Hurricanes are very disastrous events that usually occur over oceans, developing to eventually move towards populated land. Hurricanes form only when ocean waters are 80 degrees Fahrenheit and above. Warm air, mixed with moisture from evaporation from the ocean surface rises, creating low pressure on the water surface, which is immediately replaced by cooler air. This develops into a thunderstorm. The thunderstorm slowly begins to move with mild western winds. In a day or two, stronger vertical currents build up over the ocean’s surface upward. More warm air rises and winds begin to move in a circular manner. This causes pressure to reduce at high altitudes. The entire storm is now in a circular motion around a mid-point. This tropical depression forms into a tropical storm within only a couple of days. The storm moves over warmer waters, clouds expand and wind speeds up to about 74 miles per hour. The tropical storm causes Gale force winds, thunderstorms and heavy rain at full force. As the storm continues westward, the energy from warmer water, in the form of very warm air rising and the gushing of cooler air replacing it throws the storm into a powerful spiral storm that can be seen from space! This storm eventually moves into populated land, causing devastation, death, and billions of dollars!
Hurricanes cause billions
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of dollars in damages! Hurricane Katrina’s immense damage, at a whopping 145 billion dollars, led to the average being 9 billion dollars! During a hurricane, extensive damages are dealt upon lives. Homes are destroyed, buildings are ripped apart, and lives are taken. These problems take huge amounts of time to fix and recover from. The stress is immense on businesses and families. Take Hurricane Katrina for example. On August 29, 2005, thousands of people lost their jobs and were forced to move to other cities. Oil production and refining operations shut down for weeks. Gasoline prices soared, along with other energy prices. Close to 2.3 million people were left without power. The port of New Orleans was damaged, disrupting the nation's shipping industry. On October 25, 2012, Hurricane Sandy hit the unprepared state of New York. With an estimated 50 billion dollars in damages, Hurricane Sandy is the second costliest hurricane since 1900. In New Jersey, businesses lost an estimated 8.3 billion dollars. New York lost an estimated 19 billion dollars. 305 thousand housing units were destroyed in New York alone. The northeastern seaboard is still recovering from the devastating damages today. Hurricanes damage physical geography in many ways. Hurricanes cause flash floods, which disrupt natural environment change processes. Hurricanes also cause dangerous landslides, which can alter the land formation and disrupt animal lives. Combined with the immense strength of the storm, these landslides can rip through many miles of land. Hurricanes can also cause devastating storm surges. These surges of water can get up to 20 feet high and extend over 100 miles of land, destroying fields, lakes and other important land features. Hurricanes can affect life and make it very hard to recover from.
Recovery can take years depending on how bad the hurricane was. Businesses can be damaged beyond repair. States have to spend billions of dollars recovering from bad hurricanes like Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Sandy. Homes are destroyed and have to be rebuilt, which takes a long time for families that have been displaced. Lives are lost, making it very hard for family members to deal with the loss of their loved ones. Some families may never see their child again, not knowing their fate. People living through hurricanes go through tremendously stressing psychological
effects. To prepare for a hurricane, you must first know where to go. Hurricane warnings are issued to the public within 36 hours of initial impact on land. If you are ordered to evacuate, know the local hurricane evacuation route(s) to take and have a plan for where you can stay and what you have to do in order to keep you and your family safe. Put together a disaster supply kit, including a flashlight, batteries, cash, first aid supplies, and copies of your critical information in case you need to evacuate from your area. If you aren’t ordered to evacuate and you decide to stay in your home, make sure you plan for adequate supplies in case of an emergency. You may lose power and water for several days and you may not be able to leave due to flooding or blocked roads. Make a family emergency communication plan. Prepare your home and try to make sure your home is subject to as little damage as possible. If you are staying in your home, make sure you have enough supplies to last the storm. It is advised to purchase a portable generator or install a generator for use during power outages. Stay away from windows, close your window shutters if applicable, as flying glass can severely injure you or your family. For the safety of you and your family, make sure you know what to do in the event of a hurricane. Knowing hurricane safety procedures can save lives.
Hurricanes are formed over tropical waters. These intense storms consist of winds over 74 miles per hour (Ahrens & Sampson, 2011). The storms addressed here are Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Sandy. This paper will explore the contrasts and comparisons between these two horrific storms.
Hurricane Katrina roared through Louisiana demolishing everything in its path. It obliterated the city of New Orleans, inside and out leaving almost nothing untouched and intact. Homes, schools, office buildings, and almost all infrastructures were ravaged by the mighty storm. Thousands of people ...
