Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
how to manage disasters
how to manage disasters
strategies to tackle natural and man made disaster
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: how to manage disasters
The Mississippi Floods
One of the largest floods n the Mississippi was in the summer of 1993.
* The Mississippi River at St. Louis, Missouri, was above flood
stage for 144 days between April 1 and September 30, 1993.
* Approximately 3 billion cubic meters of water overflowed from the
river channel onto the floodplain downstream from St. Louis.
* All large Midwestern streams flooded including the Mississippi,
Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Des Moines and Wisconsin rivers.
* Seventeen thousand square miles of land were covered by
floodwaters in a region covering all or parts of nine states
(North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa,
Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois).
[IMAGE] The Mississippi river basin had two parts to it the upper
basin and the lower basin. These two areas are located on the map
shown above but Flooding was confined to the Upper Mississippi because
the river channel widens considerably south of Thebes, and the Lower
Mississippi received lower than average inflow from tributaries.
The floods were caused by a weather system coming in from the Gulf of
Mexico. This front is shown in this diagram.
[IMAGE]
The Effects of The Floods were:
It was excellent for the farmers on the Mississippi flood plain. The
floodwater made the soils again rich and fertile. However there were a
variety of problems. In the Short term crop production dropped by up
to 10%, A Quarter of a million people were left without clean water
and 25,000 were actually evacuated. The floods also had economic
effects as The river could not be used by Ships, So power stations
which used the channel for transporting coal, had to plough into
reserve supplies, across Illinois and Iowa isolated building went
without power. |The transport problem cost almost $1 million per day
and lasted 2 months.
Flood Prevention
================
Case study: the flooding that occurred in Minden Hills in the spring of 2013, flooded the downtown core. The picturesque cottage town has the Gull River flowing through it. The river overflowed in April because of many reasons: a couple of days of rain, the third largest amount in over a century, but it also happened because the frost in the ground stopped the water from going into the Earth, the lakes and rivers being full from the spring thaw, and the rapid
The Missisippi was also managed in New Orleans to limit flooding. This was done through levies that were at first naturally built by the river’s mud flows during floods. Later the levies were built higher and higher to keep the flooding Mississippi into the New Orleans area. But the levies were often ineffective in managing, or led to more flooding. Kelman explains this when they write “With the development in the Mississippi Valley ongoing and artificial banks confining more runoff inside the channel, the river set new high-water marks” (Pg 702). Yet this is not the only example of the failure of Mississippi river management. Only 10 years ago, New Orleans’ levies failed, an example of the inability to control the flooding.
In a passage from his book, Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America, author John M. Barry makes an attempt use different rhetorical techniques to transmit his purpose. While to most, the Mississippi River is only some brown water in the middle of the state of Mississippi, to author John M. Barry, the lower Mississippi is an extremely complex and turbulent river. John M. Barry builds his ethos, uses elevated diction, several forms of figurative language, and different styles of syntax and sentence structure to communicate his fascination with the Mississippi River to a possible audience of students, teachers, and scientists.
The Mississippi Secession Convention consisted of delegates that the majority of them were pro-secession and also pro- slavery. The idea of secession came about because Mississippians feared that Abraham Lincoln was going to abolish slavery. The delegates in the convention held similar political and religious views. The fate of Mississippi leaving the Union was in the hands of the delegates that were chosen. The Mississippi Convention delegates were in distraught on their slavery institute being abolished by the upcoming presidential election because they felt they had rights to hold and protect slaves due to their wealth and hierarchy in the position of jobs.
Even though it is the responsibility of the federal and state governments to aid citizens during times of disaster, the people devastated by Hurricane Katrina were not effectively facilitated as according to their rights as citizens of the United States. The government’s failures to deliver assistance to citizens stem from inadequate protection systems in place before the storm even struck. The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security were the two largest incumbents in the wake of the storm. The failure of these agencies rests on the shoulders of those chosen to head the agency. These directors, appointed by then president George W. Bush, were not capable of leading large government agencies through a crisis, let alone a disaster the magnitude of Hurricane Katrina. Along with the federal government, the state of Louisiana and the city of New Orleans did not do enough to lesseb the damage caused by the storm, and forced thousands of poorer citizens to remain in cramped and unsanitary conditions for extended periods of time. The culmination of federal, state, and local government’s failures in suppressing and repairing the damage of Hurricane Katrina to a level acceptable for citizens of the United States is a denial of the rights citizens of the United States hold.
The Mississippi River Flood of 1927 was one of the most devastating floods in the country. The flood had a major effect on the economy. Because of the flood, thousands of acres of agricultural land and animals were lost, many homes were destroyed, and people were displaced.
Hurricane Katrina has affected the lives of thousands of Americans. According to Anne Waple of NOAA’s National Climate Data Center, Katrina is “one of the most devastating natural disasters in recent US history” leaving “At least 80% of New Orleans…under flood water”. Film director, Spike Lee, in his documentary, When the Levees Broke, looks into the lives of the people of New Orleans that was affected by Hurricane Katrina. Lee’s purpose is to address racial disparities, political issues, and the discrimination against helping victims during the storm. He adopts a straightforward tone from the victims and outsiders in order to illustrate how the residents of New Orleans were affected by failures of the government for the duration of Katrina, before and after. Despite the government programs and their slow attempt to help, the government did not act quickly in the events of Hurricane Katrina because many residents of New Orleans did not receive the great amount of aid they were promised.
