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• term paper: disaster recovery plan
• term paper: disaster recovery plan
Executive summary disaster recovery options
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Imagine that a family is sitting at home watching a calm game of baseball, when suddenly they realize that a massive wall of water is approaching the neighborhood. Where did this flash flood come from, a reader might ask? The wall of water was made by the raging winds and immense power of Hurricane Andrew. Hurricane Andrew was the second most expensive storm in history that destroyed over 250,000 homes in the states of Florida and Louisiana alone. Hurricane Andrew was not predicted to make landfall, so when it did many civilians did not have any ideas that the Hurricane was coming until it was almost too late. Hurricane Andrew also caused many short and long term effects in the ecosystem and local economies. 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. Leading up to the hurricane, many scientists expected the storm to dissipate over the ocean and cause little to no harm (Rappaport). The scientists were relying on faulty equipment that said that due to slow air speed and l... ... middle of paper ... .... 21 Nov. 2011 “Hurricane Andrew Facts.” Tropical Weather, Tropical Weather. 27 Aug. 2010. Web. 21 Nov. 2011 Kridler, Chris. “How do Hurricanes Form?” FEMA, FEMA. 19 Jan. 2007. Web. 21 Nov. 2011 “Hurricane Andrew Facts.” Wordpress, Wordpress. 14 Sept. 2011. Web. 21 Nov. 2011 “Hurricanes: Engines of Destruction.” National Geographic, National Geographic. 15 Sept. 1996. Web. 21 Nov. 2011 Pittman, Craig. “Storm’s Howls fill the Ears of Survivors.” St. Petersburg Times, St. Petersburg Times. 18 Aug. 2002. Web. 21 Nov. 2011 Rappaport, Ed. “Preliminary Report.” NCEP, NCEP. 7 Feb. 2005. Web. 21 Nov. 2011 Sallenger, Abby. “Hurricane Impacts on the Coastal Environments.” US Geological Survey, US Geological Survey. 13 Nov. 2006. Web. 21 Nov. 2011 Williams, Jack. “Andrew is USA’s Third Strongest Hurricane.” USA Today, USA Today. 17 May 2005. Web. 21 Nov. 2011
In 1992, hurricane Andrew was a category four hurricane and said to be one of the worst natural disasters to happen in the United States at the time. It’s winds surpassed 160 miles per hour and caused damage to over 125,000 homes within 400 square miles. Hurricane Andrew left approximately 175,000 families and children temporarily homeless.
There were a lot of items lost in the flood. Even trucks, cars, and even airplanes. This hurricane has been up to 50 inches of rain. The resulting floods inundated hundreds of thousands of homes, displaced more than 30,000 people, and caused more than 17,000 deaths. Losses are estimated between 70 and 190 billion dollars.
Hurricane Harvey was one of the most devastating hurricanes to strike the United States in several years. Harvey resulted in over eighty fatalities and over 150 billion dollars in damages. This proves to be one of the most destructive hurricanes to be recorded. The overwhelming damage was caused by many different aspects; however, three of the greatest aspects are: varying weather patterns throughout the storm, the city structure of Houston, Texas, and the lack of evacuation. Each of these factors affected the city in a different way, but all resulted in a common outcome, devastation.
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
In summary, the events of Hurricane Katrina had left a lasting and devastating impact on not only the general public, but also those within public safety including local, state and federal agencies. The storm had affected nearly hundreds of square miles resulting in thousands of casualties, and people misplaced with no homes to go to as well. In addition, there were many contributing factors that had resulted in major life, including the geography of New Orleans, how the levees around New Orleans were built, as well as the lack of coordination between local, state and federal officials.
Hurricane Katrina had a huge impact on the world and more specifically, New Orleans for there was substantial damage to the citizens property and more importantly their body and minds. The biggest impact Hurricane Katrina has was on the people of New Orleans. Having their homes destroyed or uninhabitable, thousands of New Orleans residents were forced to flee in the Superdome and t...
