Hurricane Harvey

• Location

  Houston, Texas
• When

  25th August 2017
• storm details

  category 4 storm

  wind speeds of 132mph

  a years worth of rainfall in less than a week
• factors that made SE texas vunerable

  desire to live alongside the warer

  highly urbanised area (impermeable surfaces and drainage)

  little thought to sustainable urban design during the oil boom
• social impacts

  13 million people affected, 88 died

  135000 homes damaged/destroyed

  around 1 million cars completely wrecked
• economic impacts

  $125 billion in damages (2nd costliest in US history)

  gas prices rose
• environmental impacts

  8 million cubic yards of garbage in Houston alone

  human carcinogens (increase risk of cancer) released throughout Houston
• preperation


  NHC monitored the storm

  chemical plants shut down on the 24th in preparation
• relief

  100,000 rescue missions led by authorities and first responders

  FEMA assigned 28 urban search and rescue teams

  Coast guard rescued 11022 people and 1384 pets
• rehabilitation

  recovery slowed down as funds were diverted due to Irma and Maria

  rubbish clearance was the priority immediately after the storm
• reconstruction

  billions of dollars in federal aid and donations have helped Texas repair, rebuild and recover

  poor and minority groups are not getting the help they need - 27% of hispanic texans whose homes were badly damaged reported they remain unsafe to live in vs 11% white texans