In Central Florida, sinkholes are a growing crisis. The causes of these sinkholes are numerous, but one of the main causes is because of Florida’s karst topography. According to the Oxford Dictionary, karst topography is “Landscape underlain by limestone that has been eroded by dissolution, producing ridges, towers, fissures, sinkholes, and other characteristic landforms.” Although sinkholes form unexpectedly without much warning, there are ways to prevent harm to people in Florida. Some ways to prevent sinkholes from causing harm and destruction is through methods of stabilization such as grouting, compaction grouting, underpinning, and remediation. Repairing a sinkhole can be terribly expensive, so choosing the right method is crucial when restoring sunken landscape.
Sinkholes are an issue because of all the problems such as destruction to land, harm to civilians, and the cost of damages that sinkholes create. Sinkholes have a very broad spectrum because they can range from small land surfaces to covered collapse sinkholes (Phelps). According to the US Geological Survey, (USGS) 130 sinkholes formed across the region in dangerous places such as under interstates. Sinkholes are a natural part of Florida’s landscape, but with the growth of Florida’s population the more water is being used from 8 to 20 million (Gupta). According to Susan Martin and Dan DeWitt, “The number of residential sinkhole claims filed with Citizens Property Insurance Corp., which insures more Florida homeowners than any other company, has nearly tripled in the past five years, from 1,482 claims in 2007 to 4,024 last year. The average claim now costs Citizens nearly $90,000.”
According to Orlando Sentinel, the definition of what a sinkhole is a depression th...
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...d. Although there is not much to prevent a sinkhole from forming, the ways to warn and prevent harm are possible. With the help of geologist, research teams, constructors, contractors, architects, and many more, there are numerous resources available to residents, home and business owners in case of sinkhole incident. There are sinkhole repair services such as LRE Ground Services that will educate on sinkhole formation, give a free estimate of a price to repair a sinkhole, and then finish the job by repairing the sinkhole with one of many of their methods. These methods of stabilizing a sinkhole consist of compaction grouting, underpinning, and many more. Living in Central Florida, one should be aware of their surroundings. Educate yourself in the case of such an incident arising, so you can be prepared to face the challenges instead of being swallowed up by them.
Florida became a state in 1845 and almost immediately people began proposing to drain the Everglades. In 1848, a government report said that draining the Everglades would be easy, and there would be no bad effect. Canals and dams were dug to control seasonal flooding. Farmers grew vegetables in the rich soil of the drained land, Ranchers had their cattle graze on the dry land, and new railways lines were constructed to connect communities throughout south Florida; but the ecosystem of the Everglades was not suited for either farming or ranching. The natural cycle of dry and wet seasons brought a devastating series of droughts and floods. These had always been a p...
Gabrysh, R. K. "Land surface subsidence in the Houston-Galveston region." IASH Publ. (1969): pp. 43-44.
Over the past 100 years the Louisiana coastline has suffered greatly from biotic, abiotic, and anthropogenic factors. The abiotic factors include things such as hurricanes or overnutrition that influence the surrounding biota. The biotic factors that contribute to coastal erosion are things like the immigration invasive species and the emigration or extinction of local flora and fauna that help preserve the wetlands. Additionally, there are anthropogenic factors such as pollution that can have strong negative influences on the abiotic and biotic factors of the wetlands. Each one of these factors cause ecological disturbances to the wetlands at a frequency and intensity that is unmanageable for the local flora and fauna. There are currently certain measures that are being taken into consideration to slow or stop the erosion of the Louisiana coastline.
In the late summer of 2005, a terrible tragedy occurred that changed the lives of many in the south-east region of the United States. A Category 3, named storm, named Hurricane Katrina, hit the Gulf Coast on the 29th of August and led to the death of 1,836 and millions of dollars’ worth of damage (Waple 2005). The majority of the damage occurred in New Orleans, Louisiana. Waple writes in her article that winds “gusted over 100 mph in New Orleans, just west of the eye” (Waple 2005). Not only was the majority of the damage due to the direct catastrophes of the storm but also city’s levees could no longer hold thus breaking and releasing great masses of water. Approximately, 80% of the city was submerged at sea level. Despite the vast amount of damage and danger all throughout the city, officials claimed that there was work being done to restore the city of New Orleans as a whole but many parts, and even the people, of the city were overlooked while areas of the city with higher economic value, and more tourist traffic, were prioritized along with those individuals.
Mr. Flint’s comments were discussing what could happen during collective bargaining with employees’ pay and benefits, which is his opinion. Moreover, David Walsh writes, “Employers can make predictions about the likely consequences that unionization will have for the business—consequences that are objectively because of economic reality that is beyond the employer’s control.” (Walsh, 2013-2016, pg. 511) However, Mr. Flint’s comments were discussing a decrease in pay and less benefits, which could be construed as a threat.
