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A-Level Geography Tropical Storms essay
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A-level AQA Geogrpahy tropical Storms example essay based off of questions from paper 1. A-Grade.
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How far do you agree that storms and wildfires are increasing in frequency and intensity,presenting an increasing threat to people? (20 marker)
Answer:
I strongly agree with this view as in the past 2 decades we have se an increase in the
intensity and frequency of tropical storms and wildfires that pose an increasing threat to
peoples welfare.
An example of a place that experienced increased storms intensity and frequency can be
seen in the USA. On the 25th of August 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the coast of Florida as a
category 5 hurricane and with winds of 177mph. The worst affected area by the hurricane
was New Orleans in which 80% of the city was submerged as a result of the hurricane
causing a 6ft storm surge along the Mississippi river. New Orleans lies 8ft below sea level
and as a result of this has levees running along either side of the Mississippi river to prevent
flooding. The levees were installed and improved in the 1990s after the great flood of 1993
which caused a catastrophic amount of damage and loss of life. The levees however were
built to withstand a category 3 storm and had not been maintained, thus when the category
5 hurricane hit New Orleans causing a 6ft storm surge, the levees failed resulting in mass
flooding across the majority of the city.
As a result of this 1,200 people drowned and people were left isolated from areas outside
the city due to roads being cut off by water. Another impact of this however was that FEMA
promised to provide evacuation and response aid however, due to poor governance these
promises were not met and 20,000 people remained in the city, most using the super dome
as shelter. The super dome, however, was prepared to only contain roughly 3000 people
and as a result of this, overcrowding occurred which caused unhygienic and unsafe
conditions such as lack of food and water, disease and looting.
The state of Louisiana where New Orleans is located is experiencing increased frequency
and intensity in the storms that reach the state, with the current rate of hurricanes rising
from roughly every 8 to 10 years now becoming every 2 years. In addition to this, more
category 3 and above hurricanes were witnessed in Louisiana in the 2021 storm season than
the previous storm season in 2020. The main cause of this is climate change as global
temperatures rise, causing more ideal conditions for storms to form and grow in intensity.
In addition to storms wildfires around the globe have also seen an increase in frequency and
intensity in the past 2 decades. An example of this can be seen in the 2019 to 2020
Australian bushfires where over 18 million hectares were burnt destroying, 5900 buildings
including 2,800 properties. Furthermore, the bushfires caused 34 people and over 1 million
animals to lose their lives, presenting an increasingly large threat to people. In 2019
Australia experienced record-breaking temperatures and dryness throughout the bush as a
result of prolonged drought for 2 months prior to the event. The fires were also enhanced
due to prevailing high winds that allowed spot fires to appear from the flying embers of
larger fires. The occurrence of multiple fires made managing the event increasingly difficult
and meant that the fires burnt on for longer than they could have.
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