Discuss The Impacts Of Storm Events In The British Isles And Evaluate The Response To Them
Discuss the impacts of storm events in the British Isles and evaluate the response to them. (40 marks)
A storm that had severe impacts on a vast area of the British Isles is known as the “great storm” of 1987. The great storm devastated much of Southern England; perhaps the impacts were worsened as the storm evaded normal weather prediction services. The extreme low pressure system was the result of Arctic and Tropic Continental air masses colliding over the Atlantic Ocean.
North Westerly Winds dragged the depression across the British Isles bringing powerful storm conditions with it. The high winds which gusted to over 100 mph left 18 people dead, damaged many homes and businesses, and left estimated devastation costs of over one billion pounds. The high winds took down approximately 15 million trees and many power lines; many homes were not only left with physical damage but with no electricity for several days. The trees caused many separate issues themselves, damaging transport links and blocking services which meant roads and railways which were blocked by the wreckage were left blocked for longer as there was poor access. Thousands of people were left unable to get to work and school not purely due to blocked routes but also many cars were left crushed by trees creating a short standstill. Moreover as communications were down in many areas, certain people were unaware of what was happening elsewhere so people could not contact their employers or let people know about their personal damage. Closed businesses lost trade, some of the public were left out of pocket due to personal losses and damage and the national economy hardly took the storm costs lightly. I imagine taxes rose to cover the tremendous costs and that the insurance companies had a tough year as 1 in 6 south eastern home submitted a claim.
In terms of the environment, other than of course the loss of trees damage was minimal. Some rubbish spread into the countryside but in the long term I think
A storm that had severe impacts on a vast area of the British Isles is known as the “great storm” of 1987. The great storm devastated much of Southern England; perhaps the impacts were worsened as the storm evaded normal weather prediction services. The extreme low pressure system was the result of Arctic and Tropic Continental air masses colliding over the Atlantic Ocean.
North Westerly Winds dragged the depression across the British Isles bringing powerful storm conditions with it. The high winds which gusted to over 100 mph left 18 people dead, damaged many homes and businesses, and left estimated devastation costs of over one billion pounds. The high winds took down approximately 15 million trees and many power lines; many homes were not only left with physical damage but with no electricity for several days. The trees caused many separate issues themselves, damaging transport links and blocking services which meant roads and railways which were blocked by the wreckage were left blocked for longer as there was poor access. Thousands of people were left unable to get to work and school not purely due to blocked routes but also many cars were left crushed by trees creating a short standstill. Moreover as communications were down in many areas, certain people were unaware of what was happening elsewhere so people could not contact their employers or let people know about their personal damage. Closed businesses lost trade, some of the public were left out of pocket due to personal losses and damage and the national economy hardly took the storm costs lightly. I imagine taxes rose to cover the tremendous costs and that the insurance companies had a tough year as 1 in 6 south eastern home submitted a claim.
In terms of the environment, other than of course the loss of trees damage was minimal. Some rubbish spread into the countryside but in the long term I think