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Weather Hazards and Climate Change

Why tropical cyclones are hazardous, and their impacts

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 1

Overview

What makes an event a hazard, the winds, storm surge, rainfall, landslides and salt damage of a tropical cyclone, its social, economic and environmental impacts, why development changes the death toll and cost, and using social media with satellite images and socio-economic data to assess impacts.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

Why are the winds of a tropical cyclone so destructive?

Key term

How does the rainfall of a tropical cyclone create hazards well inland?

Key term

Why do landslides so often follow a tropical cyclone?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What makes a natural event count as a hazard?

    Model answer

    It has to threaten people's lives, their property or the way they make a living.

  2. 2

    Why are the winds of a tropical cyclone so destructive?

    Model answer

    Sustained speeds above about 120 km/h tear roofs off buildings, snap power lines and uproot trees, and turn loose objects into flying debris.

  3. 3

    What is a storm surge, and why does it cause most cyclone deaths?

    Model answer

    It is a rise in sea level created by the very low pressure lifting the water and strong onshore winds piling it against the coast, and it floods low-lying land so fast and so deeply that people drown.

  4. 4

    How does the rainfall of a tropical cyclone create hazards well inland?

    Model answer

    Hundreds of millimetres can fall within a day, far more than rivers and drains can carry, so flash flooding spreads far beyond the coast.

  5. 5

    Why do landslides so often follow a tropical cyclone?

    Model answer

    Prolonged heavy rain saturates steep slopes, adding weight to the soil and reducing the friction holding it, until the material slides downhill.

  6. 6

    Why does flooding by sea water damage farmland for years afterwards?

    Model answer

    Salt left in the soil poisons it for crops and can contaminate the fresh groundwater that farms and homes depend on.

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