Research Paper on Hurricane Charley

Introduction

Hurricanes tend to be the most violent storms on earth that are usually formed when a storm sustains a maximum wind speed of 74 kilometers per hour (Force, 2013). The hurricane wind speed is rated using the Saffir hurricane wind scale that rates the hurricane store from a rage of one to five, therefore the higher hurricane wind scale rating, the higher the probability of the hurricane wind to cause damage. In most cases, hurricane originates from the Atlantic basins such as the Atlantic ocean Caribbean sea and the eastern north Pacific ocean. According to research, the hurricane season tends to start on June 1st and ends on November 30th. However, the hurricane has and can occur outside the indicated time frame(Force, 2013). This study aims to discuss the hurricane Charley

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Hurricane Charley

Hurricane Charley was one of the strongest hurricanes to ever impact the united states and also one of the four hurricanes to have impacted Florida during the year 2004. Alongside Ivan, Frances, and Jeanne. Hurricane Charley occurred on August 9, 2004, and ended on 15th August the same year whereby it attained a peak intensity wind of 240 kilometers per hour thus making it a very strong category four hurricane as per the hurricane suffer Simpsons hurricane scale (Cohen & Mulvaney, 2005). Charley made a landfill in the southwest part of Florida while at its maximum strength thus making it the strongest hurricanes to ever strike southwest Florida since hurricane Donna that occurred in the year 1960. It was also the strongest hurricane ever to strike the entire united states since Andrew hurricane occurred in Florida state in the year 1992. On August 13th hurricane, Charley moved slowly across the Caribbean sea into Cuba as a level three hurricane causing heavy damages and sever deaths (Cohen & Mulvaney, 2005). On the same day, the hurricane crossed the dry Tortugas, just twenty-two hours after the tropical storm Bonnie struck the northwestern part of Florida. At its highest intensity of 240 kilometers per hour, the hurricane hit them northern and southern part of Captiva island before crossing over to Bokella where it caused severe damage. Hurricane Charley then continued to make or create severe damages as it formed landfills in Punta Gorda peninsula and later proceeded to the north northeast part of the peace river corridor damaging fort Ogden, port charlotte and the Zolfo Springs.

The hurricane caused Zolfo springs to be isolated for two days since masses of power poles, large trees, power poles debris and transformers filled the Zolfo springs streets and the buildings located in the downtown areas also caved onto the main street. The hurricane storm proceeded further into the eastern and central parts of Orland state at a speed of one hundred and seventy-one kilometers per hour. The wiener park city in north Orland also suffered considerable damage because the city had huge oak trees that had never experienced such strong winds. The falling trees in the city caused severe damage to the power utilities and the underground water and sewer utilities. However, the hurricane storm slowed down as it exited Orland state at Ormond Beach due to its passage over land and was ultimately absorbed into the Atlantic ocean on the 15th August near south-eastern Massachusetts. Initially, Hurricane Charley was expected to strike the northern parts such as Tampa; therefore, the sudden change of the storm caught many Floridian citizens off-guard. Along its path, the hurricane caused approximately ten deaths and damages worth $16.9 billion thus making it the second most costly hurricane in the United States.

Mitigation and Pre-Disaster Preparedness Efforts

To reduce the severity of hurricane Charley, several measures had to be implemented in the areas that were likely to be hit by the hurricane, some of this measures include, first, hurricane warnings were issued. Two days before the hurricane Charley passed near the Jamaican island the Jamaican government issued a tropical storm warning which was likely to develop into a hurricane. The warning intended to make the people aware of the possible risk of an event that was to happen and make the people take the necessary caution. In Jamaica, the threat warning made two airports in the country to shut down and also forced two cruise ships to reroute to other areas that were not at risk of being hit by the hurricane. The Cuban federal government also issued a hurricane warning after issuing a hurricane watch in the southern coastline two days before the hurricane hit the region. After the respective government issuing the warnings, people started relocating to the areas that were less likely to be affected while others chose to remain in their homes where they loaded their houses with enough supplies to last them through the hurricane period.

Secondly, due to the hurricane threat, the government introduced mandatory evacuation's in the areas that were likely to be affected. Approximately 235000 citizens and 159000 animals were evacuated from the Cuban inland areas that were at risk of being affected, while approximately 3800 people were evacuated from the offshore islands(Cohen & Mulvaney, 2005). In Havana, approximately 47000 citizens were evacuated from the old unsafe buildings to other safer locations. Approximately 1.9 million citizens living along Florida west coast were also advised to evacuate including the 380000 citizens living in Tampa Bay(Locascio, & Mann, 2005). This was considered to be the largest evacuation order ever issued in Florida since the occurrence of hurricane Floyd that took place five years before. The evacuation order in Florida led to approximately 1.43 million people evacuating their homes while approximately 50000 people were placed in various shelters across the state(Locascio, & Mann, 2005). The rest of the population chose to remain in their resident whereby they boarded their homes and increased their supplies. This relocation or evacuation exercise was aimed at ensuring the safety of the entire population. The people who relocated to the new shelters were provided with enough supplies such as water and food to last them throughout the whole hurricane period.

