The Main Street Ellicott City Flood

The Texas City disaster took place on April 16th, 1947, with the detonation of 2300 tons of ammonium nitrate, near the Texas City docks. The Grandcamp was set to embark on an assigned trip to Europe to help in the reconstruction of various countries in the aftermath of the Second World War. The ships were loaded with 32.5 % ammonium nitrate fertilizer, which is a high explosive used in military and mining operations. The result of which was a DDT which is a deflagration to detonation causing a massive explosion leading to many deaths, destroyed homes, and the surroundings being ruined. The leading causes of this horrific tragedy were poor transportation and storing laws of ammonium nitrate which was a main component in the disaster, if these two components had have been handled with more care the lives of innocent people would not have been lost.

During our week in New Orleans, we will have excellent opportunities to learn about different cultures, the effects of natural disasters, and reasons as to why New Orleans is facing poverty and economic distress through our volunteer work with Project Homecoming, 1 in 5 homes in New Orleans is still blighted, 10 years after Katrina. New Orleans still has a high rate of blighted (abandoned) homes. We will be helping to rebuild homes, but we will also be helping to improve the surrounding community spaces such as there local gardens.

The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 was one of the most destructive in the history of the United States, proving that the levee only policy was a failure and the limits of human control over the river. The beginning of the flood, from the initial crevasse, poured out “468,000 second-feet onto the Delta that triple the volume of a flooding Colorado, more than double a flooding Niagara Falls and the entire upper Mississippi ever carried” (pg 203). The flood of 1927 “shifted perceptions of the role and responsibility of the federal government… shattered the myth of a quasi-feudal bond between Delta blacks and the southern aristocracy...accelerated the great migration of blacks north. And it altered both southern and national politics....”

Graphic novels have the ability to portray multiple perspectives and can cleverly represent as many groups an author believes is needed. What becomes the decision of the author is which perspective deems more important or more fascinating. Depending on which the author decides to portray, there tends to be different effects on the readers. Neufeld uses Scott’s Mccloud’s ideas from Understanding Comics, such as adding detail to a character to differentiate them from the reader in order to induce certain emotions. The perspective taken from the primary source may receive more empathy or distaste depending on who the author chooses to represent. Through detailing certain character, this focus is made clear to be on the victims. However, graphic novels are sometimes subject to biases and misinterpretations, which can belittle the authenticity of the accounts being given. Different accounts of the events hold different biases. They could either represent those who have undergone the specific event or that of someone who has speculated from the outside. In A.D. New Orleans after the Deluge, Josh Neufeld represents a perspective not commonly exemplified, as he assigns different perspectives to his character and juxtaposes them using the dialogue from their interactions. A different view of the story is told, and reasons to the questionable, or unethical actions of the victims are brought into focus and analyzed through a perspective that sides with the victims.

Howard County has two major tributaries, the Patuxent River in the southwest region of the county and the Patapsco River in the north, as well as smaller rivers, streams and lakes that branch off from the main sources (Howard County website). The areas of land that are close in proximity to these bodies of water, and especially the tributaries, have a significantly higher risk of flooding as the water from the river overflows when there is a large rainstorm. In addition to these natural factors that account for higher flooding risks, human influences play a major role in intensifying the risk. For example, human development leads to building water-resistant surfaces like concrete on floodplains, cutting down trees and plants that help filter water, as well as well as installing storm drainage systems that end up in the rivers (BBC GCSE). For these reasons, Howard County finds there is a higher flood risk in urban areas, such as Main Street in Ellicott City, and Elkridge and Allview Estates in Columbia (Live Green Howard). These three locations in Howard County,

“Johnstown flood” is a short story written by David McCullough. This story talks about the miraculous survival of a little girl named Gertrude. Gertrude’s sheer luck got her up the hill safely. Of course, with the help of several people she met along the way. I think that this is an extraordinary act of how worked together and some people put his/her life at risk to save a small child that they didn’t even knew. I fell that this is a great example of how human beings come together in times of need and extreme danger and in the way that we try to protect ourselves from disaster.

