The Geography Department
GA
GCSE
EdExcel syllabus 1312
B6 Managing Hazards
3 case study: MEDC Storm Hurricane Floyd
Chapter 6 pages pages 113-116
Tomorrow's Geography Mike Harcourt and Steph Warren,
published by Hodder and Stoughton 0 340 79965 X
6.2 Hazards have an impact on the people and their environment. This can vary with the stage of their development.
students should -
Describe and explain the impact of a tropical storm in a MEDC to show its effects on the local people.
Analyse how their state of development affects the storm's impact and the way that it affects the country.
Identify reasons why people continue to live in areas at risk from tropical storms.
Assess how the level of development affects the impact of the storm.
Contrast how the storms affected the LEDC and MEDC.
Tropical disturbance, tropical wave:
Unorganised mass of thunderstorms, very little, if any, organised wind circulation.
Tropical depression: Has evidence of closed wind circulation around a centre with sustained winds from 20-34 knots (23-39mph).
Tropical storm: Maximum sustained winds are from 35-64 knots (40-74mph). The storm is named once it reaches tropical storm strength.
Hurricane: Maximum sustained winds exceed 64 knots (74mph).
Hurricane categories
blue category 1
green category 2
yellow category 3
orange category 4
red category 5
Hurricane Floyd was about twice the size of Andrew, although both were classified as category 4 storms.
click on the above to obtain info about damage, preparedness and hazard maps from North Carolina
3 lessons
Hurricane Floyd
The task is to produce an A4 data sheet on Hurricane Floyd, covering the essential characteristics of a MEDC tropical storm.
Use pages 113-116 and the following sub-heading to cover the ground needed: Some of the sections have some notes in already as a guide.
origins and growth
Floyd can be traced back to a tropical wave that emerged from western Africa on 2 September.
track and size
Plot the track of Floyd on a copy of a tracking map. There is track data in Tomorrow's World page 115.
Compare Andrew and Floyd - and Floyd movie
Floyd was a large and intense hurricane that pounded the central and northern Bahama Islands, seriously threatening Florida, struck the coast of North Carolina and moved up the United States east coast into New England. It neared the threshold of category 5 intensity on the Saffir/Simpson Scale as it approached the Bahamas, and produced a flood disaster of immense proportions in the eastern United States, particularly in North Carolina.
Predictions and warnings
Impacts of Floyd 1 human cost
Impacts of Floyd 2 damage to houses and property
North Carolina Hurricane Relief Information
Impacts of Floyd 3 economic costs
Impacts of Floyd 4 environmental damage
What can we do to prepare for hurricanes?
This can cover preparing the home for surviving the storm, improving building codes to resist storms and sensible land-use zoning to make sure building are not put in dangerous locations.
Complete checklist for this unit
B6 Tropical storms 1 - distribution
B6 Tropical storms 2 - LEDC cyclone
B6 Tropical storms 3 - MEDC Floyd
