GG231 Chapter 11: Chapter 11 – Hurricanes
Document Summary
Hurricane katrina: most expensive, 1980 new orleans, most anticipated natural disaster, category 5 storm, natural weather service, 1 million evacuated, 1600 people died, why. Failure in design, construction, and maintenance of levees and flood walls. Over reliance on tech to protect life and property. Social and psychological denial of the hazard. Poverty and limited education of many residents in the affected area. Diversion of military and government resources to the conflict in iraq. Failures in political leadership, communication and public policy. System of flood insurance and post disaster aid that encouraged people to live in hazardous coastal areas. Rewarded developers, businesses, and individuals for rebuilding in. Most powerful storms on earth and among most deadly and costly. As climate changes and sea levels rise, the threat increases previously flooded zones. General term applied to large cells of moisture-laden air that rotate around an area of low pressure. Winds blow anticlockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise and the southern hemisphere.
