Hazards of Tropical Cyclones (Edexcel GCSE Geography: B (1GB0))

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Jacque Cartwright

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Hazards of Tropical Cyclones

Tropical cyclones are hazards in themselves but the storm also produces specific physical hazards:
- High winds up to 250km/h uprooting trees, damaging infrastructure, buildings, causing injury and loss of life
- Intense rainfall leading to flash flooding, damaging property and injuring people from fast-flowing water
- Storm surges from large areas of low pressure allowing the sea level to rise which, combined with high winds, forces a large mass of water towards land. This erodes beaches, damage sea defences and contaminates farmland and freshwater
- Coastal flooding caused by intense rainfall and storm surges can affect large areas of low lying land including farmland and the tourist industry
- Landslides are triggered because soil becomes saturated due to intense rainfall and in areas with steep slopes where the soil can no longer hold its position sliding down the slope

Primary effects are the immediate impacts of strong winds, high rainfall and storm surges
Secondary effects are the impacts that occur later on after the storm has passed

The Primary and Secondary Impacts of Tropical Storms

Primary Impacts	Secondary Impacts
Buildings and bridges are destroyed	People are homeless, causing distress, poverty, ill-health or death due to lack of shelter. Cost of rebuild can be expensive and some people may not have insurance
Roads, railways, ports, and airports are damaged	Blocked or destroyed roads prevent rescue and emergency vehicles, and aid from getting through
Electricity lines are damaged/destroyed	Life support systems, hospitals, shops and homes left without power supplies
Gas lines broken	Risk of fires and explosions
Sewage overflows	Clean water supplies contaminated bringing the increased risk of water bore diseases and death
Rivers and coastal areas flooded	People drown or injured through rushing water. Crops, livestock and habitats were destroyed, leading to a shortage of food and potentially famine
Businesses destroyed	Economic impact to business owners and potential unemployment

Exam Tip

Remember that the more settlements and businesses there are, the greater the impacts of the storm because there are more people and properties to be affected by a tropical storm.

Vulnerability to Tropical Cyclones

Some countries are more socially, physically and economically vulnerable to tropical cyclones than others

Vulnerability to Tropical Storms

Physical	Economic	Social
Low-lying coastlines are vulnerable to storm surges, flooding and high winds	Low levels of development means lack of resources available to respond to storms or protect vulnerable areas from the worst impacts of storms. Also buildings tend to be of poorer build quality and easily damaged	Old and young people are more vulnerable as they are more likely to struggle evacuating.
Areas where tropical storms form, are hit more frequently as they are in the path of the storm	Financial cost of repairs can be too much for some countries, some people may not have insurance	Lack of education, information, emergency planning and evacuation strategies can induce panic
A high frequency of storms, leaves little time to recover from previous events	The cost of repairs for developed countries will be higher as the infrastructure and buildings are more complex and damage more intense	Health and well-being are impacted regardless of wealth, but poorer countries struggle to treat injuries and provide basic support
Steep slopes (high relief) increase the risk of landslides	Countries with high levels of development are less vulnerable due to accurate weather predictions, coastal defences to manage storm surges and evacuation procedures	Areas of poverty lead to poor construction of housing which is more easily damaged - regardless of level of development
Lack of infrastructure or accessibility to remote areas due to physical landscape	Harder to rescue people if infrastructure is damaged or is non- existent in some poorer countries	Poorer areas are less likely to have access to shelter, food, clean water and medical care

Worked example

Explain why some countries are more vulnerable than others to the impacts of tropical cyclones.

(4 marks)

Lack of education (1) meaning people don’t know what to do. (1)
Lack of emergency planning (1) meaning when the event occurs there is little or no response in a short period of time (1)
Low level of economic development (1) meaning there is no resource available to respond (1) resulting in chaos and panic when the event occurs (1) and a lack of resource to rebuild (1)
Some countries experience a high frequency of natural hazards (1) which means that they do not have enough time / money to respond sufficiently (1) so additional money needs to be spent on recovery (1) which limits opportunity for increasing the level of development (1)

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