Rain, violent winds, floods, and hideous mudslides were just
the beginning to the major disturbance called Hurricane Isaac. According to the
NY Times, Isaac turned into a tropical storm on Aug. 25, 2012, with mudslides
and floods that killed nearly 29 people in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Obviously
this storm made it upon the radar at the Republican National Convention in
Tampa because of the Hurricane Katrina conflict seven years earlier. By this
time, they had all the events cancelled for the convention, but by then Isaac
had moved and grown in extreme size. So, this forced the authorities to send
out hurricane warnings to cities on the shorelines, thus leading to the
evacuation of at least ten thousand people. Ten thousand people that left with
the potential possibility of coming back without a home. Shortly after the evacuation,
Isaac (who was then classified as a Category 1 Hurricane) took out the Gulf
Coast with massive winds up to 80 miles per hour. The powerful winds then moved to Louisiana,
leaving more families without homes, and then it fell just over the Mississippi
before moving back over water. On Aug. 29th, Isaac moved back to Port
Fourchon, Louisiana forcing 3000 people to evacuate their homes, as well as
trapping many people with Isaac’s raging flood waters. Over 600, 000 residents
were without power and flooded into their homes. Luckily, Isaac was downgraded
to a tropical storm and continued to move on. By Aug. 30 the storm was 100
miles off course and said to be gone.
This environmental disaster stole many different people from
their homes with a “trail of destruction” that killed many different people.
Not only this, but the Hurricane was said to be worsened by a mosquito-borne
disease that could worsen all of the effects of Hurricane Isaac. Thre were
1,950 cases of the virus with 66 deaths in the United States last week. These
numbers could possibly break the record of 2002 and 2003. The reason this awful
disease spreads so quickly is because the mosquitos feed off of dead birds.
Those birds mainly die out because of tropical storms or hurricanes. When the
mosquitos feed on the infected birds, they pick up the West Nile virus and then
they spread it to humans with just a tiny bite. After the first major
Hurricane, Katrina, the West Nile cases were reported ins ome areas, but now,
after Hurricane Isaac, the numbers are said to be at least 3 times larger than
7 years earlier. Not only does this mean that with every Hurricane the
possibility of desease could strengthen, but it also means that with every
Hurricane 2 times as many people die rather than just with the floods and
mudslides, but with mosquitoes, too.
Environmental disasters are major public issues as they
affect our world as a whole. Not only are they a major factor in the loss of
lives in the World, but also a loss of our many wondrous lands. Hurricanes and
storms pollute our air with trash from their rages, fallen trees from their
wind, and destruction from their paths. This affects our nation because it
leaves us with distraught times and broken lives. Many families are without
shelter, food, or trapped inside of their homes because of massive floods and
mudslides. And others, left with empty seats at the dinner table and bills for
funeral arrangements. This is my biggest concern: the loss of families and the
destruction of our planet. This poses the question: how do we fix these
problems? Do we try to get further insight in hurricanes and try to strive for
a better and faster hurricane alarm, that way families will be able to
evacuate? Do we get more teams together to aid the homes and families that are
broken? I’m going to ask you: What do we do to fix this problem?
Try not to ask questions, instead try to answer them. Unless this is something you intend on trying to answer throughout the semester. You analysis was good, as well as your summary. Despite this being a US-centric story, you did talk about how it applies globally, which was your saving grace.
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