The Johnstown flood, of May 31st 1889, is a devastating part of American history that forever changed the lives of thousands of people. Before the destructive flood more than 30,000 people lived in Johnstown and surrounding towns. The main industries of the time were the Pennsylvania Railroad and Cambria Iron Works, who also supplied houses that were often times built just at the edge of the Conemaugh River, which ran through Johnstown.

I was talking with a co-worker this evening about my assignments for the week in my online classes. When I told her we were studying the intermontane west; she told me about a place in eastern Washington State called the scablands. I had never heard the term before, so naturally I was intrigued. Luckily for me the topic was covered in our book when discussing the Great Missoula Flood. The Great Missoula Flood was caused over a period of time during the last ice age when a massive dam buckled under the weight of the water that melted from the polar ice caps (Hardwick, Shelley & Holtgrieve.) The scablands are only a portion of the total area that is encompassed in the area affected by the Great Missoula Flood. According to HugeFloods.com “The

In August of 2005, a great blow was dealt to our country by the disastrous Hurricane Katrina. Where humans thought they could control the awesome power of such a natural disaster through the use of levees, they were wrong. Many of the failures were due to problems with the soil on which the levees were built. In the chapter, we read over many types of changes the planet goes through, and it seems that those key point were not very strongly considered when constructing the levees. Not only was the underlying soil an issue, but different elevation levels from around New Orleans also contributed to the failures.

She informed us about the Teton Dam was beginning to wash away. We were shocked. This would change our lives because the water here is how we were able to take baths and shower and even drink so… if the water fully dissipated we wouldn't have the most essential necessity in life. The water began cascading down the Teton canyon. “All people who live in the lowlands east, north and west of Rexburg should go to high ground and stay there.” said a reporter on the radio. The water was expected to be four to six feet deep. We had to be sparing with our water. We saved off as much cold water as we could, and we flushed our toilets on rare occasions. As we assumed our water supply would soon be polluted or even worse, gone. Everyone kept to themselves but we could tell the morale was low, but people stayed calm. We could hear the water as it hit things in the streets. It was hitting buildings. CRASH. You could hear the crunching sounds of buildings and homes crashing to pieces. The flood was bringing along with it, dead animals, exploding gas tanks, farming equipment, and all kind of debris. Suddenly there was a wild explosion in the northwestern part of town. The streets were now filled with pine trees and pieces of houses. It was then that we realized how destructive this flood was going to be. The flood caused about 180 square miles to have

Also known as the “Great Flood of 1889,” the Johnstown flood occurred when a local man-made dam failed, unleashing millions of gallons of water and causing utter destruction in its wake.

Natural disasters affect thousands of lives each year, and have the potential to drastically alter a country/state and its people. Because of the destructive force Mother Nature can bring about, it is imperative to have mitigation plans set up in populated areas to protect people and reduce the structural damage to buildings, houses, etc. There are some mitigation plans, however, that have been unsuccessful, resulting in catastrophic disasters. Best examples of these are the Connecticut Flood of 1955 and Hurricane Katrina. Even though these are two different types of natural disasters; the level of destruction, preparedness, mitigation strategies, and the overall aftermaths had profound and lasting changes on the areas inflicted, mainly Connecticut and Louisiana.

In 1987 an atmospheric river heated Los Angeles ,the consecutive rain for more than 5 days made this the largest Flood that had happen in Los Angeles. This is best know as the California Great Flood. Houses, infrastructure, landfill were under water and hundreds of people die. This Flood has been the most expensive flood recorder in Los Angeles history. Billions of dollars were the total sum of losses left by the Flood as a result the entire state of california was declared in bankruptcy. Los angeles is not a place where hurricanes are generated due to its location but it is affected by El nino and atmospheric rivers that year after year are increasing its power. Is a vulnerable city where flood can occur at anytime , due to it topography

On August 12th, 2016, the southern part of Louisiana was flooded do to massive rain fall. I feel this is a big topic that should be talked about because of the eye opening things that have happened such as damage and the record breaking water levels recorded. This stuff really should be talked about but isn’t.

The purpose of this report is to geologically evaluate the potential hazards for flooding in Hazard City. This report will include a detailed historic and extrapolated Stream Gauge Data Worksheet, as well as a graph of the Discharge Frequency Curve expected on Clearwater River. The report will provide Hazard city with my scientific analysis, conclusions, and provide recommendations concerning potential flood damages.