Shah, Anup (2005, November 13). Hurricane Katrina. Global Issues. Retrieved from mhtml:file://F:Hurricane Katrina—Global Issues. mht
At an immense price to living and possessions, Hurricane Andrew unpredictably fortified to a Category 5 hurricane while it landed in southeastern Florida right after an eyewall replacement cycle
According to “Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale (HHSH), Ivan is classified as a category 5 Storm. The Cayman Islands were well prepared when comparing it to other countries hit by the storm. “Classical long lives Cape Verde Hurricane” i...
Fink, Sheri. "Hurricane Katrina: after the flood." The Gaurdian. N.p., 7 Feb. 2014. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.
One consequence of the hurricane was being left without power for weeks. For example, having no electricity meant having no air. Therefore, it was always humid and people wore as little clothes as possible. Another example of being without power meant having no lights or water unless people were fortunate enough to own a generator. Being one of the less fortunate, we used candles, lanterns, and flashing as a source of lights. For us to brush our teeth or bathe we used bottled water.
One of the major problems was the flooding. Water submerged mostly everything that people owned including their homes and businesses. This led to another major problem, millions left homeless. People were forced to evacuate their homes because it was not safe and even after the hurricane was over they were not able to go back. Those who were fortunate enough to be in their homes, still had to face the problem of major power outages. Economic suffering also took place. The government had to spend lots of money so that they can restore the damaged areas such as New Orleans. Money and effort went towards ridding access water, rebuilding homes, businesses, and helping people get back on track after this devastating time. Furthermore, many people began to worry about medical problems that might arise. In New Orleans, the flooding had brought all new types of bacteria. The people could not defend themselves because medical centers were all destroyed. There was also concern about outbreaks of West Nile, mold, and endotoxin levels rising. In addition, much of the food and water of New Orleans was contaminated and the people had to be very
Hurricanes are destructive and dangerous forces of nature that exist because of a long process involving heat, wind, and vapor. When sea water heats, it creates vapor that rises in the atmosphere as time passes. These vapors become strong winds and are classified as a hurricane when they are greater than seventy-four miles per hour (Emily, Helen, and Mohamed). According to John Roach of National Geographic, these conditions have occurred very frequently since 1995 due to an increase in the temperature of the ocean, which created more vapor, heavy rainfall, and serious hurricanes. This increase in temperature caused the dangerous floods of Hurricane Irene in 2011 and the deaths of more than eleven thousand people in 1998 due to Hurricane Mitch (Cimons and Landsea). We plan to investigate the impact of floods and storm surges on coastal areas and cities caused by these high water temperatures and the currently proposed and partially effective solutions used to slow hurricane waves and prevent floods.
August 24, 1992 is forever embedded in the memories of survivors. While coursing through Dade County, Andrew managed to add fifteen more victims to its killstreak and leaving more than a quart of a million people homeless, hopeless, and desperate for relief. All throughout the flooded streets trees were uprooted, pieces of homes strewn, and families were ripped apart. Moving quickly through Florida, Andrew made his way into the Gulf then over to Louisiana. Warnings of Andrew’s approached echoed out to Louisiana from neighboring states so by the time it arrived more than 1.5 million people evacuated. Even though only less populated southern areas of the state were hit eight more lives were taken. Andrew’s wrath was so great even states outside of the targeted areas felt it. Multiple tornadoes were left behind to finish up the job, wrecking the surrounding states leaving them in ruins.
Three major hurricanes we will be focusing on are Hurricane Andrew, Hurricane Katrina, and Hurricane Sandy. Hurricane Andrew was the result of a tropical wave that moved off the western cost of Africa. On August 22, 1992, Andrew became a hurricane and the next day was categorized at a 4. The hurricane weakened as it passed over the Bahamas but then intensified as it moved over the Gulfstream on the way to Florida. Hurricane Andrew hit Dade County on August 24th as Category 5. Andrew then moved into south-central Louisiana as a weakened Category 3.