Natural Disasters

    Over the past few months, weeks, days, there have been many natural disasters. Hurricanes, earthquakes, and wildfires have caused massive destruction in North America. You are probably wondering what has caused these disasters and different scientists have different theories.   One of the first of the many natural disasters of this year were hurricanes. The first hurricane was Hurricane Harvey. Harvey made landfall on the evening of August 25th as a category 4 hurricane on the United States. It was the first category 4 hurricane since Hurricane Charley in 2004. The storm brought raging winds, heavy rainfall, and a powerful storm surge while hitting the Gulf Coast of Mexico, Texas, and its surrounding states. Experts were estimating up to $180 billion in damages. The second hurricane was a category 5 hurricane also known as Hurricane Irma. It hit Florida the morning of September 10th ripping off roofs, flooding coastal cities, and knocking out power to more than 6.8 million people. The damage estimate was up to $100 billion. The last hurricane I’m going to talk about is Hurricane Maria. Maria hit Puerto Rico on September 20th as a category 4 storm. As of October 2nd, the island was still without power as food and water supplies decrease, flights in and out are extremely limited, and hospitals are damaged. Maria was the strongest hurricane to hit Puerto Rico in more than 80 years and the damage estimated from $40 billion to $80 billion in debt. Scientists believe that the hurricanes were caused by human-caused climate change.                                                                                                                               The last two natural disasters that have happened recently are earthquakes and wildfires. In Mexico City, on September 19th a 7.1 magnitude earthquake toppled dozens of buildings. At least 60 buildings collapsed or were greatly damaged, according to officials. Before the earthquake, the residents requested inspections of their homes but did not receive them. Now after the earthquake, officials have recruited engineers and architects to inspect structures around the city. Some buildings were massively destroyed and others had only problems of broken windows or walls with holes and cracks. In Northern California, on October 8th wildfires broke out destroying many homes, towns, and people. According to the California Department of Forestry this wildfire is one of the deadliest in state history and they are doing everything they can to stop it. One method they used was controlled fire. The firefighters created a line of controlled fire to try to control the wildfire which makes it easier on the fighters to stop it. Another method they used was hotshots and water. Hotshots or smoke jumpers are used to clear a large path or big circle so the blaze is contained in a ring of dirt to starve the fire. These were the most major disasters in 2017, some people have even set up donation websites like American Red Cross , Brother’s Brother Foundation and Global Giving.         

Image from protect-your-home.org