Tropical storms case studies

Name the tropical storm case studies for a developing and developed county

• Developed - hurricane Katrina

• Developing - typhoon Haiyan

State the characteristics of hurricane Katrina

• Occurred in New Orleans, Mississippi

• Winds of 175mph

• Storm surges of up to 6m

• Category 5 storms

State predictions for hurricane Katrina

• US had a sophisticated monitoring system - satellites

• Meteorologists predicted and communicated the storm’s intensity

• National weather service predicted that “most of the [Gulf Coast] area will be uninhabitable for weeks…perhaps longer”

State the preparations for hurricane Katrina

• New Orleans’ Mayer Ray Nagis issued the city’s first ever mandatory evacuation order

  • 80% of the population evacuated

• He declared the Superdome as a “shelter or last resort”

  • 112,000 / 500,000 of the population had no cars

• The states of Louisiana and Mississippi declared states of emergency

State the social impacts of hurricane Katrina

Primary

• 1800 people were killed

• 300,000 homes were destroyed

• Transportation and communication networks were destroyed

Secondary

• Tens of thousands of people became homeless

• 3 million people had no access to electricity

• 1 million people along the Gulf Coast were displaced

State the economic impacts of hurricane Katrina

• Cost $125B to repair damages

• 230,000 jobs were lost

• Petrol costs in the UK and US rose due to oil spills

• Residents couldn’t get home insurance to cover the damages to their homes

State the environmental impacts of hurricane Katrina

• Oil spills in 44 facilities resulted in 7 US gallons of oil being lost

• Oil contaminated the water supply for 5 months

• Trees along the Gulf Coast were destroyed

• Levees failed, resulting in some areas being submerged in 3M of water

• 80% of New Orleans was flooded

State the short term responses to hurricane Katrina

• Coast Guard was mobilised to restore law and order

• Coast Guard rescued 34,000 people

• UK sent food aid

• US government gave $50B in aid

• FEMA/ the government was criticised for its slow response

State the long term responses to hurricane Katrina

• The reconstruction of damaged areas

• Levees were strengthened

• Re-homing those who lost their homes to temporary houses

• Restoring essential supplies e.g. water pipes, transportation/communication networks

State the characteristics of typhoon Haiyan

• Occurred in the Philippines

• Category 5 storm

  • Winds of up to 314kmph

State the predictions for typhoon Haiyan

• PAGASA (philippines atmospheric geophysical astronomical services administration) predicted it but it was only one line at the end of a routine weather bulletin so it didn’t effectively communicate the urgency

State the preparations for typhoon Haiyan

• Level 4 warning

• Military deployed troops to areas predicted to be the worst hit

• Areas predicted to be the worst hit were evacuated

State the social impacts of typhoon Haiyan

• 6,000 people died

• 1.1 million homes were destroyed

• High risk of diseases

• 8 people died in stampedes for rice supplies

• Power was cut

• Airport were badly damaged

• Over 1 million farmers and 600,000 hectares of land were affected

State the economic impacts of typhoon Haiyan

• Cost £12B to repair damages

• ¾ of farmers lost their jobs

• Damages to agriculture/fishing cost $724B

• By 2014, rice prices had risen by 11.9%

State the environmental impacts of typhoon Haiyan

• Roads were blocked by trees

• 800,000L of oil was leaked, which contaminated the water supply

  • Damaged 10 mangroves

• 90% of Tacloban was destroyed

State the short term responses to typhoon Haiyan

• Power was brought back after a week

• Rescue teams saved 800,000 people

• People fled to a reinforced indoor stadium in Tacloban but they died when it collapsed

• A curfew was imposed to reduce looting

• Multinational companies used their status to increase public donations

• The government sent out essential supplies

State the long term responses to typhoon Haiyan

• President was determined to build stronger houses

• A ‘no build’ zone was put in place in East Visayas

• A new storm surge warning system was put in place

• Previously destroyed mangroves were replanted