Hurricane Irma, being one of the biggest and strongest hurricane ever recorded to hit the Atlantic coast, has created extensive amounts of damage to the people and cities along the Caribbean and southeast of the US. The biggest cause of damage from hurricanes are not caused by the intense winds but instead by the storm surge. Storm surge is caused by the low pressure of the high winds, bringing up sea water which can cause significant damage to places like Florida where most of the towns and cities are nearly at sea level. Flooded homes, power outage, lack of transportation, and sewage leakages are some of the effects of the hurricane. The post hurricane recovery is still difficult since most of the roads are flooded in the damaged areas and rebuilding infrastructure and buildings can’t occur till the roads are cleared and cleaned.

Here at Saint Louis, the majority of the people feel some extent of pity and want to help out the people affected by the storm and a few students that think a little differently. One of the students that showed some concern for the people affected by the storm was Barrett Smith who said, “It’s (Hurricane Irma) affecting millions of lives in not only Florida but also Cuba and Puerto Rico. Will not take months but years to recover from this big natural disaster.” Although what Barrett said wasn’t confirmed to be true, there appears to to be some truth he was based on. All of his grandparents apparently donated to the relief of the victims and he went on to say that, “Every penny counts”.

The damage on the people living in Florida and the infrastructure are sure to create many struggles physically and mentally. There are many things to learn from this event. People can prepare better for next years hurricane season and this should help with creating more interest about the effects of a hurricane. The future will show more about hurricanes and increase the amount of understatement that humans have on this scientific phenomenon. There is more to see and learn that just broken houses and flooded towns.

Sources:

http://fortune.com/2017/09/15/hurricane-irma-damage-update-sewage/