Hazards and Geography

1. Hurricane Preparedness and Lessons Learned from Galveston James See Colorado Springs Early Colleges – Colorado Springs, CO The Incredible Effect of a Hurricane Hazards and Geography Hurricane Ike 2008 The “Great Storm” of 1900 On September 8, 1900, Galveston Island changed forever. The most destructive hurricane in recorded history struck the island and killed thousands of people. The exact number of people who perished will never be known. Publications estimate the total killed at over 6,000 (Larson, 1999), to around 8,000 (Frank, 2003). Nevertheless, this hurricane permanently changed the city of Galveston. BELOW: Pre-storm view BELOW: Post-storm view of of Galveston Bay . No seawall Galveston Bay and railroad Has been built yet. (c. 1894) track wreckage. • Galvestonians were still cleaning up from 2005’s Hurricane Rita, when Ike made its presence known. A positive that came directly from Ike is that the city was more prepared than it had been since perhaps after the 1900 hurricane almost wiped Galveston off the map. A negative, however, is that the city was more prepared than it had been since the 1900 hurricane. With this, brought a sense of naivety and carefreeness from the residents of Galveston. America’s mindset of a hurricane and what it can do has drastically changed since 2005 when Hurricane Katrina struck and devastated the city of New Orleans. Television viewers witnessed, first-hand, how a powerful natural disaster, like a hurricane, can change the social and physical make-up of any place it decides to wreak its awesome fury. Viewers saw the lack of preparation, blaming, and finger-pointing that went on before, during, and after Katrina, all at the expense of the residents of the Louisiana Gulf Coast. In hindsight, however, other cities have prepared and prepared again for impending natural disasters like hurricanes and have borne witness to what adequate preparation and citizen awareness can do to a city in the aftermath of a major hurricane. In this review, I will explore one city, Galveston, Texas, and how over the past 111 years, this city of 58,000 has gone from being one of the most important social and economic cities at the turn of the twentieth century to a city that was almost wiped off the map. It has since become a city that has been reinventing itself since that hurricane in 1900, facing five major storms in the process. I will begin by discussing the basics of a hurricane, what makes it what it is and how it affects the people who experience them. Then the discipline of hazards, vulnerability, and geography will be explored and how this discipline has close ties with hurricanes, especially before and after the storm hits. Next, I will breakdown the six storms that have affected the city of Galveston since 1900. I will break these storms down chronologically, discussing the basics of the storm, the pre-storm preparedness of the citizens and officials of Galveston, and wrapping up with the post-storm recovery and preparedness of those same citizens and officials and what they are doing to prepare for the next big storm to strike Galveston. This review is written to give an overview of the six storms in question, and for the reader to make his or her connections with these storms by analyzing the pre-storm and post-storm recovery and preparedness, using this as a baseline to study other hurricane prone cities, like New Orleans, and its hurricane preparedness. BELOW: 2008, Hurricane Ike before and after In order to understand hurricanes, how they work, and how they affect human populations, an understanding of hazards geography is crucial. According to Ronald John Johnston, author of The Dictionary of Human Geography an environmental hazard, or as it is more commonly known “natural disaster” refers to phenomena like earthquakes, volcanoes, bushfires, drought, flooding, and lightening (Johnston, et. al, 2000). Now, whereas, hurricanes are not specifically listed, hurricanes can produce things like flooding, lightening, and even bushfires. A hurricane can be predicted in the short to medium range, however, the results of a hurricane, such as flooding, often cannot be predicted in the short to medium range. Flooding should not be confused with the storm surge of a hurricane. In essence, it is the storm surge that causes the flooding. BELOW: September 13, 2008 after Hurricane Ike made landfall outside of Galveston, Texas Galvestonians were able Galvestonians evacuate to make preparations five in the wake of Hurricane Ike days in advance due to in 2008. modern forecasting (c.2008) Pre-storm preparedness for the “Great Storm” of 1900 would be considered horrendous by today’s standards. But, for 1900, and the citizens residing in Galveston, preparedness was considered to be adequate to more than adequate. Citizens were as prepared as they could have been for a storm they had never experienced let alone a hurricane in general. Galveston’s post-storm preparedness rivals that of any other city that has undertaken the task of rebuilding a city after a major disaster. The first goal, raising the city, was implored by three engineers hired by the city in 1901. These engineers recommended the city be raised seventeen feet. This enormous task involved raising every single building, home, sewer, and water line. The second goal was building a seawall to protect the city from the fury of the Gulf of Mexico. The plan for the seawall was to build it in six sections. The first section was built from 1902-1904. The five remaining sections were built in later years with the final section of the wall completed between 1953-1961. The entire seawall stretches for ten miles and is 15.6 feet high. Raising St. Patrick’s Church First section of completed In Galveston (c. 1907) seawall (c. 1904) Conclusions Pre-storm preparedness and post-storm recovery and preparedness are paramount in a city like Galveston and its future. The research presented has given a baseline to pre and post storm preparedness, and has shown one example of a hurricane prone city, Galveston, and how it prepares, recovers, and prepares again for one of mother nature’s most powerful natural disasters, hurricanes Key References Hazards Geography’s link to Education Hazards geography is directly linked to the National Geography Standards, therefore is studied in K-12 public schools around the country. Standard 15, “How Physical Systems Affect Human Systems”, is directly related to hazards geography. The relationship between the two details the fact that “physical systems” include things like natural disasters and that they can affect the people experiencing these disasters causing the people to react, and lessen their vulnerability to the said disaster , There have been several major hurricanes affecting the U.S. in the 21st century thus requiring students to understand these natural disasters and how they can affect their future. • Frank, N. (2003). Hurricane coping with disaster: The great Galveston hurricane of 1900. American Geophysical Union, 129-140. doi: 10.102/055SP07 • Galveston and Texas History Center Rosenberg Library (2003, February 20). Galveston: A City Transformed. Retrieved from http://www.gthcenter.org/exhibits/storms/index.html • Johnson, et al. (2000, April 14). The Dictionary of Human Geography. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=0-GxowMfwlkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+dictionary+of+human+geography+johnston&source=bl&ots=4DtJ2y2pke&sig=hikpZquh6Noxu394R1zfnYK5EMw&hl=en&ei=-JWPTfKgCOW10QGDzIWhCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CEQQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q&f=false • Larson, E. (1999). Isaac’s Storm. New York: Random House. • National Geography Standards. (2008). Retrieved from http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/standards/15/index.html • RobotNine. (n.d). Galveston Texas photos. Retrieved from http://media.photobucket.com/image/Galveston%20Texas/RobotNine/Motivational%20Posters/Album%20Covers/GalvestonTexasAfterHurricaneIkeHit.jpg . (2011, March 24) • Trendy. (n.d) Computer models for Hurricane Ike show weakening while projected path Of Hurricane Ike still shows Florida in sight. Retrieved from http://www.trendite.net/2008/09/06/computer-models-for-hurricane-ike-show-weakening-while-projected-path-of-hurricane-ike-still-shows-florida-in-sight/