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What is the impact of hurricanes on the natural and built environment
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“Irma destroyed me” On September 6 going at 185 mph speed targeting the Virgin Island, was something new for me. We never had serious hurricane like that. The wind and sea water mix together was so strong that I couldn’t go outside and everything in my house was moving around. My mom, sister and I was fighting with holding on to our house windows and door but it didn’t work out as planned. It was scary because we couldn’t get in contact with none of our family’s. My family and I was mess up after that and had to end up going our separate ways. It was just a normal day for me until later on in the afternoon when it started to rain and got very dark. I was downstairs by my mom tenant at this time, so when the rain finally holds up I ran upstairs …show more content…
Up to this day this one family if still looking for their son, in hope that he is still alive. We couldn’t even drive around the island because it had boats, cars, and pieces of house all in the road. I lost my uncle in this hurricane because he got sliest in his neck by something that came down form in the air. The roads were so bad that you couldn’t drive or walk on some of the roads. I could even get off the island of Tortola because they weren’t letting anyone out because I wanted to go and make sure my child was safe on a different island. I end up having to give out food and clothe to everyone that lose their house, cars. It was so bad and I was scared for me and my family live because you would think something like this would of bring us together but it didn’t. Instead people was stealing from stores, house and jobs. It got so bad that we didn’t have anything to eat. The queen had to send in some of her mans to help clean up the place and send out some of her ships to bring food for us. But before all of the I had to serve off of can food. I didn’t have service for weeks when I was back home and still up to this day some places don’t have service. I had feel like I was dying without Wi-Fi, no television and having to eat the something over and over. I had to take showers in the dark during the couple weeks I was back home. It didn’t have any water and power. Now four months
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.
Hurricane Katrina was considered as the worst hurricane in the history of United States. The winds and the rain were shattering people’s homes which collapsed and flooded. Thousands of people were suffering and dying. People were starving, and becoming dehydrated. Many people were left on the street and became homeless. After the hurricane, so many questions were left regarding the widespread damage and loss of loved ones. This devastating disaster destroyed the city of New Orleans and nearby cities and was estimated to cost $80 billion dollars in damage. State and local emergency in the affected area were struggling to perform urgent response missions such as emergency medical services, search and rescue, firefighting, giving food and water,
On August 24th, 1992 in the state of Florida, complete destruction was the end result of Hurricane Andrew. A Hurricane that began in the Atlantic ocean at 20mph. That is almost twice the strength that normal hurricanes begin at. The peak strength of Hurricane Andrew was so strong that devices were not able to measure the winds. An approximation of the force of the winds was said to be up to 200mph. Andrew destroyed about 28,000 homes, damaged 100,000 homes and left 250,000 people homeless along with 30 billion dollars in damage and almost 30 deaths. Hurricane Andrew did not end its devastation in Florida, soon it went to Louisiana causing more damage. (Fig.1)
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.
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 loss of life was estimated between 6,300, and 12,000 citizens, which is enough to hurt any community in multiple ways. Economically, not only did the city have to struggle to begin the rebuilding process, they also had to bury multiple bodies some that were homeless and had no family to claim them. Trains were lost, bridges were smashed down from the plowing power of the waves crashing against them, which was a reason for many deaths, the loss of bridges made evacuation nearly impossible of the island. The money flow fell in the city as well due to the death toll, if there is not as much money flowing through the city through spending there is not as much money to fix the city. Buildings had to be rebuilt, businesses recreated, homes rebuilt, it was a terrible time for everyone. All the rebuilding, and money spending to recreate the town had to be driven by someone, and that was the political figures within the town and the State of Texas. During the time of the hurricane, the governor of Texas was Governor Joseph D. Sayers, and he was notified of the tragedy that was the Galveston Hurricane of 1990. Houston was on standby to begin helping, and together people pulled together to begin reconstruction of a town that was turned to
On August 29th, 2006 New Orleanians were expecting a total of 12 to 15 inches of rain and extended five or six inches from the upcoming storm later known as the costliest hurricane in U.S history. The Category 3 hurricane devastated most of eastern North America with blustery winds of 170 mph (280 km per hour) and storm surge values ranging from 10 to 20 feet. The storm called ‘’Hurricane Katrina’’ originated in the Bahamas on August 23th, 2005, but only became a devastation the next day. On August 28th, Hurricane Katrina succeeded a Category 3 hurricane(sustained winds of 122 kt) and exceeded the limits of a Category 5 storm (sustained winds of 136 kt). The following day, the cyclone shifted northwest towards Mississippi and Louisiana, where the hurricane hit the hardest. New Orleans was one of the cities where the most damage was caused; leaving a negative environment, residential and economic effects on the Gulf Coast.
rainstorm, and was positive one was coming. The wind started to howl, so strong that it
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...
were in was. We picked up my two younger brothers and rushed to my God Mothers
I tried to start the car but it wouldn’t work. I turned my head again
Picture this, you laying on top of you car as you are being violently slung down your street, which was once dry and calm and is now wet and foreign, at an extremely rapid pace. You can’t find your family and all you can do is hope that they haven’t drowned and are able to stay afloat against the violent waters that are angrily attempting to destroy everything in its path. You look around the weather is gray and it’s raining heavily. It is a struggle to breathe between the rapid rain and the violent waters which are attempting to pull you under, forever. Your house no longer exists it is broken down from the pounding waters and fast winds. That is exactly what it would be like if you were in the midst of a hurricane. After hurricanes are over the confusion is crazy, children who had loving families are now orphaned, people become homeless, and people miss certain joys such as walking due to becoming paralyzed.
Have you ever had a moment in time that seems like minutes or hours even though it was only a few seconds? Have you ever seen everything before you play out in slow motion, where you are aware of everything around you, yet not knowing what was going on? I have, and as I look back on it, I feel very blessed and protected. On December 22, 01, I decided to take a little swim in our swimming pool and almost drowned. I still can remember it like yesterday. This incident almost cost me my life,