Hurricane Harvey

Figure 1. Hurricane Harvey rainfall. Source: National Weather Service

         Hurricane Harvey was a category 4 hurricane that made landfall in Texas on August 25, 2017 and lasted four days (Amadeo, 2020). The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates that the total damages from Hurricane Harvey were $125 billion, making it the second most damaging tropical storm in US history (Blake & Zelinsky, 2018). In addition, the direct effects of the storm caused at least 68 deaths, while the indirect effects of the storm, such as car accidents, killed another 35 people (Amadeo, 2020). One of the biggest reasons the storm was so serious was its rainfall (Figure 1). The storm produced total rainfall of more than 60 inches in some areas, shattering the previous rainfall record of 52 inches from a storm in Hawaii in 1950 (Blake and Zelinksy, 2018). Another major problem with Hurricane Harvey was its wind speed. At the time of landfall in Rockport, Texas, wind speeds were as high as 130 mph (Heft, 2018). These winds, along with precipitation, led to nearly 25% of housing structures such as porches, sunrooms, and pool cages being damaged by the storm (Figure 2) (Heft, 2018). Additional damages that occurred were on drinking water facilities. There were 61 drinking water facilities that were destroyed leading to 203 boil-water notices put into effect (Amadeo, 2020). Wastewater treatment facilities were also impacted, as 40 were inoperable after the storm (Amadeo, 2020). This issue led to there being 150 gallons of sewage overflow.

Figure 2. Flooded house during Hurricane Harvey. Source: Wall Street Journal

    

        With a serious storm like Hurricane Harvey, there are typically long-term impacts. One lasting impact of Hurricane Harvey was that of the people who were displaced from their home, 20% of them were still in temporary housing as of June 23, 2020 (University of Houston, 2020). In addition, of the people whose properties suffered damage from the storm, 69.2% of them did not receive a buyout offer from the government. Of the remaining 30.2%, 10.2% received an offer from the government but refused, and 20.7% received an offer and accepted it (University of Houston, 2020). This means that nearly 80% of people that suffered damage to their property were left to cover the expenses themselves. Another impact that Hurricane Harvey had was that it caused a surge in unemployment numbers (Figure 3). The number of people filing for unemployment in Texas immediately after Hurricane Harvey led to the highest unemployment numbers in the US in two years (Mutikani, 2017).

Figure 3. Initial unemployment claims for the Great Recession and
Hurricane Harvey. Source: Houston Chronicle

    

        An important mitigation effort for Hurricane Harvey would have been to combat climate change. Researchers conducted a study to analyze the effects that anthropogenic climate change had on the intensity of Hurricane Harvey (Oldenborgh et al., 2017). The study concluded that global warming ultimately made the precipitation about 15% more intense, a drastic increase for an already severe storm (Oldenborgh et al., 2017).

    

This video shows before and after pictures of various locations impacted by Hurricane Harvey. It is a good representation of the intense rainfall and the resulting flooding that occurred. Source: CNBC.

                                                                                                                                    

Works Cited

Amadeo, Kimberly. "Hurricane Harvey Shows How Climate Change Can Impact 

        the Economy." The Balance, 24 September, 2020, https://www.thebalance.com/hurricane-harvey-

        facts-damage-costs-4150087.

Blake, Eric S. & Zelinsky, David A. "Tropical Cyclone Report: Hurricane Harvey." National Hurricane 

        Center, 9 May, 2018, https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL092017_Harvey.pdf.

Heft, Jayleen R. "The Untold Story of Hurricane Harvey Wind Damage: 12 Key Findings." Property 

        Casualty 360, 10 September, 2018, https://www.propertycasualty360.com/2018/09/10/the-untold-

        story-of-hurricane-harvey-wind-damage-1/?slreturn=20201110164211.

Mutikani, Lucia. "Hurricane Harvey Boosts U.S. Jobless Claims to More than Two-Year High."Reuters, 7 

        September, 2017, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-economy/hurricane-harvey-boosts-u-s-

        jobless-claims-to-more-than-two-year-high-idUSKCN1BI1MV.

Oldenborgh, Geert J. V., Karin V. D. Wiel, Antonia Sebastian, Roop Singh, Julie Arrighi, Friederike Otto, 

        Karsten Haustein, Sihan Li, Gabriel Vecchi & Heidi Cullen. "Attribution of Extreme Rainfall for 

        Hurricane Harvey, August 2017." Environmental Research Letters 12, no. 12, 13 December, 2017, 

        https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aa9ef2?dom=AOL&src=syn.

"The Impact of Hurricane Harvey." University of Houston, 24 August, 2020, https://uh.edu/hobby/harvey/