Impact Of Hurricanes In Florida Essays - Atlantic Hurricane Seasons

Impact Of Hurricanes In Florida IMPACT OF HURRICANES IN FLORIDA INTRODUCTION According to the National Hurricane Center, a hurricane releases heat energy at a rate of 50 trillion to 200 trillion watts, which is equivalent to the energy from exploding 10 megaton bombs every 20 minutes. With such strength, it is no wonder why these natural disasters have such large destructive impacts on the environment. Furthermore, hurricanes are of extreme importance to Florida, since they have historically plagued the state, especially in 1992 with Hurricane Andrew. Since it is certain that hurricanes will hit Florida and equally certain that biological populations (including people) will exist in Florida, there is a need for researching methods to coexist with these monstrous storms. IMPACTS OF HURRICANES First, to be able to create solutions to hurricane damage, experts must understand the physical manner in which hurricanes actually cause damage. Roger Pielke, in his hurricane book, The Hurricane, identifies four impacts of a hurricane: storm surge, extreme winds, tornadoes, and rainfall. These impacts are not completely separate from each other; they interact, but are different in scope. Storm surge refers to the rapid rise of sea level as a storm approaches a coastline. This is the biggest impact of a hurricane and accounts for 90% of hurricane deaths (Pielke 1990). Storm surges are caused by three factors. First, the overlying atmosphere pressure drops. Second, strong onshore winds cause a piling up of water at the coast. Third, the decreasing sea depths as the ocean approaches the coast causes the surge to get steeper. A storm surge of 15 feet corresponds to a level 5 hurricane, and a surge greater than 5 feet can cause major damage and loss of life. Since surges diminish as they move inland, surges are mostly destructive to beaches. Extreme winds, which carry a lot of kinetic energy, can cause significant structural damage and even endanger life with dangerous debris. The damage of winds is proportional to the kinetic flow, which is exponential. For example, a wind of 50 ms-1 is four times greater than winds of 25 ms-1. In addition, winds are not restricted to the coasts; extreme winds appear and are destructive far inland. Tornadoes are connected with extreme winds. Although hurricane induced tornadoes are not as strong as the ?normal? ones that appear in the Midwest, they still cause a lot of damage and are dangerous to life. Tornadoes are mysterious, but there are theories on their causes. Tornadoes form as a response to large vertical shears of horizontal wind that develop as lower level wind is slowed by ground friction. The large velocity shears tilt due to spatially varying vertical motion, which causes circulation to complete the tornado. Tornadoes can form far inland. Rainfall is the mildest impact, although it still causes major damage and erosion. Even weak tropical disturbances can cause extreme rainfall. This extreme rainfall can cause flash floods or cause body of waters to flood. Rainfall becomes excessive at and after the hurricane hits land. FLORIDA PROBLEMS WITH HURRICANES According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Florida had the most hurricane strikes from 1900 to 1996 of any other state in the United States with 57 hurricanes. Texas was a far second with 36. With such an intense hurricane history, it is no wonder why hurricanes are a major environmental problem facing Florida. For examples, a 1928 hurricane hit Lake Okeechobe and killed 1800 people (Stormfax Weather Almanac 1997), and 1994 Hurricane Gordon caused significant beach erosion along Florida's east coast and $275 million in agricultural damage by flooding Dade and Collier counties (NHC Hurricane Andrew 1994). The best example of the powerful destruction of hurricanes to Florida is hurricane Andrew. According to the National Hurricane Center's report on hurricane Andrew, total damage was estimated at $25 billion! Fortunately, good preparation prevented major loss of life as 26 people died directly from the hurricane. Over $2 billion dollars was needed to cope with environmental damage from the storm. Also, Ocean Oil reported that there were seven incidents of pollution from the hurricane destroying oil structures in the Gulf of Mexico. Perhaps worst of all, the $15 billion of damage to private property left many people homeless, with most of their possessions destroyed. This hurricane caused

Annotated Bibliography For Gang Violence Research Paper Example

Annotated Bibliography For Gang Violence Research Paper Example Annotated Bibliography For Gang Violence Paper Annotated Bibliography For Gang Violence Paper Academic Search Premier Obscenest (accessed July 21 , 2014) In this article the authors focus on limiting or disentangling youth gang membership. They also talk about the violence associated with youth gang members. They explain and give data that supports violent and nonviolent offenses committed by youth gang members. Youths that report gang membership whether female or male experience some type of violence throughout their adolescence years. This article basically promotes how strongly gangs influence youths and how life situations can lead to criminal involvement. It highlights ways to prevent youths from turning to gangs for family support and love. The article also recommends interventions to shorten gang careers. This article will help me come up with ways to stop youths from becoming gang members and slowing down gang violence involving youths. Congress of the LLC. S. , Washington, DC. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Youth Violence and Gangs. Hearing on the status of the Juvenile Justice System in America, Focusing on Activities of Youth Gangs and Their Access to Guns, and How Programs Can Help Prevent the Violence Associated with Youth Gangs before the Subcommittee on Juvenile Justice of the Committee or the Judiciary. United States Senate, One Hundred seconds Congress First Session, (November 26, 1991) n. P. : 1992. Eric Obscenest (access July 21, 2014) This article discusses several different ways to prevent youth gang violence. It talks about how youth and gang violence is ruining the country. It enlightens you on how youths are being robbed, raped and killed by one another. It talks bout strengthen law enforcement and about securing a safe haven for the next generation. I had no idea youth gang violence was this massive. Gang violence involving youth membership has gained attention worldwide and this article will be useful toward research paper. Simon T, Ritter N, Menhaden R, editors. Changing Course: Preventing Gang Membership. Washington, D. C. : U. S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013 This article discusses different options on how to prevent youths from joining gangs, which will change the course of their future. It talks about how it requires the public health and safety professionals to work together to minimize youth membership and gang violence. It list key points on why youths join gangs. This article talks about supporting community activities and addressing substance abuse. It educates you on some great ways of resolving youth gang membership. This articles offers a lot of facts and solution to preventing youths from joining gangs and it will be very helpful in writing my research paper.

Reply to a letter + rationale Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Reply to a letter + rationale - Essay Example As you may know, this could easily be done if you check the expiry dates of the products you buy while you are in the store itself, if the instances of what you accuse are so rampant. Since you have failed to do either of these or to get the testimony of someone whose identity is trustworthy for the public, you are doing nothing misleading the people and gossiping about an institution of good repute for some ulterior motive. I would like to point out some inconsistencies in your argument that Jawad is poisoning its customers in order to make a profit. If you were as much concerned about the health of the people in your locality, you would have tried to do something about the issue as soon as you found out that the puff pastry you bought during Ramadan had expired a day before. However, taking into account the fact that you could have thought of this as a rare incident, one could comprehend your possible excuses for not responding. But it remains the fact that it would have been an id eal time to reveal the store’s hidden motives (if they existed) since you could easily have gone back to the store (because of the store’s â€Å"proximity to your house†) and demanded to check the remaining twin puff pastry with the â€Å"special offer† for Ramadan. Well, the second time a similar incident took place could have been sufficient enough to infuriate you. You should have taken back the nose spray, along with its bill, to the pharmacy as soon as you found out that it had expired two months ago. Instead, you just â€Å"tossed it in the trash†. Your confession that this is another instance of â€Å"more carelessness† is indeed a convincing one. Otherwise, you could have checked the expiry date at the pharmacy store itself, which customers usually do. And your â€Å"strike three† incident sounds all the more curious, since you do not even mention when you found out that the snack bar you bought expired in October. I find that your