Hurricane Galveston Analysis - Research Paper Example

? Lesson Plan: Galveston Hurricane of the of the Lesson Plan: Galveston Hurricane The Galveston Hurricane of 1900 isknown as one of the most worst destructive hurricane in the history of United States of America. On September 8, 1900 it came up with the speed of 135 mph which considered as category 4 hurricane. The storm in question brought waves which as per the calculation of experts was fifteen- feet high. Cited hurricane claimed more than 6,000 lives and number of people wounded. It destroyed badly the major shipping port and forced the businessmen to shift their entire business to a nearby city called Houston. Had the people been informed earlier by the government, number of lives could be saved. After the massive destruction at the hands of hurricane, it was decided to build a wall admeasuring 15.6 feet above sea level to minimize the chances of destruction in a mass scale. This hurricane played havoc with the city besides inmates. The impressive thing was their determination to overcome the disaster. Case Study If we turn the pages of American history, we find two horrible hurricanes namely Dean and Felix that caused destructions in mass scale in the Central America. It was also noted that two category five hurricanes took place in the same year and on the same day. The southern tip of Baja California witnessed Hurricane Henrietta. The record of National Hurricane Center shows that for the first time Atlantic and Pacific hurricanes made landfall on the same day. A cursor look at the past events indicates such hurricanes that have taken place with greater intensity which badly hampered the human lives for a considerable period of time. It would not be out of place to mention here that even the Columbus’ fourth voyage in 1502 hit hard by a colossal hurricane. The worst example of hurricane is sunken 20 treasure ships which claimed the lives of five hundred sailors on board in a nearby Spanish fleet. How can we forget the Katrina in 2005, the most devastating hurricane ever seen by the North American in recent history? You may surely consider Great Galveston Hurricane as a contender of 20th century. Galveston, Texas, in 1900 came to surface as a rising business place for the traders around the globe and a major seaport for exporting cotton to other continents in 1900. Comparatively it has the prominence edge over Houston with reference to Texan coast. Number of consulates Embassies, mansions contributed to build image of this city wherein 37,000 people are housed. Before Galveston Hurricane people and the government were not prepared to cope with the expected hurricane. People and the government were not expecting damages of the hurricane in a mass scale which shaken the very foundation of the city. People and the government thought it impossible that the hurricane will knock down at their doors. The geological survey in the late of August and early September found it across the Caribbean Sea, passing through Cuban and the Floridian territories. The inmates were of the view that it would make its roads to the northeast as soon as it is passed the Florida Straits north of Cuba. A common phenomena and a general accepted notion how tropical cyclones were supposed to treat that come in its way. It was not expected by the residents that it would continue travel to the west. The thunder storm which converted into hurricane past, Florida continues its journey to the northwest of Galveston. You may understand the havoc that played by the hurricane with this that it pushed a wall of water which was over 15 feet deep onto the island that, at its highest point, was only 8.7 feet above sea level. The wind lashes were estimated to be Category 4 speeds i.e. 131-155 mph. As per the calculation a 150 mph gust would have a capacity to build pressure of 100 pounds per square foot. The recorded lowest barometric pressure during the storm admeasured 28.44 inches. (NOAA later estimated that the pressure near the storm's eye was probably closer to 27.49 inches.) The 9th September, Hurricane was so disastrous that it put the Galveston in isolation for number of days. Approximately 6,000 people met the deadliest deaths at the hands of hurricane ever hit in the history of United States of America. As per the independent estimation the death toll gone to the extent of 12,000. In addition to the thousands dead, the storm left hundreds of thousands of people shelter less besides losing of millions of dollars in its wake. After immeasurable destruction, the storm tracked making landfall at Galveston, the storm tracked north through Texas. Thereafter it went to Oklahoma and Kansas. The remaining part of storms made its way to northeastward across the Great Lakes. Before ushered into Canada it passed through north of Halifax on September 12 and disappeared into the North Atlantic. This had caused innumerable damages in the shape of lives and the properties. Further, the Galveston lost its charm for the shipping firms as the firms shifted their business to Houston being no other alternate available to them. To cope with this situation, Galveston is now protected by introducing a huge levee system to guard against future storms. Soon after the disaster, the government constructed a six mile long seawall which is continuously expanding up to the desired level. Moreover, the island was raised by pumping sand from the floor of the Gulf of Mexico. Not only that all buildings and roads were constructed with elevated foundations in the city. The remedial measures were so effective that Galveston Hurricane of 1915 hit, could do much harm as it was done earlier. It is true that Hurricanes of Katrina and Sandy have brought in hurricane safety measures to cope with the situation in an effective manner. Had it not happened in the mentioned places, the situation would have been otherwise. Assigned Tasks Students are to conduct an Earth system analysis of the 1900 Galveston hurricane and prepare disaster management plan accordingly. The task is distributed amongst the different groups in order to analyze the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 in line with Earth system science. Your presentation should be revolved around the monstrous disaster and to provide an action plan to effectively handle the natural disaster/its impact like the one which we discussed in the cited paragraphs. Investigation and Reasoning For investigation and reasoning students have to rely upon a) recognizable patterns in the natural world b) Earth, and Moon system c) scientific inquiry methods during laboratory and outdoor investigations d) Construct tables, charts, bar graphs and maps e) usage of tools and latest technology to organize, examine, and evaluate data f) critical thinking and scientific problem solving methods and g) variety of tools, materials, equipment and models to carry out scientific inquiry. Supporting tools Different groups may refer the following tools or other tools as they deem fit and appropriate to arrive at a concrete conclusions. http://app.discoveryeducation.com/player/view/assetGuid/8D595C95-B458-46DE-BDA0-193435C1EACB Groups will have to view video to better understand the power that hurricanes have. Weather Smart: Hurricanes (video) http://app.discoveryeducation.com/player/view/assetGuid/E1BF7654-1495-4133-A016-A91390FDC173 The certain groups will have to watch a 15 minute video showing fascinating animation on the size and motion of hurricanes and how they are tracked. From cited video, Students will also learn about the certain tips to be taken into consideration while experiencing such type of storm. Resources The following resources will definitely help you in getting the material information about the subject matter. These sources provide a lot of help to get the assignment done. It is not necessary that you should be dependent on the resources supplied to you for research. You may also refer other resources as well to accomplish the assigned task. These resources are not the only ones you need to research. It is your responsibility to look around for other resources which would be helpful to you to accomplish your assignment. National Hurricane Center http://www.nhc.noaa.gov The 1900 Storm Galveston Island, Texas http://www.1900storm.com/ Tropical Twisters-Hurricanes-For Kids Only-NASA Problem Solving Model 1. Read and analyze the problem 2. Group discussion about the possible course of action 3. Make a list of ideas or group hypotheses. 4. Make a list of prior knowledge on the topic by the group members 5. Incorporate knowledge provided by other group members. 6. Record all the information under the heading: “What do we know? 7. List what is not known 8. Organize a list of questions that team thinks need to be answered about analysis. 9. Develop a plan, such as obtaining online data, visiting the public library to find answers to the questions 10. All members of the team will collect, organize, analyze and interpret information from several resources. 11. Create a PowerPoint in which your team describes, recommends, predicts, infers, or provides proper resolutions of the problem. Based on the above information, each group is required to answer the following questions: Q. 1 when was the Great Storm happened? Q. 2. How many people died? Q. 3. What was the population of Galveston in 1900? Q. 4. How strong were the winds? Q. 5. How many treasure ships were sunken in the Hurricane? Q. 6. How many sailors were on board on the sunken ships? Q. 7. Did Galveston residents have any warning? Q. 8. What did Galveston do to protect itself from future storms? Read More