Hydrosphere Hazard Maps

Prudencio 1

Floods in Louisiana, New Orleans (significant)

CAPTION: Floods are Environmental Hazards that most

commonly occur throughout the world. These natural hazards
usually occur when water brims over and submerges land that is
commonly dry. There are various things that lead to floods such
as, dams breaking, river overflows, rain, ice/snow melting, and
strong winds in coastal areas. According to National Geographic,
these flash floods can be extremely dangerous, instantly turning
a babbling brook into a thundering wall of water and sweeping everything in its path
downstream. In addition, National Geographic states that, Disaster experts classify floods
according to their likelihood of occurring in a given time period. The map show that New
Orleans is a region that is located in the 100-year flood zone. Which means that there is a one
percent chance that flooding can happen in this city in any given year.

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Prudencio 2

Floods in Louisiana

CAPTION: From a regional scale, you can see a significant pattern of floods in Louisiana. The
pattern shows that majority of Louisiana is located in the 100-500 year flood zones. These zones
according to disaster experts pose the highest risks. Moreover, floodsmart.gov states that,
Hurricanes and flooding are recurrent dangers for Louisiana, with one of the most vulnerable
coastlines to flooding nationwide. According to Governors Office of Homeland Security &
Emergency Preparedness, this is because Louisiana is located along the southernmost part of
the Mississippi River Basin, which has the largest drainage of any basin in North America. The
states sub-tropical climate has the potential for producing heavy rainfalls at any time of the
year.

Hydrosphere Hazard Maps

Prudencio 3

Floods in the United States

CAPTION: From a global scale, you can see that floods occur all over the United States.
However, the map shows that floods mostly occur in South Eastern states near the Gulf of
Mexico coastline. According to The Weather Predication, The temperature of the water affects
the weather of Coastal Mississippi by brings warm moist air to the region. This warm moist air
rises causing a variety of weather from fog to thunderstorms to fueling tropical storms and
hurricanes. These storms then lead to heavy rainfall, which cause hazardous events like floods
to occur. Furthermore, the biggest flood in history recorded was the Mississippi River flooding in
1927. This event killed 500 individuals and left 600,000 homeless, and ran across Illinois,
Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. After this horrible flood
people then learned better ways to protect themselves from floods. All in all, today most
residents that live in high risk flooding areas are mandated to purchase flood insurance.
Although, when a flood occurs, one should avoid driving and walking. It is also greatly advised
to move to higher grounds, and listen to the radio and TV to receive further emergency
instructions and or updates.

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Work Cited

"Flash Floods | Weather Related Flooding | Flood Risk | FloodSmart." Flash Floods | Weather
Related Flooding | Flood Risk | FloodSmart. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2016.
<https://www.floodsmart.gov/floodsmart/pages/flooding_flood_risks/flash_floods.jsp>.
"Floods." Ready.gov. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2016. <https://www.ready.gov/floods>.
"Flood Information, Flooding Facts, Flash Floods, Photos -- National Geographic." National
Geographic. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2016.
<http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-disasters/floodsprofile/>.
"FLOODING." FLOODING. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2016.
<http://gohsep.la.gov/ABOUT/LOUISIANA-HAZARDS-THREATS/FLOODING>.
"Natural Hazards | Flooding." Natural Hazards. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2016. <http://www.n-da.org/flooding.php>.
Sheet, Fact. "Louisiana Flood Fact Sheet." Louisiana Flood Fact Sheet (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 20
Apr. 2016.
<https://www.floodsmart.gov/floodsmart/pdfs/Louisiana_flood_fact_sheet.pdf>.
"THE INFLUENCES OF THE GULF OF MEXICO ON COASTAL MISSISSIPPI
WEATHER." THE INFLUENCES OF THE GULF OF MEXICO ON COASTAL
MISSISSIPPI WEATHER. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2016.
<http://www.theweatherprediction.com/weatherpapers/102/index.html>.
Webley, Kayla. "Top 10 Historic U.S. Floods." Time. Time Inc., 11 May 2011. Web. 24 Apr.
2016.

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<http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2070796_2070798_2070
780,00.html>.
"WunderMap." Weather Forecast & Reports. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2016.
<https://www.wunderground.com/wundermap/>.