Some of the damage done by Hurricane Katrina could have potentially been avoided if protection systems were installed to the proper extents. In Louisiana, “some parts of the metro area continue to lack hurricane protection built to federal standards” (Webster). Had the greater Louisiana area been better protected, it is very likely that more people would have survived and the total cost of the storm been less. Even in areas where levees...
The alligators move in and out of holes (depressions) in the limestone described above. By doing this, they keep this area lower than the rest of the limestone.... ... middle of paper ... ... Federal, state, and local governments are joining forces to bring these pristine natural lands back to their original splendor and beauty.
Most of the destructions from the events of August 29th 2005, when Katrina Hit the City Of New Orleans, were not only caused by the storm itself; but also, by failure of the engineering of the levee system protecting the entire infrastructure of the city. The years of poor decision making and avoidance of the levee system led to one of the most catastrophic events in the history of the United States. Throughout our research, we have identified three key players in charge of the levee system design, construction and maintenance. These three organizations are the Unites States Corps of Engineers, the New Orleans Levee District and the Louisiana Department of Transportation. The consequences of the hurricane showed the organizations negligence in the design, construction and maintenance of the protective walls. Later independent sresearch showed that more than 50 levees and food walls failed during the passage of the hurricane. This failure caused the flooding of most of New Orleans and all of ST. Bernard Parish. The Unites States Corps of Engineers had been in charge of the of the levee system and flood walls construction since the 1936 flood act. According to the law, the Louisiana Department of Transportation is in charge to inspect the overall design and engineering practices implemented in the construction of the system. Once the levee systems were finished, they were handed over to the New Orleans Levee District for regular maintenance and periodically inspections. The uncoordinated actions of these three agencies resulted in the complete failure of a system that was supposed to protect the people of New Orleans. The evidence is clear that this catastrophic event did not happened by chance. The uncoordinated response of these...
By August 28, evacuations were underway across the region. That day, the National Weather Service predicted that after the storm hit, “most of the [Gulf Coast] area will be uninhabitable for weeks…perhaps longer.” New Orleans was at particular risk. Though about half the city actually lies above sea level, its average elevation is about six feet below sea level–and it is completely surrounded by water. Over the course of the 20th century, the Army Corps of Engineers had built a system of levees and seawalls to keep the city from flooding. The levees along the Mississippi River were strong and sturdy, but the ones built to hold back Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Borgne and the waterlogged swamps and marshes to the city’s east and west were much less reliable. Even before the storm, officials worried that those levees, jerry-built atop sandy, porous, erodible soil, might not withstand a massive storm surge. Neighborhoods that sat below sea level, many of which housed the city’s poorest and most vulnerable people, were at great risk of
Protecting the Everglades is as easy as spreading the word. Tell friends about the concerns you may have, tell them what they can do to help. Contact environmentally active organizations for more information. Be sure to keep these environmental issues in mind when voting, and go ahead and make your concerns known to your legislature. Try your hardest to make a difference!
The category 3 storm changed the lives of the residence who lived there forever. The storm in combination with the fault of the man-made flood protection walls (levee’s) resulted in the death of at least 1,300 people (1). With nearly half the victims over the age of 74, deaths were caused by; drowning, injury/ trauma and heart conditions (2). Hurricane Katrina was one of the most costliest storms to land on American soil, costing around US$135 billion in damages (3). Although the number of deaths caused by Hurricane Katrina are not as high as other natural disasters, Katrina displaced a massive amount of people from their homes, around 85% of the population were displaced directly after the storm hit (6). Being one of the most devastating natural disasters to hit the United States, Hurricane Katrina impacted not only the residence of New Orleans by also many of the surrounding
The location of a levee requires analysis of both existing conditions and future plans for an area.
They had to change and rebuild things after the sinkhole just like they did with Hurricane Sandy. After the Sinkhole some of the students had to move to Tangerine because there wasn’t enough space for everyone at Lake Windsor without the portables. Old Charley burns, the boss of the civil engineering company, was fired. He didn’t check and make sure that the places were safe to be building things on. He was bribed; he got vacations out of it. Since Charley Burns was fired, Paul’s dad replaced him. Paul’s dad told everybody that with him now the boss things were going to change. He wasn’t going to be bribed, and he was actually going to check and make sure that the places people were building things on were safe, and they weren’t building things on sinkholes.
Living in Bangladesh, we have seen quite disastrous mudslides from the past few years. Mudslide is also called a landslide or a land slip. It is a downward mass movement of earth or rock on unstable slopes, including many forms resulting from differences in rock structure, coherence of material involved, degree of slope, amount of included water, extent of natural or artificial undercutting at the base of the slope, relative rate of movement, and relative quantity of material involved. There are numerous facts that can cause a mudslide and there are also numerous effects that it can cause us.
...he government of Louisiana soon came up with new criteria on how future structure should be built to withstand more natural disasters like these. Not only knowing basic information, knowing how to prepare, and seeing how Hurricane Katrina was so destructive should help the forty five million citizens that live on hurricane prone coastlines prepare for anything like this in the future.