (2010).
Hurricane Carol was among the worst tropical cyclones on record to affect the New England region of the United States. It developed from a tropical wave near the Bahamas on August 25, 1954, and slowly strengthened as it moved northwestward. On August 27, Carol intensified to reach winds of 105 mph (170 km/h), but weakened as its motion became to a northwest drift. A strong trough of low pressure turned the hurricane northeastward, and Carol later intensified into a major hurricane. [nb 1] While paralleling the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States, the storm produced strong winds and rough seas that caused minor coastal flooding and slight damage to houses in North Carolina, Virginia, Washington, D.C., Delaware, and New Jersey.
August 29, 2005 is a day New Orleans, Louisiana and the nation will never forget. This was the day a hurricane by the name of Katrina made landfall. The tragedy was not the fact that the city was now under water, the tragedy followed in the days, weeks and months to follow. The aftermath of Katrina shows the public how federal, state and local governments can fail a community during a disaster when needed the most. According to Bergal & Hiles (2007), “official records show that while Katrina was a strong Category 3 hurricane when it slammed into the Gulf Coast near the Mississippi-Louisiana border, by the time it blew over the city of New Orleans, the winds had weakened considerably.” This national disaster could have been prevented if someone would have pushed harder to have more funding to have the levees made stronger on the federal, state and local level.
For example, Hurricane Katrina was a strong category five storm that was above average because of global warming. Gore mentions how textbooks were changed and how, in the United States, cities have broken all-time records for catastrophic weather conditions. Now is the time to act to prevent global warming before it destroys more people’s lives. Textbooks had to be rewritten when the first hurricane hit Brazil. Gore stated that the books used to say, "It's impossible to have a hurricane in the South Atlantic” (618).
(History.com) Later on in the 1900 hundreds, there were several more reports of ships being hit by what was said to be a freak wave or rogue wave. One of the most famous ships to get hit by a rogue wave was the Queen Mary. In 1942 while carrying 15,000 American troops 608 nautical miles (700 mi/1,126 km) from Scotland during a gale, RMS Queen Mary was broadsided by a 92-foot (28 m) wave and nearly capsized. Queen Mary listed briefly about 52 degrees before the ship slowly righted herself. (live science.com) One of the most memorable rogue wave occurrences was on October 30, 1991.
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.
“When The Levees Broke” On August 25th 2010 a Category 1 Hurricane, known as Katrina, made its first landfall in Florida near Hallendale Beach. Winds reached up to 121km/h and continued to travel west along the coast line causing destruction. The death toll in Florida caused by the storm would eventually reach 11 people in total, although this was unfortunate, it would end up being minor and insignificant statistic. The storm took an unexpected turn when on the 26th the National Hurricane Center officially shifted the possible track of the hurricane from the Florida Panhandle, to the Mississippi and Louisiana coast, predicting that Katrina would hit the town of Buras-Triumph, 106 km southeast of New Orleans. As a result Governor Kathleen
This caused many changes in policy at all levels and new ways to train and respond to disasters were created following this event. Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast of the United States on August 29th. When the storm made landfall, it had a Category 3 rating. On the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, a storm received a Category 3 rating because it has sustained winds of 100 to 140 miles per hour. The