The Impact was not only on the city and the jobs of the citizens, but it also impacted many families and their way of living. The Death total reached 1,836 deaths. This included mothers, fathers, children, aunts, uncles, friends, neighbors, and so many more people who supported and provided memories to the citizens of New Orleans. The hurricane didn’t only hit New Orleans, but Katrina also hit Florida. Altogether, Katrina hit 90,000 square miles. The reason that the levees collapsed was because they were built for a category 3 hurricane, while Katrina was a category 5 hurricane. There were over fifty floodwall...
According to Hurricane Katrina At Issue Disasters, economic damages from Hurricane Katrina have been estimated at more than $200 billion… More than a million people were displaced by the storm… An estimated 120,000 homes were abandoned and will probably be destroyed in Louisiana alone (At * Issue). For this perspective, “Hurricane Katrina change the Gulf Coast landscape and face of its culture when it hit in 2005” (Rushton). A disaster like Katrina is something the victims are always going to remember, for the ones the lost everything including their love ones. Katrina became a nightmare for all the people that were surround in the contaminated waters in the city of New Orleans. People were waiting to be rescue for days,
Leading up to this storm, many prominent scientists believed that the hurricane would never make landfall, or if it did hit, would not cause any major damage. Due to this foolhardy belief held by the scientists, many civilians did not have any time to evacuate their homes and barely escaped with their loved ones and whatever small valuables or keepsakes they could grab. Regretfully, many families had to leave everything they had behind. Hurricane Andrew also damaged the livelihood of many small shop owners or farms and caused long term problems as well. Due to the large flooding and high wind speeds, much of southern Florida was left in ruin and many years were spent trying to clean the rubble and restore buildings. Hurricane Andrew also destroyed many precious ecosystems on top of all of that.
Natural disaster can be traumatic events that have a huge impact on the mental health of communities often resulting in an increase in mental health needs that don’t get met. In 2005, one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. History, Hurricane Katrina, hit the states of Louisiana and Mississippi affecting 90,000 square miles. In addition to the 2000 people killed and million displaced as a result of the Hurricane, a significant number of people, according to multiple studies, suffered and continue to suffer from mental health issues including stress, anxiety, depression and PTSD. After the Hurricane, communities were both physically and emotionally devastated leaving individuals without loved ones, homes, belongings or jobs (Rhodes, J., Chan, C., Paxson, C., Rouse, C. E., Waters, M. and Fussell, E., 2010. p. 238). The Gulf Coast, whose mental health system had been obliterated by the Hurricane, was in desperation of mental health services in order to prevent chaos and initiate recovery immediately. The U.S. government did not provide sufficient services; thus, illustrating how the affected communities’ mental health needs weren’t being met and continue to not be met today. The survivors of Hurricane Katrina did not receive sufficient mental health services due to lack of government action and lack of programs with the capacity to assist large numbers of people which resulted in the individuals and communities affected to endure homelessness, poverty, and mental health issues even till this day.
Hurricane Katrina was one of the most devastating natural disasters to happen in the United States. The storm resulted in more then US$100 billion in damage when the cities flood protection broke and 80% of the city was flooded (1). The protection failure was not the only cause for the massive flooding, the hurricanes clockwise rotation pulled water from north of New Orleans into the city. 330,000 homes were destroyed and 400,000 people from New Orleans were displaced, along with 13,00 killed (1). Although the population quickly recovered, the rate of recovery slowed down as the years went on leading us to believe not everyone
A hurricane is easily the most powerful storm that mother-nature can throw at us. Every year people who live on the coasts fight hurricanes with no dismay. A hurricane is simply too strong. Their winds reach speeds of 75 mph. The winds around the eye wall can reach 130 to 150 mph. They are 200 to 300 miles in diameter. The number of casualties is endless, as well as the widespread destruction that takes millions of dollars to repair. Even if the hurricane doesn’t cause a lot of damage, the storm surge will. Storm surge is the great tidal waves that crash into our coasts and make huge floods that are caused by hurricanes.
