During hurricane season, coastal dwellers are faced with constant uncertainty about when and where the next disaster may strike. For many, that anxiety can be more distressing than the actual storms.
The theory that global warming may be contributing to stronger hurricanes in the Atlantic over the past 30 years is bolstered by a new study led by a Florida State University researcher. The study will be published in the Sept. 4 edition of the journal Nature.
A new six-year, $1.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will allow researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to investigate how different civil infrastructures within a city or county "“ such as roadways, water and power utilities, hospitals, banks, or law enforcement "“ interact with each other and with the natural environment after a disaster.
Several experts from the University of New Hampshire are available to discuss the impact of Hurricane Gustav, which is forecast to hit Louisiana as a major hurricane early next week.
The University of Virginia has experts in a variety of disciplines available to talk on various aspects of the effects of hurricanes on people and the environment.
Though it has been three years since Hurricane Katrina made landfall, images from the storm's aftermath can still be vividly recalled--rooftop rescues, broken homes, stranded victims. Mere mention of a tropical storm forming can cause great anxiety in many people living in the southeast region of the United States.
On August 28 and 29, University of North Carolina at Charlotte meteorologist Matthew Eastin and his students will be turning North Carolina's coastal Brunswick Co. into one of the country's most densely and carefully monitored weather sites.
Hurricane Katrina, America's "first mega-disaster of the 21st century," altered the cultural, economic and the political landscapes of New Orleans in ways that could be irreparable, according to Rowan University sociologist DeMond Miller.
Three years after Michael Stanley lost everything in Hurricane Katrina, he earned his MFA at Iowa State and begins teaching there in the fall. "Katrina's Crescendo," comprises two kinetic sculptures that are made from Katrina refuse and express his experiences before, during and after the hurricane. It's an emotional and artistic journey that has carried him from a place of anger to a sense of purpose.
As the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaches, the healthcare system in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast shows encouraging signs of recovery"”with important lessons for planning to respond to future disasters, reports the special August issue of The American Journal of the Medical Sciences
From prediction to recovery, Florida State University's experts are among the best in the nation when it comes to the study of hurricanes and their impact on people and property. These experts are available to answer media questions and give perspective to news stories throughout the 2008 hurricane season, which begins June 1 and ends Nov. 30.
This is a tip sheet to "medically" prepare people for hurricane season that starts on Sunday, June 1.
As the official June 1 start of the Atlantic hurricane season approaches, forecasters are developing predictions about the severity of this year's season. For the first time this year, African dust may provide a piece of this puzzle.
Hurricanes often lift the roofs off buildings and expose them to havoc and damaging conditions, even after the worst of the wind has passed. A local roofer, Virginia Tech faculty members from architecture and engineering, and a graduate student have devised an inexpensive vent that can reduce roof uplift on buildings during high winds, even a hurricane.
The tropical storm, Saxby Gale struck Sackville, New Brunswick on October 5, 1869, leaving widespread destruction in its wake. Storm surges 1.8 metres tall, combined with a high tide, sent water rushing over the dykes at the Tantramar Marsh. According to the Canadian Hurricane Centre, many people and farm animals drowned in the floods and hundreds of boats were beached when the waters receded.
Every year, storms over West Africa disturb millions of tons of dust and strong winds carry those particles into the skies over the Atlantic. According to a recent study led by University of Wisconsin-Madison atmospheric scientists, this dust from Africa directly affects ocean temperature, a key ingredient in Atlantic hurricane development.
Almost half of pre-hurricane residents of New Orleans and one-fourth of those living in other affected areas had evidence of an anxiety or mood disorder five to seven months following Hurricane Katrina, according to a report in the December issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
As the world warms, the interaction between the Atlantic Ocean and atmosphere may be the recipe for stronger, more frequent hurricanes.
According to the most comprehensive survey of people affected by Hurricane Katrina, the percentage of pre-hurricane residents of the affected areas who have mental disorders has increased significantly compared to the situation five to eight months after the hurricane. These findings counter a more typical pattern from previous disasters where prevalence of mental disorders decreases as time passes.
More than 60,000 miles of United States roadways are in the 100-year coastal floodplain, making them vulnerable to attacks from water surges and storm waves generated by hurricanes. A new study, in the latest issue of the Journal of Coastal Research, introduces methodology that integrates state-of-the-art models as effective tools for engineering design and hurricane emergency management.
"A hard rain's a-gonna fall," Dylan sang. But when rain and storm surges fall on lands protected by weak levees, this means trouble"¦big trouble. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita were devastating reminders of this frightening fact. How then can we limit trouble when a levee breaches or, better yet, prevent such a break from ever happening again?
How have Congress and the Administration responded to the lessons of Katrina and addressed the chief causes of its tragic aftermath? A report card is due on the federal government's response to: Global Warming; restoring Louisiana's coastal wetlands that act as a natural buffer to storms; reforming the Army Corps of Engineers; and reforming Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
New Hurricane Advisory Group to provide advice to government response centers during hurricane/coastal events.
Experts available on all aspects of risks associated with living in the coastal zone. Areas of expertise include evacuation and emergency preparation; waves, wind and storm surge; water and environmental issues; and coastal land loss.
