Hurricane Katrina
First exercise will be to look at the below photos and tell me your first thoughts when you look at the photos. This is to get imagination going and get them thinking in line with Hurricanes
To recap the last post, Hurricanes are an advanced form of tropical cyclones. They require ocean temperatures over 80 degrees Fahrenheit and moist coverging winds to form so mainly occur in tropical regions.
The above conditions were in place on the 23rd August 2005 when Hurricane Katrina formed over the Bahamas. Its path crossed Florida as a category 1 Hurricane reaching category 3 by the time it reached Louisiana with confirmed deaths of 1,836 people and causing damage estimated at $81 billion.
The video in the BBC link explains the path Katrina took and gives some idea of the strength of this Hurricane:
Hurricane Katrina was one of the five deadliest Hurricanes in the history of the USA being the 6th strongest ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean.
The video below is just a small example of the strength of Katrina:
So we know the causes of the Hurricanes but what makes them so devastating and what are the common consequences of a Hurricane:
1) Rain- Hurricanes bring with them huge amounts of rain with the majority of the rain falling within a very short space of time which can lead to expansive flooding
2) Winds - Deemed as one of the most devastating aspects of the Hurricanes are the high sustained winds. These cause extensive damage to buildings and homes and can cause storm surges
3) Storm surges - The occur when the hurricane causes a build up of water. When this conincides with high tide this can lead to flooding
All the above are not only dependent on the strength of the hurricane but how it collides with the land. Katrina was particularly devastating as it collided directly with the coast of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama with winds of 175mph.
Moving forward?
Below are some ways that America have tried to move forward and repair the extensive damage still there today:
- Repairing damaged Levees in New Orleans to try and protect against any future flooding. This was one of the reasons for the very large death toll
-Rebulding of over a hundred thousand homes lost in the disaster to rehome the many families still in temporary accomodation 6 years on
-Continual effort to improve tracking and prediction technology available
In summary, Hurricanes can be devastating natural disasters if the right conditions are in place and the location of where the Hurricane occurs collides with human life. As humans continue to battle against nature it only takes one guess to see who came out on top in 2005.
Example classroom exercises:
Tracking a hurricane- I have found a document on the TES website which has a really interactive activity involving tracking past Hurricanes on google earth. This could be expanded up to a full project looking at the causes and consequences of a particular disaster
True/False- Also found a quick summary quiz which has some quick statements about Hurricanes and its purely a game of whether they are true and false and would be good as an end to the whole topic
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