Thirdly, companies reduced their onsite personnel. The space center and mac dill air force base that usually have approximately 13000 workers on site reduced the number of workers or staffs to about two hundred people in preparation for the hurricane event(Garrett & Sobel, 2003). All the space shuttles were also secured by sealing them in their hunger. The intention of reducing the number of staff was to minimize the number of possible casualties during the hurricane event. While some companies chose to reduce the number of staffs, other companies decided to close down totally. For example, the Walt Disney world's animal kingdom, amusement parks, and ferry and rail companies decided to close down their operations to allow their workers to move to safer locations. Also, the meteorologist located in Tampa Bay decided to close down their operations in the morning of August thirteen when hurricane Charley officially started.

Fourth, The power grid was turned off. In the hurricane prawn areas such as Cuba and Florida, the power grids were turned off to minimize the potential risk of shocks and fire in the region. The power companies mobilized their employees to prepare for the wide spread powered shortage. The entire population in the affected states were also informed of the possible power outrage thus enabling people to make early preparations such as buying torches, and candles to take them through the entire period. Due to the expected power shortage, the population was advised to buy and store only the durable food products such as cereals that could last them for months without expiring.

Response and Recovery Efforts

The occurrence of hurricane Charley brought about numerous property damages and injuries in the affected areas. Therefore the government and other supporting organizations had to initiate various response and recovery effects to the affected areas, some of the response and recovery efforts initiated include; first, the government had to supply the basic utilities such as food and water to the affected areas. Hurricane Charley caused severe damage to the agricultural sector since most of the food crops that the population depended on were all destroyed; therefore the people in the area had nothing to feed. For example, approximately 95% of bananas, beans, sugarcane crops were destroyed in the Cuban territory (Garrett & Sobel, 2003). Also, there was no gas for cooking in those areas since the gas' supply system had been destroyed. It was, therefore, the duty of the government to ensure that the population is fed with the right nutritional components. On the other hand, there was increased contamination of the city's water sources thus making the water unsuitable for consumption. Also, power outage in areas such as Havana made it hard to pump water from bore holes, therefore, resulting to the lack of safe drinking water .the government was therefore forced to supply water tanks to meet the short term needs of the population. To achieve this objective of providing basic utilities, Florida state set up approximately one hundred and fourteen food service operations.

Secondly, search and rescue operation. Hurricane Charley created significant damages in the in the affected areas; for example, approximately 95% of the buildings in the area were destroyed. A significant number of individuals who had not been evacuated in the affected areas, for example, the six hundred thousand individuals who refused to evacuated Florida were trapped in the wrecked buildings. Therefore, the government had to collaborate with other organization such as the united states medical team and other relief organization to rescue those who were trapped, treat the injured and also identify the number of individuals who had died. The government evacuated those who had been trapped to safer areas where they could easily be monitored and offered the needed support. The united states health department also supported the rescue operation by donating approximately $11 million to the program thus assisting in disseminating the health services (Locascio, & Mann, 2005). The search and rescue mission initiated by both the federal and state government was considered to be effective since only a few deaths were recorded, and the number of those injured was minimal.

Thirdly, immediate construction or restoration of infrastructure. The hurricane led to the destructions of buildings worth more than $5.4 billion in Florida state where by more than six hundred thousand homes were destroyed (Locascio, & Mann, 2005). Through the support from various relief bodies such as the red cross and other non-governmental organizations, the state and federal government were able to set up temporary camps for the affected population as they restored or rehabilitated the destroyed areas by constructing new buildings to house the affected population. The government also had to restore the destroyed power lines and gas systems that were destroyed by the hurricane. Restoring the affected environment would help to ensure that that affected environment is free from any danger or harm such as disease outbreaks.

Conclusion

Hurricanes are considered to be one of the most violent storms around the globe that are formed when a storm reaches a maximum wind limit of seventy-four kilometers per hour. Hurricane Charley is among the strongest hurricane storms ever experienced in Florida in the united states. The hurricane lasted for approximately five days and a created significant damages worth more than $15 billion and also led the loss of many lives. Before th...