hurricane harvey in texas

Question 1

dates and storm details:

Answer 1

-25th august 2017
-saffir simpson scale:category 4
-wind speeds: 132 (212kph)
-rainfall: 27 trillion gallons

Question 2

what factors makes SE texas vunerable:

Answer 2

-large population
-city not designed to handle that kind of rainfall- high urbanised (impermeable surfaces)
-flat terrain and extensive greenfield development have combined to worsen flooding

Question 3

key social impacts:

Answer 3

-13 million affected- 88 died
-135000 homes damaged or destroyed
-300000 people left without electricity billions of dollars of property damage sustained
-schools closed

Question 4

key economic impacts:

Answer 4

-causing $125 billion in damage
-impact spread across the country as gas prices rose
-forced 25% of oil and gas production to shut down

Question 5

key environmental impacts:

Answer 5

-estemated 8 million cubic yards of garbage in houston alone
-nearly half billion gallons of industrial waste water mixed with storm water surged out of just one chemical plant in baytown
-benzene, vnyl chloride, butadiene and other known human cariogenes were among the dozens of tons of industrial chemicals released throughout houston petrochemical corridor

Question 6

preperation:

Answer 6

-nhc monitored the storm as it developed and moved westwards across the alardic
-august 24: ocean ports began to shut down
-houston fire department prepositioned certain assets, including rescue resources and evacuation boats
-preperations were made to staff dump trucks from the public works department as high-water rescue vehicles

Question 7

relief:

Answer 7

100000 rescue missions led by authorities and first responders
-world vision emerged with 60 church partners and other community organizations in the affected areas to mobalize resources from around the country
-30000 federal defence staff deployed 9 days after storm
-coast guard deployed 2060 personel, 50 aircraft, 75 boats and 29 cutters
-FEMA assigned 28 urban search and rescue teams from across the nation. saved 6453 people & 237 animals
-FEMA supplied 3 million meals, 3 million litres of water
-the department of health and human services deployed more than 1110 personnel with medical equiptment and supplies

Question 8

rehabilitation:

Answer 8

-rubish clearance was the priority immediatley after the storm
-recovery slowed due to diverted funds following irma and maria
-in the 11 months after harvey, they provided emergency relief supplies, building materials, appliances and other supplies to about 246,000 people

Question 9

reconstruction: sept 2018

Answer 9

-the nearly 13 million cubic yards of debris is gone long before sept 2018
-27% of hispanic texans whose homes were badly damaged reported that those homes remained unsafe to live in compared to 20% black, 11% white
- some of houstons most vuberable and impoverished residents remain in early stages of their rebuilding effort
-in the poorest communities residents are still living with relatives or friends