Page 243 - Geosystems An Introduction to Physical Geography 4th Canadian Edition

now
g
e
o
s
y
s
tem
s
C
hap
te
r8W
207
ea
th
er
What Is the Increasing Cost of Intense Weather?
How do you deal with images of in- tense weather and the trail of de- struction left behind? imagine what people on the front lines of these events face. Perhaps you have lived through an intense weather event that left an indelible mark on your memory. improved warning systems have helped to reduce loss of life, but the economic costs of intense weather and impacts on human lives remain high.
each year, some 80–100 tornadoes are observed in Canada (Figure gN 8.1). Tornadoes occur in all provinces, but the southern Prairies and southwestern Ontario are struck most often. Just days apart in June 2010, tornadoes occurred in the southern Ontario towns of Leam- ington (rated as F1 on the Fujita scale, 180–240 km∙h−1 winds) and Midland ( r a t e d F 2 , 1 8 0 – 2 4 0 k m ∙ h −1 w i n d s ) . i n Leamington, there were no major inju- ries, but nearly 5 000 insurance claims were made, totaling CAD $85 million, and over $3.5 million was spent by local gov- ernments on the cleanup. The Midland tornado resulted in damage to buildings and power outages, and some minor in- juries. Considerable damage occurred in Smith’s mobile home park near the town where it was reported that 50 families lost their homes. Within a few minutes, an estimated $10–15 million in damage was caused. in August 2011, an F3 tornado quickly came ashore from Lake Huron and decimated the Town of goderich, Ontario,
destroying the historic downtown and causing 1 death, 37 injuries, and $150 million in damage.
The correspondence between signifi- cant tornado damage and mobile homes is a recurring story because the trailers are not well anchored to the ground. Fifteen residents of the evergreen mobile home park in northeast edmonton died when one of the most destructive and deadly tornadoes in Canadian history occurred on July 31, 1987 (Figure gN 8.2). The tor- nado travelled northward on the eastern edge of edmonton for about a one-hour period, with intensity varying between F2 and F4 (winds between 267–322 km · h−1). Another 12 people were killed at a nearby oil refinery complex, and the total cost of damages from the tornado was over $300 million.
relying on video evidence, officials at environment Canada rated the elie, Manitoba, tornado of June 22, 2007, to be the first officially documented tor- nado with F5 intensity on the Fujita scale in Canada. Maximum wind speeds of 420–510 km∙h−1 were estimated. After seeing a house on video picked up and moved 300 metres in the air before break- ing apart, and a van being tossed around by the tornado, it was upgraded from an initial F4 rating. This tornado travelled 5.5 km over a 35-minute period, leav- ing damage in a swath up to 300 metres in width, but it occurred in a less popu- lated area of the country and, fortunately, caused no fatalities or serious injuries.
By the time they reach Atlantic Canada, most hurricanes in the north- west Atlantic have weakened to no greater than tropical storm intensity, but some do retain winds with Category 1 or 2 strength, the lower end of the Saffir- Simpson scale. At its strongest, Hurri- cane igor attained Category 4 status, but it was a Category 1 storm (119–154 km·h−1 winds) when it struck Newfoundland on September 21, 2010, and dropped 200 mm of rain in some places. igor re- sulted in $65 million of insurance losses from damage caused by wind, sewer backup, fallen trees, and water entering homes through broken windows, roofs, and walls. The figure excludes overland flood damage, which is not covered by
▲Figure GN 8.2 Devastation at the Evergreen mobile home park. in July 1987, an F4 tornado struck this residential area
in northeast edmonton, killing 15 people. Another 12 people were killed in a nearby industrial area along its path of destruction. [edmonton Journal/Ken Orr/CP images.]
insurance in Canada. Those losses are estimated to be more than $120 million.
Tornadoes and hurricanes are not the only intense weather events to affect Ca- nadians. Blizzards, ice storms, and floods caused by high precipitation are other examples. Canada’s largest insured di- saster occurred in 2013 with the flooding of southern Alberta—insured losses of $1.74 billion with additional uninsured damages totalling an estimated $6 billion. Flash flooding in Toronto in July 2013 re- sulted in $940 million in damages. The December 2013 ice storm in southern Ontario and eastern Canada caused $200 million in insured losses. The insurance Bureau of Canada media releases report increas- ing costs of severe weather ranging from $915 million in 2010 to $3.2 billion in 2013. if we are lucky, the damage caused by these events is in dollar costs and we are left with just some cleanup to do, but for some peo- ple the impact on lives and property can be much greater and longer lasting. Again the question: How do people on the front lines cope with such disaster? Contemplate the human dimension as you work through the weather chapter.
geosystems now online go to Chapter 8 on the MasteringGeography website (www.masteringgeography.com) for more about tornadoes and severe weather. For links to and information about ex- treme weather events in Canada, go to www.ec.gc.ca/meteo-weather/default .asp?lang=En&n=15E59C08-1. For informa- tion on severe weather in the United States and their costs, see www.ncdc.noaa.gov/ oa/climate/severeweather/extremes.html or www.ncdc.noaa.gov/billions/.
207
▲Figure GN 8.1 Aftermath of the 2000 Pine Lake, Alberta, tornado. Twelve peo- ple were killed and more than 100 others were critically injured in the green Acres campground and trailer park when an
eF3 tornado struck Pine Lake, 25 km southeast of red Deer, on July 14, 2000. [Adrian Wyld/CP images.]