Draft for the Essay on Extreme Weather
Draft :
Title of the Essay : The 1953 floods had a major effect on all defences in
The 1953 was one of the latest biggest natural disasters. The essay will explain how such a big catastrophe was created, what were the consequences of the majors mistakes that took place at the time and finally how all of this resulted in the questioning of all the infrastructure against flood defences at the time so that so big losses do not happen again.
Firstly to understand the catastrophes that have taken place we need to understand how the storm surge, which as a finality lead to the flooding, was created. At the time meteorologists recorded a deep depression arriving from the Atlantic and that was leading East, this advanced to it passing through the North of Scotland. A very interesting phenomena of a highering of the tides occurred. When this depression passed, the water was sucked up. This is very common thing as it can be recorded and predicted, whenever the pressure drops by 1hPa the sea rises by 1cm. This water was then pushed across the ocean by strong winds by a phenomena called “wind drift”. This phenomena was increased when it was forced downwards through the North Sea. The North Sea acted as a funnel pushing the water to the south through the narrow and shallow area. The water though not able to escape through the Dover Straight and English channel was therefore trapped in the Southern Northern Sea. In 1953 this whole course was enhanced by very strong winds of the back flank of the depression whilst it was going east. This created extremely strong waves which also severly damaged the coastal defences.
Secondly we need to sense why this event marked many people lives. There were eno...
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..., and then evacuate if needed instead of placing immense barriers on the coastline. Reports though have stated that even though the country has invested in protecting the population against floods, still a lot of areas along the coastline remain I danger in case of a massive flood. As we know now, the UK is only equipped to protect the population for a one in 1000 year flood or surge event.
The period following the flooding, two major project were financed. One for the Netherlands and one for the British. In the Netherlands the project called the Maeslantkering started it’s construction in 1991, after it had been carefully planned since the the 1970’s. The construction finished itself 6 years later in 1997 and was opened on the 10th May. The principle of this, is whenever a storm surge over 3m is predicted in Rotterdam, the doors close themselves automatically.
Floods can be a very dangerous natural disaster because a flood has the power to move cars, buildings, and cause massive damage to life and property. Even the small floods that are only 30 centimetres or so can do massive damage to houses and if the
A major flood on any river is both a long-term and a short-term event, particularly any river basin where human influence has exerted "control" over the ri...
The “Dark Tide” by Stephen Puleo was the first book to tell the full story of “The Great Boston Molasses Flood.” The reason he wrote the nonfiction novel was to give the full accounting of what happened in the historical context. He used court records, newspaper accounts, and files from the fire department. He recrafted the tale about what actually happened with painstaking and terrifying details of those affected. Puleo creates a new way to view the dreadful catastrophe as something that changed Boston (“Dark Tide”).
Perks, Alan R. "The New Orleans Hurricane Protection System: What Went Wrong and Why." Canadian Consulting Engineer, 48.6 (2007): 10.
By August 28, evacuations were underway across the region. That day, the National Weather Service predicted that after the storm hit, “most of the [Gulf Coast] area will be uninhabitable for weeks…perhaps longer.” New Orleans was at particular risk. Though about half the city actually lies above sea level, its average elevation is about six feet below sea level–and it is completely surrounded by water. Over the course of the 20th century, the Army Corps of Engineers had built a system of levees and seawalls to keep the city from flooding. The levees along the Mississippi River were strong and sturdy, but the ones built to hold back Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Borgne and the waterlogged swamps and marshes to the city’s east and west were much less reliable. Even before the storm, officials worried that those levees, jerry-built atop sandy, porous, erodible soil, might not withstand a massive storm surge. Neighborhoods that sat below sea level, many of which housed the city’s poorest and most vulnerable people, were at great risk of
Hurricane Katrina was one of the most interesting and deadly hurricane to ever hit the United States. This hurricane devastated New Orleans and all of its inhabitants. This hurricane was especially devastating as New Orleans is 13 feet(3.9624 metres) below sea level. The government wasn’t prepared for the damage of New Orleans, and neither were the Levees. The Levee crash was one of the major causes of the flooding in New Orleans. The deaths and damages cost billions. After this storm many people didn’t want to move back to their home, New
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.
The historical event of Hurricane Katrina, a category three hurricane with winds ranging from 111-130 mph, in August 2005 revealed major structural failures in the levee systems of New Orleans. Though not all structural failures are as catastrophic, the breeched levees led to loss of life, homes, businesses, highways, and left a trail of destruction that is still being repaired today. The result of this failure led to lawsuits, conspiracy theories, and court cases. Hurricane Katrina had a major effect upon our country and those results are still rippling on today. Though a city once devastated, major improvements to the failed system have been made and leave the city feeling safe once again.
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
New Orleans flooding risks originated from its location characteristics in proximity of Mississippi River. Since its foundation up to 1927, New Orleans water and flooding threats originated from Mississippi River but human activities had contained this by 1930s. Regrettably, this led to additional water problems. Accordingly, the critical changes to the New Orleans environment originating from the human development worsened the water problems in area caused by the floods. In particular, the growth in ...
People who lived in Jersey City, New York filled sandbags with sand, and they built sandbag walls against doors and around tunnels to try and keep the water out. Some even boarded up their windows to help prevent flying objects from breaking the glass. Those who kept boats along the coast moved them to places that were safer. People even cut down trees to keep them from flinging into buildings or downing power lines.
Initially, it seemed as if the area would be relatively unscathed; however as the storm surge arrived, it overwhelmed many of the city’s unstable levees and drainage canals. Water seeped through the soil underneath some levees and swept others away altogether. By 9 a.m., low-lying places like St. Bernard Parish and the Ninth Ward were under so much water that people had to scramble to attics and rooftops for safety. Eventually, nearly 80 percent of the city was under some quantity of
...cane, the point of concern was how to rescue the lives of people and property. How was the impact to be handled and how long it would take to rebuild that which the hurricane destroyed.
Fink, Sheri. "Hurricane Katrina: after the flood." The Gaurdian. N.p., 7 Feb. 2014. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.
...cal consequences for survivors of future catastrophes. Communities should have a well prepared plan in dealing with disasters such as Hurricane Ivan. Unfortunately, Hurricane Ivan was the culprit of major damage among many communities, and many lives were lost. Of course there are no fingers to point because it is a force of the earth that caused this tragedy, but every day we are learning of better methods to prepare us for any disaster. It seems like we hear of a major natural storm outbreak almost every month, but every time it seems like we are more prepared. Scientists and engineers have teamed up to ensure that our architecture and safety plans are the best they can be. We're also developing technology that can help us to detect these incidents faster and earlier than before, so we hope that these incidents can be reduced to a minimum in the future.