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Natural World Interactions – Low Pressure weather
event
Hurricane
Irene – August 2011
Location
The hurricane strengthened as it moved through the
Caribbean and headed towards the east coast of the USA – reaching a category 3 storm
at its height.
Cause
The storm developed around a low pressure system in
the Atlantic Ocean. Warm air from the weather
system and the Atlantic Ocean combined and
rose, powering the storm. The low pressure centre forced air to be drawn up
faster to fill the low pressure area. More and more warm moist air was sucked
up into the low pressure centre leading to a hurricane being formed
Animated guide - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7533909.stm
At its height, the cloud field extended more than 800
miles across and storm force winds extended for 200 miles from the centre of
the hurricane – clearly being seen from space.
Hurricane photo - http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/582590main_Irene-GOES-LARGE-20110826.jpg
Effects
In the Bahamas, 100mph winds forced street signs to be
yanked out of the ground, destroyed around 100 homes and knocked trees and
power lines to the ground, blocking roads and leaving hundreds without power.
VIDEO - http://abbeyfieldhumanities.blogspot.com/2011/08/hurricane-irene-hits-caribbean.html
In Dominican
Republic, 7000 people were evacuated as the
category 2 hurricane hit. In San
Cristobal, 2000 people lost their homes
VIDEO - http://abbeyfieldhumanities.blogspot.com/2011/08/hurricane-irene-hits-cuba-and-dominican.html
In Cuba,
the eastern side of the island caused major flooding, leaving the island as a
category 3 hurricane
In North Carolina and
neighbouring Virginia,
600,000 people lost power to their homes with 2 million people being ordered to
evacuate their homes.
Hospitals in affected areas evacuated patients
In New York,
the mayor of the city ordered the shutting down of the public transport system
– all buses, subways and trains stopped. In addition, 300,000 people told to
leave low-lying areas in a mandatory evacuation.
VIDEO - http://abbeyfieldhumanities.blogspot.com/2011/08/hurricane-irene-heads-towards-new-york.html
Supermarkets ran low of food and bottled water as
people stocked up on supplies in preparation for the storms.
On 28th August, almost 4 million homes were
without power across the east coast of the US due to the winds and heavy rain.
Roads and bridges were shut down and hundreds of
people had to be rescued as they became cut-off by rising water levels in Virginia and North
Carolina
There were six reported deaths in the US as
a result of the storm, from falling trees and traffic collisions due to power
outages.
On reaching New
York, the hurricane was downgraded to a tropical
storm, as winds reduced. However, heavy rain still caused localised flooding
Additional information and video available at:
http://abbeyfieldhumanities.blogspot.com/search/label/Hurricane%20Irene%202011
D. Drake 2011
http://abbeyfieldhumanities.blogspot.com
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