Hurricanes are born over the warm waters of tropical oceans and are formed by a low-pressure system caused by the heating of water. The heat causes the air to rise and form lower pressures in a feedback loop, making the hurricane stronger. Heavy rain results from a condensation of water and strong winds develop from warm air rushing to the eye of the hurricane. Essentially, greater storms and winds occur when the hurricane feeds of the rising temperature of the water. In addition, researchers studied disturbances and intense thunderstorms in the atmosphere over Western Africa and believe they are partly to blame for extreme hurricanes affecting the United States and Canada. While these are all the main ingredients of a perfectly natural process, they were not the primary causes of the damage done by Hurricane
On August 29, 2005, the third strongest and biggest hurricane ever recorded in American history hit the Gulf Coast at eight o’clock a.m. The interaction between a tropical depression and a tropical wave created a tropical storm later referred to as Hurricane Katrina (FAQS, 2013). Forming over the Bahamas, Hurricane Katrina gradually strengthened as it moved closer and closer to the Gulf of Mexico. Recorded on August 28th, 2005, Katrina jumped from a category three storm to a category five storm with maximum sustained winds up to 160 miles per hour. Although other hurricanes, such as Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Wilma, exceeded Katrina, this dominant storm was classified as the fourth most intense hurricane based its pressure capacity. Once Hurricane Katrina hit land, it was pronounced as a category four storm moving slowly. While people thought that the slow speed of this storm prevented trauma, records show that Katrina did more damage than any fast-moving storm could have ever achieved (Solanki, 2013). Katrina produced abundant debris. The debris was in such large quantity that if it was stacked together on a football field, the rubble would reach the elevation of ten and a half miles. The size of Katrina also caused 90,000 square miles to be affected. Once proclaimed a category three storm, Hurricane Katrina slowed to the speed of 155 miles per hour. At this point in time, Katrina proved to be the sixth most prevailing hurricane traced in history. (Solanki, 2013). Several different aspects of life were impacted by Hurricane Katrina such as availability of gasoline, economic issues, and the ability to have an adequate supply of drinking water (Solanki, 2013). Hurricane Katrina was a large storm ...
Hurricanes are powerful and destructive storms that involve great rain and wind. The United States of America has dealt with many hurricanes that have cost a great amount of damage. However, there is one hurricane that happened in 2005 that stands out among the others, Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina was one of the worst hurricanes to hit the United States, a category 5 on the Saffir/Simpson Hurricane Scale. An estimated 1836 people died because of the hurricane and the floodings that happened after (Zimmermann 1). Katrina initially beg...
Hurricanes are one of the deadliest and most expensive natural disasters around. They are more common in areas of humid yet moist weather so they are very foreign to certain places. But to the places were hurricanes are the norm, the people take them extremely seriously because they kill people and ruin countless amounts of property. Hurricanes can attack and harm people in so many ways they can kill people, leave them homeless, it leaves children orphaned and disable them. On the west coast of the United States and other places hurricanes aren’t taken as seriously as other more common disasters, such as, earthquakes and volcanoes yet the hurricane can be a lot more damaging that both of those. Hurricanes are cyclones that develop over warm oceans and breed winds that blow yup to 74 miles per hour.
Hurricanes begin as tropical disturbances in warm ocean waters with temperatures of at least 80 degrees Fahrenheit. These low pressure systems are served by energy from the warm seas. If a storm reaches wind speeds of 38 miles an hour, it is known as a tropical depression. A tropical depression becomes a tropical storm, and is given a name, when its sustained wind speeds top 39 miles an hour. When a storm’s sustained wind speeds reach 74 miles an hour, it becomes a hurricane and earns a category rating of 1 to 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale.
Hurricanes originate as tropical disturbances over warm oceans with trade winds. The tropical turbances intensify into tropical depressions, and eventually into a tropical storm. They only originate in the tropical trade winds because the ocean temperatures are quite warm there. Powered from the heat that the sea gives off, they are steered by the east trade winds and the temperate west ones, as well as by their own ferocious energy. Around their core, winds grow with a tremendous amount of velocity creating violent seas. As they move toward the shore, they move the ocean inward, while spawning tornadoes and producing torrential rains and floods.
A hurricane is a type of natural disaster that can be harmful and destructive to anything in its way. Every year five to six hurricanes are formed, damaging and destroying people’s homes, landmarks, and anything in its path (“Hurricane”). Before a hurricane is developed it is known as a tropical storm. To be a tropical storm wind speed must be at least thirty eight miles per hour (“Hurricane”). Once wind speeds reaches seventy four miles an hour it can then be classified as hurricane (“Hurricane”). Large scale storms, like hurricanes have a variety of ways to measure the sev...