Preparing + Responding to Tropical Cyclones (Hurricane Katrina + Typhoon Haiyan)

What is the difference from response and preparation in tropical cyclones?

Responding is how people deal with effects afterwards and preparation is how people deal with effects beforehand

How to people respond to a tropical cyclone?

• Rescue teams - search for trapped people, speed at which they arrive at the location will affect survival figures

• Providing clean water, food, medicine and shelter - impacts people surviving and don’t suffer from injury malnutrition and death.

• Repair + rebuild the affected area, restoring power, access to clean water + cleaning roads allowing people to get from one area to another safely.

Four preparations for tropical cyclones?

• Satellite tracking + radar

• Monitoring atmospheric pressure

• Modelling / forecasting

• Communication

How can you use satellite tracking + radar for preparation of tropical cyclones?

• Large expanses of oceans are monitored to find distinctive tropical storm cloud patterns. Progress can be tracked in real time

• When the eye is developed, tropical cyclones are easy to spot on satellite images but prior to this point it’s hard to distinguish from other weather because of cirrus cloud canopies.

• Radars can also be used to provide info like precipitation levels but are very expensive.

How can you monitor atmospheric pressure for preparation of tropical cyclones?

• Early indication of cyclones forming at areas of low pressure - most likely the source area.

• But oceans cover vast areas + reading must be done locally

• So buoys are anchored in tropical areas + send readings to land including windspeed

• Ships also record this data

• If tropical cyclones get close to shore, data can be used to predict storm surge.

• Phones are also flown into the upper atmosphere to take very accurate reading

How can modelling / forecasting help preparation of tropical cyclones?

• Inputting data - pressure, sea temperature, windspeed and direction. We can estimate the likely track of tropical cyclones.

• Predicting landfall and patterns of intensity + dissipation

• More data can make it more accurate

• Uses data from satellite trackers + monitoring atmosphere pressure

How can communication help preparation of tropical cyclones?

• As predictions are made, governments activate defence - storm surge barriers, order evacuations in high risk areas + prepare emergency services

• Areas with regular tropical storms, governments create storm shelters + evacuation points away from hazards (on stilts)

• People given regular information + training to be prepared, how to evacuate and what to bring

• Information regarding tropical cyclones can be hared on TV, radio, online, social media, loudspeakers or posters in area with less developed media coverage

Background Information about Typhoon Haiyan

• Landfall on 7.11.2013

• Category 5

• Formed in Wester Pacific ocean on 21.11.2013

Primary Impacts about Typhoon Haiyan

• Storm surge of 5m

• Wind speeds above 250km/h

• 7000 deaths

• $7 billion worth damage

• People were made homeless

• Electricity poles knocked down and interrupted

• Roads were blocked because of fallen trees

• 90% of Tacloban was destroyed

Secondary impacts about Typhoon Haiyan

• Infection + disease spread

• Survivors fought for food + supplies

• Education was disrupted

• Rice prices increased 12% by 2014

• Airport was damaged

• Oil tanker leaked on the coast and 800,000L of oil contaminated water + mangroves

Preparation for Typhoon Haiyan + Evaluation

• Japan assisted in tracking the typhoon (providing time for local and national governments to issue evacuation)

• The government used Public Storm Warning Systems to warn people across the country (it was originally a level 1but as the typhoon moved closer, it increased to level 4)

• Evacuations ordered for those at risk in areas of flooding + landslide (The military sent planes + helicopters to areas of high risk)

• Some emergency shelters were flooded because they were too low (Evacuation points were compromised so death toll was increased + people left to find shelter)

Response for Typhoon Haiyan + Evaluation

• 7 provinces were put under a “state of national calamity” (Warned beforehand so people could evacuate earlier and lower death)

• Relief efforts were sent out (but they were slowed because of landslides, debris and airport damage)

• Sea water contaminated water sources (Water pipes were burst so there was no clean water for a long time)

• Electricity was down so there were no lights (Evacuation effort had to occur after the typhoon so many people were injured)

• Aid was slow to for other areas because they were focused on Tacloban (People in other areas felt abandoned, because of this the death toll rose)

Background Information about Hurricane Katrina

• USA

• 29.8.2005

• Category 5

• Landfall on the South Coast having travelled across the Gulf Of Mexico

Primary Impacts about Hurricane Katrina

• 1836 people died

• 154,522 houses were destroyed

• Electricity cut off

• 80% of New Orleans flooded + some 4.5m underwater

• Coastal habitat damaged, bridges + infrastructure collapsed

• 6m storm surge

• Sheltered at the New Orleans Superdome by the FEMA

Secondary Impacts about Hurricane Katrina

• Population of New Orleans fell from 1.386 million to 1.04 million because of death displacement. Never fully recovered, in 2014 1.25 million

• 2400 business closed / bankrupt

• Thousands became homeless

• Sewers overflowed + entered water supply, contaminating + causing disease

• Total damage of $125 billion

Preparation of Hurricane Katrina + evaluation

• Good forecasting + tracking systems monitoring Katrina from formation to the day of landfall (Able to predict where + when it would make landfall so people could evacuate prior)

• Mayer of New Orleans ordered evacuation of the city (Many weren’t able to leave as they didn’t own a car, around 80% of the population were able to evacuate)

• Levees and barriers in place to prevent storm surge + coastal flooding inundating the city (These were overwhelmed as they hadn’t been properly maintained or upgraded so 80% of the city was flooded)

• American Football Stadium, the Superdome was used as shelter (It was on a higher ground + could hold 1000s of people)

Response of Hurricane Katrina + evaluation

• Forecasters predict the date of rainfall (It gave people time to evacuate the city with belongings to survive)

• Response by local + national government was very slow (So people were left stranded, death toll increases)

• There weren’t enough supplies for those in the Superdome (People arrived after the Hurricane as hey had nowhere else to go, increasing demand of space + supply, led to fights between civilians, so more people were injured + killed)

• Federal Emergency Management Agency was unprepared for the intensity (Led to less people being aided + evacuated, increasing the death toll)

• Poor communities didn’t have cars + couldn’t escape, felt betrayed by the government ( So the death toll rose)