The storm of 1938 was one of america's worst natural disasters. A category 5 hurricane with wind speeds up to 150 mph. With no warning to the east coast the hurricane was a big surprise to everyone. Because of the surprise no one was prepared which caused huge impacts. Not only was the storm fatal because no one had time to prepare it was also one of the strongest hurricanes recorded in american history. Four days before the hurricane struck there was consistent rainfall. With the extra rain is contributed to the severe flooding. Not only was the flooding a big part of why the storm was so deadly but also the wind was blowing at a high of 180 mph! The people of new england in 1938 didn't have a very good understanding of how to remain safe in a hurricane, it was not common in this area. The people of florida where aware of what do if a hurricane hit because they were common. So if the storm did hit florida how could the impact been different? Maybe even some floridians couldn't prepare for a 500 miles wide hurricane. Who knows. …show more content…
A junior forecaster even mapped out the storm missing Florida and hitting new england. He was ignored because no one would ever think that a category 5 would hit. The last hurricane that was this severe was in 1924 and even that was a surprise to massachusetts. Yet the intensity of the hurricane wasn't nearly as bad. Therefore no one believed that there would be a hurricane hitting new england so they ignored the messages which resulted with tremendous consequences. With no warning there was no preparation for the storm. Imagine how many lives could have been spared if there was some type of warning. Even 2 hours before everyone was oblivious of what could be happening. About 20 minutes into the storm it came to people's attention that this was more than just a small thunder and lightning storm. At this point no one could do anything to
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.
A lot of homes, businesses, and other places were destroyed. Atlantic city homes were flooded. Many people, not just in New Jersey, had no power for days to weeks. The storms surge made it all the way past the board walk. Hoboken, New Jersey was hit hard. Their homes, businesses, and transportation ways and means were destroyed. Winds there were counter-clockwise making it worse for Hoboken. A lot of New York was hit too. They also had no power for long periods of time. Many of their homes and etc. were destroyed during the storm.
On Friday evening, September 7, 1900, many of the 37,000 residents of Galveston, Texas, were settling down to dinner, few if any of them concerned about the steady 15 mph northerly wind rattling their windows. Within 48 hours, at least 8,000 of the townspeople would be dead, victims of the single worst natural disaster in U.S. history. Relatively few people are aware that the deadliest natural disaster in the United States was the hurricane that struck Galveston Island on September 8, 1900. One of the best resources that can be found to help fully understand the significance of this storm is Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History by Erik Larson.
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.
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)
Imagine the horrors that accompany a great hurricane. Visualize the wind, rain, and waves. Hear the piercing screams through crashing waves, crushing buildings, and trees falling. Picture the great devastation. The Galveston Hurricane of 1900 was caused by abdominal weather conditions, and led to great destruction. Many lives were lost, and colossal rebuilding of the city had to take place. New city laws and plans were adopted from the hurricane.
Hurricane Katrina a catastrophe that changed lives of many peoples, people were left without food and water for days. That storm itself did a great damage lead to the massive flooding,
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.
Then finally, the storm can be bumped up into a hurricane if the winds reach 75 mph. The National Weather Service is constantly trying to provide us with data and other information about when and where hurricanes are forming. It has been said that the only way to reduce the number of fatalities in serious storms is to give people more warning time for them to go to a safer place. Many times in hurricanes people are told to evacuate their city or state. The more time that people have to do this, the more that people will do this.
Through the path of history, there have been several major events that influenced thousands of lives and were significant in forming the world today. One of the largest and deadliest events that occurred in history was a disaster not anybody could control or be held accountable for. This was Hurricane Katrina. On the early Monday morning of August 29th, 2005, a Category 5 rating Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast of the United States with winds up to 175 miles per hour and a storm surge of 20 feet high. Hurricane Katrina was one of the greatest and most destructive natural disasters recorded to make landfall in the United States. The natural causes of the hurricane, poorly structured levees, disaster inside the Superdome, and the
According to “weatherwizkids.com”, “A hurricane is an enormous storm! It can be up to 600 miles across and have strong winds spiraling inward and upward at speeds of 75 to 200 mph. Each hurricane usually lasts for over a week, moving 10-20 miles per hour over the open ocean Hurricanes gather heat and energy through contact with warm ocean waters” (Weather Wiz). Scientists can usually predict a hurricane 's path 3-5 days in advance. Why didn’t President Bush warn the citizens of New Orleans about the disaster that was heading in their direction? Hurricane Katrina was the fifth hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. It was the costliest natural disaster, and the deadliest hurricane in the history of the United States. The final death toll was at 1,833, primarily from Louisiana (1,577) and Mississippi (266). More than half of these victims were senior citizens. Millions of citizens were left homeless along the Gulf Coast and in New Orleans. Katrina was the most catastrophic storm to strike the United States and the costliest storm in U.S. history, causing $108 billion in damage. Who is to blame for the mass destruction of the city of New
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.
...ve damage occurred in New England where federal disaster areas were declared for seven counties in Massachusetts, five in Maine, and one in New Hampshire. Off Staten Island, two men were drowned when their boat capsized. Other fatalities occurred when a man fishing from a bridge was either blown or swept off in New York and a fisherman was swept off the rocks at Narrangansett, RI by heavy surf. Offshore, six lives were lost when the Andrea Gail, a swordfishing boat, sank. Total damage in the Halloween Storm, as it came to be known because of its date, was in the hundreds of millions of dollars.”
Hurricanes occur all over the world, at different times, but commonly through June first and late November. However in late August 2005 a catastrophic hurricane struck. This was Hurricane Katrina. With winds traveling over one hundred miles per hour making it a category five on the Saffir- Simpson Hurricane Scale it was said to have cause billions of dollars’ worth of damage. Hurricane Katrina flooded nearly forty thousand homes, and killed at least two thousand people (“Hurricane”). An average category five hurricane has enough energy to power street lamps for more than twenty seven thousand hours (Williams 58). Knowing about Hurricane Katrina, and the devastation of the city in New Orleans would be beneficial. Also, general information on hurricanes can help civilians and people of higher authority better understand and prepare for damage that could once hit their town and community. Because experts know the general information on these storms they can help explain to the public why and how Hurricane Katrina and other hurricanes occur. Hopefully, in the future civilians will know and use this information to their advantage against hurricanes.