Picture yourself going about your regular day, on your home after work and you hear that there’s a storm brewing. There’s still dinner to prepare, get the family fed, kids homework done and maybe some TV time after before bed. Watching the news you see that the storm was upgraded to a tropical depression, you can expect high winds and rain. After hearing this you decide to batten down the hatches so to speak, you close your shutters, get flashlights and maybe shutoff your gas. Feeling sufficiently prepared you go bed satisfied.
Later that night you’re awakened by what you can only describe a roaring sound and you realize that the storm sounds worse, you turn on the TV and the storm’s been upgraded to a tropical storm and now you can expect winds 40 mph winds and it’s only going to get worse. Now picture that it’s 1975 and you live in the Henan Province, where the housing and infrastructure aren’t up to the task that nature has set for them. There are houses today in many developed countries that cannot withstand a hurricane or a typhoon. In 1975 the Chinese and Taiwanese were overwhelmed by nature.
Most people don’t realize that typhoon’s and hurricanes are basically tropical cyclones. Our textbook defines a tropical cyclone as a “large thunderstorm complexes rotating around an area of low pressure that has formed over warm tropical or subtropical ocean water.” (Keller 334) They are named based on strength and location. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or NOAA a "hurricanes are located in the North Atlantic Ocean, the Northeast Pacific Ocean east of the dateline, or the South Pacific Ocean east of 160E) and a typhoon is located in the Northwest Pacific Ocean west of the dateline.”
Typhoon...
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...Over China by Ding Yihui, Springer 1994 edition (December 31, 1993), page 229.
Staff Writer (August 4, 1975). "Typhoon batters Taiwan". The Montreal Gazette. p. 2. Retrieved July 19, 2010.
Watkins, Thayer. "The Catastrophic Dam Failures in China in August 1975." The Catastrophic Dam Failures in China in August 1975. San Jose University, n.d. Web. 25 Nov. 2013. .
Xinhua. "After 30 Years, Secrets, Lessons of China's Worst Dams Burst Accident Surface."People's Daily Online -- After 30 Years, Secrets, Lessons of China's Worst Dams Burst Accident Surface. People's Daily Online, 1 Oct. 2005. Web. 11 Nov. 2013. http://english.people.com.cn/200510/01/eng20051001_211892.html Ying, Xie. "Dams in Distress." News China. News China Magazine, Oct. 2012. Web. 25 Nov. 2013. .
The Oroville dam is a rock fill embankment dam, which means, a water barrier that is made with certain materials so that it isn’t prone to erosion or deterioration. Because the material is so heavy due to the need for a secure dam, , it creates a much stronger barrier and base to its foundation. A study was done to see if a rock fill dam is the most stable type of dam to hold the amount of water it is expected to. The study tested different types of dams stability compared to the stability of a rock fill, and ultimately found that the rock fill is completely acceptable and safe (Lei). The Feather River is the only river to feed into the dam, filling it to its total capacity of 3,507,977 acre/ft.
Director Owen Lammers calls it one of the "largest and most environmentally and socially destructive projects on Earth"(Maier, 1997). One of China’s oldest dreams is becoming its newest reality. Since 1914 the idea has arisen of damming the Yangtze River. China plans to do this with a 600-foot, cement wall which will take eleven years to complete and costs could rise to over 75 billion dollars. The dam is claimed to have many advantages for China and the Chinese. Three Gorges is expected to produce around one-tenth of the nation’s energy, without the use of coal, improving air quality. Also, the natural floods that occur with the Yangtze river will be stopped, supposedly saving thousands of lives in the future. The first thing needed to keep the project going is money, and many United States senators see this as a great opportunity for jobs, but it is also viewed as a good investment. Fortunately, the U.S. Export-Import Bank, (for the first time), "…denied financing solely on environmental grounds"(Giaccia, 1997). These advantages are easily outweighed by the disadvantages of this proposal; this monument threatens the environment, but construction will ensue.
Treaster, Joseph B. "Back-to-Back Punch of Two Hurricanes is Expected to Extract a $40 Billion Toll." The New York Times (2004). Web.
On September 8, 1900, the United States experienced the most devastating natural disaster in history, the 1900 storm. Originating as a tropical storm off the coast of Cuba, the 1900 storm didn’t reach hurricane status until passing Key West, Florida. While in the eastern part of the Gulf of Mexico, the storm took an unexpected turn heading towards the Texas coast. Because of the lack of technology during this era, the people were warned that a storm of moderate intensity was headed toward them. Unaware that the storm was forcefully gaining speed, the Galvestonians were in no way prepared for the extraordinary weather which was quietly approaching. Suddenly, the ruthless hurricane struck the shores of Galveston, Texas, one of the wealthiest cities in the United States, famous for its shipping port. The brutal winds of the storm shocked the city, as they desperately sought shelter.
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.
died building this first of the great high dams, and in context the worn phrase
Hurricanes are extremely large area’s of low pressure that are over the ocean in either the North Atlantic ocean, or the eastern North Pacific Ocean. If a hurricane is in the western Pacific Ocean than it is called a typhoon. One in the Indian Ocean is called a cyclone. The danger region of a hurricane is normally in the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean. The hurricane season is the six month time period from June-November. The peak month of hurricanes is September.
These same tropical storms are known as cyclones in the northern Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal, and as typhoons in the western Pacific Ocean. The Atlantic Ocean’s hurricane season points from mid-August to late October and averages five to six hurricanes each year. 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 are enormous heat engines that generate energy on a staggering scale. They draw heat from warm, moist ocean air and release it through condensation of water vapor in thunderstorms. A current hurricane that occurred was Big Sandy. FEMA became involved with the issue when the hurricane hit Rockaway, New York. President Obama declared a major disaster on October 30, 2012. According to what President Obama said, “We're going to have a lot of work to do. I don't want anybody to feel that somehow this is all going to get cleaned up overnight. We want to make sure that people have realistic expectations. You know, we go through tough times, but we bounce back. And the reason we bounce back is because we look out for one another and we don't leave anybody behind. And so my commitment to the people on this block, the people in this community, and the people of this state is that that same spirit will carry over all the way through until our work is done. In this country, we look out for one another.
Pottinger, Lori. "Environmental Impacts of Large Dams: African Examples." International Rivers. N.p., 1 Oct. 1996. Web. 04 May 2014.
"1970 Cyclone Changes the Course of History." Innocent Corner. WordPress, 7 Oct. 2010. Web. 1 Dec.
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.
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR AND BUREAU OF RECLAMATION. (1985) Hoover Dam. Washingto, D.C., pp. 56.
Once the storm arrives, stay inside and away from walls and windows that could collapse or be blown away. If it is during the night, have a flashlight near-by so that you can find your way around in case of a power failure. Don’t use the telephone either unless it’s absolutely necessary. Many people may be trying to make emergency calls and the phone lines may be knocked down in some areas.
The paragraphs below will prove that the construction and presence of dams always has and will continue to leave devastating effects on the environment around them. Firstly, to understand the thesis people must know what dams are. A dam is a barrier built across a water course to hold back or control water flow. Dams are classified as either storage, diversion or detention. As you could probably notice from it's name, storage dams are created to collect or hold water for periods of time when there is a surplus supply.
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.