The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 was one of the most destructive in the history of the United States, proving that the levee only policy was a failure and the limits of human control over the river. The beginning of the flood, from the initial crevasse, poured out “468,000 second-feet onto the Delta that triple the volume of a flooding Colorado, more than double a flooding Niagara Falls and the entire upper Mississippi ever carried” (pg 203). The flood of 1927 “shifted perceptions of the role and responsibility of the federal government… shattered the myth of a quasi-feudal bond between Delta blacks and the southern aristocracy...accelerated the great migration of blacks north. And it altered both southern and national politics....” (pg 422). America is a product of the flood of 1927 in shaping the political, social, and economic structure. With each reoccurring disaster, America, in that region, continues to face the same issues regarding social conditions and poor working conditions that failed to be addressed.
Canada is a great place to live. Winnipeg… is good enough. Winnipeg is known for its diverse population, festive multiculturalism, beautiful architecture, vast prairie land and The Jets. One thing Winnipeg is definitely not known for, being a geological hazards hot spot. These hazards are geological events that take place, which have an impact on civilization. Canada is impacted by a wide scope of events ranging from earthquakes to fires. However, Winnipeg is lucky to be conveniently located away from any seismic activity, any threat of coastal dangers, any mountain risks and lastly it is absent of even the slightest volcano. Therefore, what Winnipeg lacks in attraction it makes up for in safety. In spite of its perceived security this major Canadian city is unfortunately prone to some very serious dangers. It is home to very cold, lengthy winters, dreadful storms that lead to wet springs. Scientifically speaking “geohazards are any geological or hydrological process that poses a threat to people and/or their property” (Bilderback, 2013). Thus, the geological hazards that will be discussed in this paper are flooding, landslides, and severe weather including tornadoes and storms.
Black Life on the Mississippi builds on an impressive and imaginative body of primary sources. A number of slave narratives, most prominently the recollections of William Wells Brown, and WPA ex-slave interviews provide an inside view of life on the Mississippi. Buchanan also employs newspapers, drawing especially useful information from runaway slave advertisements. Plantation records explain the role that slave work on steamboats played in the region's economy. Where Buchanan moves beyond the expected range of sources is by using a wealth of court records. When a slave was killed or escaped while leased to a steamboat captain, chances were good that there would be a lawsuit. Free blacks and slaves took advantage of federal admiralty laws that extended into America's waterways and gave them legal standing not enjoyed by most of their contemporaries. And during Reconstruction, newly confident steamboat workers often took their employers to court.
Life can bring unexpected events that individuals might not be prepared to confront. This was the case of O’Brien in the story, “On the Rainy River” from the book The Things They Carried. As an author and character O’Brien describes his experiences about the Vietnam War. In the story, he faces the conflict of whether he should or should not go to war after being drafted. He could not imagine how tough fighting must be, without knowing how to fight, and the reason for such a war. In addition, O’Brien is terrified of the idea of leaving his family, friends and everything he loves behind. He decides to run away from his responsibility with the society. However, a feeling of shame and embarrassment makes him go to war. O’Brien considers himself a coward for doing something he does not agree with; on the other hand, thinking about the outcome of his decision makes him a brave man. Therefore, an individual that considers the consequences of his acts is nobler than a war hero.
The Cumberland and Cumberland River basin experienced a 36 hour rainfall that produced flooding in Nashville and its greater area (After Action Report, II). The 2010 two day storm was believed to be greater than a 100 year event. Storm activity began on May 1st and 2nd which created a large scale flash flood along the Cumberland and Lower Tennessee rivers, and within its tributaries. Historically the Cumberland River basin has received great amounts of precipitation and has experienced extreme rainfall before, making it prone to severe flooding (After Action Report, I). Some of the historic floods that have affected the Cumberland River are the December 1926, January 1927, January 1937 and March 1975 floods, which produced a maximum flood height in much of the river. Before the May 2010 flood, the Cumberland River reached a flood stage of 45.26 feet during the May 1987 flood which was a result of a series of flooding events that took place during an extensive amount of time (After Action Report, 4). The 2010 flood which affected much of Nashville acted more like a flash flood, which produced record breaking rainfall for much of the area. According to the Quantitative Precipitation Forecast (QPF) on April 30th rainfall totaled 7.8 inches across central Tennessee. The report also states that there was a widespread of rainfall equaling to 2 to 6 inch in total, over southeastern US stretching to Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. Rainfall for parts of western Tennessee and Kentucky totaled 3 to 4 inches with a high of 4.65 inches (After Action Report, III). As it is stated by the report areas around Nashville received more than 13 inches of rain in a span of 36 hours, which doubled the record set by the September 1979 flood event. At th...
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.
Memphis Tennessee floodings are awful events, but some have left their mark in history, and have impacted society making many people search for solutions. Historical flooding events have dated back beyond 1927, but Memphis’s first calamitous flood was in 1927, then in 2011, but between those dates there have been street floods that happen without interacting with the river. Many important aspects of everyday life are lost during floods such as lives, homes, and money. People have been searching for solutions to prevent floods, and ideas that are executed well could easily become an ideal panacea. Memphis is where I have been raised and experienced several floods, which gives me a much stronger feeling about the history, impacts, and techniques to stop floods.
Not known to many, the genre of rock music originated from gospel music sung on the slave plantations in early Mississippi. A common musical device used in rock music is known as “call and response”. This is where the singer sings the line and everyone else involved in the chorus repeats that line. This came from slaves working in the fields and singing songs to get through the day. Theses hymns are fondly referred to as “negro spirituals”. In Anne Moody’s novel, Coming of Age in Mississippi we revisit African Americans in Mississippi struggling not through slavery, but through the oppression of the Civil Rights Era. At the same plantation but in a different time, Jim crow has made life almost impossible for blacks to get by in the South. In a country were all men were created equal, laws were put in place to ensure that blacks could never achieve equality. Through Anne Moody’s work and through the work of musical artists Johnny Cash, and Nas, we will discover just how far we may or may not have come.