Experts in the social sciences and business can speak to how the human element is affected by hurricanes. Can provide research, tips and expertise in topics including churches as shelters, family coping, pre-disaster planning and recovery in New Orleans.
As Hurricane Dean bears down upon Mexico, residents are taking precautions to preserve homes in the storm's path. Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) are designing, developing and manufacturing a housing material that will better withstand damage from higher winds, debris and storm waters than traditional building materials.
Two recent studies reveals findings from emergency physicians and rehabilitation personnel working in the Houston Astrodome after Hurricane Katrina, which have reshaped the gulf region's medical planning and procedures for natural disasters.
Tony Michaels is able to speak about hurricanes, climate and castastrophe reinsurance - what affects the frequency and intensity of hurricanes and how that influences the insurance industry's ability to transfer catastrophe risks through reinsurance and capital markets.
Researchers and government officials have known for two years that Hurricane Katrina caused population shifts across the Gulf Coast region, but an interdisciplinary team of researchers has quantified just how sharp the decline has been in affected areas. Their work also has provided new insights into the importance of social networks and family connections in helping people prevail through disastrous circumstances.
The University of South Carolina is a national leader in the field of hazards research. Faculty are available to help reporters with hurricane-related stories. Contact information is below each faculty member entry.
Ocean research instruments improve forecasts; tornadoes come from hurricanes; hurricane damage scale; ocean plankton and hurricanes; hurricane resistant glass for homes.
According to a new survey of people in high-risk hurricane areas conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health Project on the Public and Biological Security, one-third (31%) of residents said if government officials said they had to evacuate due to a major hurricane this season, they would not leave. This is an increase from 2006 when 23% said they would not evacuate.
An oceanographer who helped develop the most accurate hurricane prediction tool at the National Hurricane Center is completing work on an even better model that for the first time uses satellite technology to help predict a storm's path, intensity and surge.
All eyes are on where hurricanes make landfall, but the massive storms actually cause the most deaths inland, where severe flooding often surprises residents.
It will huff, and puff, and blow the house in "” but only for research purposes.
From prediction to recovery, Florida State University's experts are among the best in the nation when it comes to the study of hurricanes and their impact on people and property. These experts are available to answer media questions and give perspective to news stories throughout the 2007 hurricane season.
The United States is bracing for what predictions say will be another active hurricane season. Texas Tech University has a number of wind scientists with extensive experience researching hurricanes like Rita and Katrina and can speak as experts about various aspects of these devastating storms.
The frequency of intense hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean appears to be closely connected to long-term trends in the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the West African monsoon, according to new research from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). Geologists Jeff Donnelly and Jonathan Woodruff made that discovery while assembling the longest-ever record of hurricane strikes in the Atlantic basin.
While investigating the impact of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans evacuees, a group of UCLA researchers stumbled across something they had not been looking for "” the deep level of distrust the largely minority victims felt toward public health authorities. This distrust likely played a role in residents' response to evacuation warnings and advice.
The researchers found that the Hurricane Katrina evacuees' strong family ties had a profound influence on factors affecting evacuation, including transportation decisions, access to shelter and how they perceived evacuation messages. These ties both facilitated and hindered their evacuation.
The real causes of the Hurricane Katrina flooding in New Orleans are historical and political, according to Cornell expert Thomas O'Rourke, who calls for better disaster planning everywhere.
Data collected in 2005 from Hurricane Rita is providing the first documented evidence that rapid intensity changes can be caused by clouds outside the wall of a hurricane's eye coming together to form a new eyewall.
The American Academy of Otolaryngology"”Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS) urges Orleans Parish District Attorney Eddie Jordan and all others working on the prosecution of Dr. Anna Pou to consider the important ramifications of a decision to continue with this prosecution, in the face of the coroner's critical evidential finding and the enormous public interest in dismissing, rather than pursuing, this case.
Ongoing research on the livelihood systems of fishing communities in Louisiana and Texas through NOAA Fisheries grants turned into disaster-related research when Western Illinois University socio-cultural researcher Heather McIlvaine-Newsad visited Grand Isle, LA in Summer 2006, one year after Hurricane Katrina.
A nationwide blue-ribbon panel of health care experts recommends that hospital plans for a surge of disaster victims should begin with a strategy to empty their beds of relatively healthier patients.
Ivan was just one of four strong hurricanes to directly hit Florida coasts within a 1-month period in 2004. A new study has examined the poststorm impact and the short-term recovery from Ivan along a 200-km stretch of coast from Fort Walton Beach to St. George Island. The study is published in the latest issue of the Journal of Coastal Research.
FEMA, Coast Guard responses to Hurricane Katrina help researchers simulate how organizational characteristics improve or impede emergency management.
University of North Carolina Wilmington is listed on the first-ever President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll. UNCW was recognized for providing distinguished community service to Hurricane Katrina victims along the Gulf Coast.
In the November 2006 issue of The American Journal of the Medical Sciences, New Orleans doctors relate their experiences in coping with the destruction and loss of Katrina"”as well as their determination to overcome those losses by rebuilding the city's clinical and educational health care infrastructure.
The experience of setting up the "Katrina Clinic" at the Astrodome/Reliant Center Complex in Houston provides important lessons to cities planning a medical response to disasters and other large-scale emergencies, reports a paper in the September issue of the Southern Medical Journal.
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