Lesson 17-What are the hazards created by tropical storms and are they becoming more intense and frequent?

Question 1

All the hazards associated with tropical storms?

Answer 1

• High winds
• Storm surges
• Flash floods
• River flooding
• Urban floods
• Landslides

Question 2

High winds

Answer 2

• Winds near the centre can turn objects into missiles of destruction
• Damages of this can be felt hundreds of miles away from the centre and well inland
  e.g Hurricane Patrisha, Mexico 2015 had winds of 225mph

Question 3

Storm surges

Answer 3

• A change in sea level from the usual predicted tides
• Water levels driven by weather systems
• Low pressure> rising air>less air pushing down on surface>sea level rises>flooding
• 1cm depth is equal to 1 millibar of pressure
• Katrina had a 8m storm surge

Question 4

River flooding

Answer 4

• Occur when the runoff from terrential rains brought on by decaying hurricanes or tropical storm reach the rivers
  -lots of excessive water from river floods may begin as flash floods

Question 5

Flash floods

Answer 5

• Rapid occuring event
  -begin with a few mins or hours of excessive rainfall
  -can reach heights of 30 feet or more and can occur anywhere due to rain

Question 6

Urban floods

Answer 6

• Rapid events but not as servere as flash floods
  -streets will flood due to impermeable surfaces
  -10% of all land in USA is paved roads so water runs into sewage and drains

Question 7

Landslides

Answer 7

• Heavily rainfall saturates soil and therefore soil cant hold materials pn steep surfaces
  -depends on geology and lubricated surfaces
  -e.g Sri Lanka, led to 220 families missing

Question 8

Why is magnitude and frequency of tropical storms changing?

Answer 8

• Warming of the surface ocean from human- individual climate change is likely fueling more powerful tropical storms
• Destructive power of storms through flooding is amplified by rising sea level which contributes to the global scale from anthropogenic climate change