Effects on Hurricane Igor

The Effects of Hurricane Igor The people of Newfoundland and Labrador are used to watching natural disasters on television, not usually do they get to expierence them up front. But on September 22, 2010 Newfoundland and Labrador was hit by Hurricane Igor,a storm that effected everyone in different ways. Some of the effects of Hurricane Igor were flooding and power outages that lasted up to 12 days. The Hurricane ripped through Newfoundland as a category 1 Hurricane, and left at least 30 communities in state of emergency.

This was definitely something that the people of Newfoundland were not expecting to get so serious, and definitely were not ready for. As a result of Hurricane Igor the amount of rain that had fallen which was more than 200 millimetres caused flash floods which destroyed roads, bridges, and even homes. In some places flood water was higher than entire homes. Igor ruined thousands of homes do to water damages. Many people lost everything in there homes. One of the St. John’s soccer fields were completely destroyed as a esult of the storm costing the city a lot of money. In one extreme case an 80 year old man from Random Island was swept off to sea when the road beneath him was washed away. Rain was one of the major factors causing damage but there were also other extreme factors. Power outages were also a damaging factor which effected numerous homes throughout the island. Winds as high as 140 km/h not only broke off poles but also knocked down trees which in return knocked down a large number of power lines. This power disruption affected as many as 7,000 households and usinesses leaving them without power for several days. The Eastern School District was forced to close schools. In most cases up to a week or until power was restored. To help cope with the power outages places like The Salvation Army provided assisstance to people throughout the island by providing them food, clothing and shelter. This was a great help until power restored. As a result of Hurricane Igor, people who have experienced it first hand now realize how vunerable they are to natural disasters and now know that this s not something you just watch on television. This also taught the people of Newfoundland and Labrador how to better themselves for future similar occurances. For example, there was recentley a category 3 Hurricane Leslie which caused a lot of the same distruction. But at the same time, people were better prepared to cope with the Hurricane by taking it more seriously and not just waiting until it was to late to react. Which in conclusion would have made this storm a lot worse than what it was. Sarah Stevenson