University Photo Essay: Analysis of Hurricane Irma Impacts

This photo essay analyzes Hurricane Irma, a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It explores the storm's scientific aspects, including its formation and intensification, as well as the social and economic impacts on affected communities. The essay details the devastation, including homelessness, mental health issues, and economic damage. It also examines the ecological effects, such as decreased water temperatures and biomass reduction. The essay discusses the aftermath, including aid efforts and the potential link between the hurricane and global warming. References are provided to support the analysis of this significant environmental event and its consequences.

Running head: PHOTO ESSAY OF HURRICANE IRMA
Photo Essay of Hurricane Irma
Name of the University:
Name of the Student:
Author note:

1Photo Analysis of Hurricane Irma
Defining Photo Essay:
A photo essay is a contemporary concept, which is basically a set of photographs that
are sequenced in a certain way that each of the photo state a story and upon relating the
photos, one will get a full picture of a complete story. These photo essays often are portrayed
in a way that uphold an emotional story, certain photo essays, again, give a portrayal of the
social and political conditioning of a place. Often these photographs are seen without any
comments, plainly portraying some pictures, and each of these pictures have a story of itself,
some of the pictures, again, come with small notes or comments that help the viewers to
understand the pictures.
In the following essay, a photo essay of Hurricane Irma is been presented and further
illustrated.
Hurricane Irma:
Hurricane Irma was the strongest hurricane in the Atlantic basin, as recorded in the
Caribbean Sea and at the Gulf of Mexico. The strength and the size of the storm is dynamic,
changing over courses of time, however, the highest wind speed maintained by the storm was
of 185mph for e7 hours straight. Hurricane Irma first took place in the year 2010, and it has
covered the highest of 300,000 square miles cloud field, which is, technically bigger the
entire state of Texas. In the year 2018 Hurricane Irma had again taken place, and this time
had caused landfall in Texas and Florida, thus creating a new record. Therefore, in the
following essay the effects of the storm have been presented through a photo essay.

2Photo Analysis of Hurricane Irma
Scientific Explanation:
Hurricane Irma, that took place in September 5, 2017, was strengthened by five storm,
as claimed by the scientists, and had come on Hurricane Irma making landfall near Texas and
Corpus Christi, and had rained heavily in the Houston and the areas surrounding it. The
picture was captured with the Visible Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument by the
NOAA/ NASA Suomi NPP satellite. The National Hurricane Centre started to monitor the
movement of the tropical wave since 26th August of w2017 and had hit the coastal areas on
late 27th August, initiating the massive storm. The depression gradually had started to
intensify, within two days of hitting the ground, as recorded by the Scatterometer and the
Satellite estimates. The increase in the sea surface temperature had ensured the intensification
of the waves, however, the cool waters and the dry air had played a little role in being a
hindrance in the way of the strengthening of the wave (Rowell).

3Photo Analysis of Hurricane Irma
Social Effect:
The Hurricane gad affected upon the lives of the people significantly. It left thousands
of people homeless, tearing apart families, and leaving families without any shelter and food.
The mayor of New Orleans had made the evacuation of the city, mandatory, which took place
for the first time in the history. Most of the evacuees had lost their homes and belongings, as
they could not get all of their belongings in the hurry. It had also affected the mental health of
the people. As the storm left many people and children homeless, the experience of losing
their loved ones and their belongings left many people traumatised. Also the first-hand
experience of witnessing damage and destruction, also left the people traumatised, and some
of these people are still seen to be taking counselling services to deal with such conditions
(Chava et al.). Moreover, the many of the people suffered from some serious illness and
disease that took place due to the flooding. Many waterborne diseases had taken place and
many of the people were severely affected by the flooding and the infections that had arisen

4Photo Analysis of Hurricane Irma
due to the same. However, as the people had previous experiences of Hurricane, this time,
many of them had seen to be taken some precautions, for example many of them had stuffed
food for a long time and had seen to be buying timbers and other house materials to
strengthen their houses.
Economic Effects:
The main effect of the storm had been essentially on the economic section of the
country. The storm and the flooding had caused damage and destruction of the lands, houses,
monuments, hospitals, agricultural fields and more importantly, created spaces for restoration
that needed money. Moreover, many of the people of the country were suffering from the
physical ailments and other health issues, and the government had to account for them. Also,
it was seen that many of the people had registered themselves under the\ chart for the

5Photo Analysis of Hurricane Irma
homeless people (Tyler & Sadiq). Therefore, it can be seen that the flood and the storm had
not directly affected the economy of the country but had passively impacted upon it heavily.
Ecological Effects:
The storm had affected the country from all aspects, which included heavy impacts on
the ecology of the country, especially of Florida. The water temperature had decreased
significantly during the first week, and the freshwater inflow after the storm had affected the
estuaries and the river bodies gravely. Another report had shown that there was an increasing
decrease in the biomass due to the same, and the river bodies were perceived with low levels
of oxygen in it dude to the lack of algal blooms (Feng et al.).

6Photo Analysis of Hurricane Irma
Aftermath:
Within days of initiation of Hurricane Irma, Direct Relief with food, water, medicine
and other medical aids, doctors, had reached Florida. Preparedness pack was sent to the
country from the other neighbouring countries. Reports have shown that 449,028 pounds of
medical aid, amounting a total of $39.6 million were sent to the city to help out the sufferers
(Xian et al.).

7Photo Analysis of Hurricane Irma
Effects of global Warming:
The researchers have shown that the occurrence of Hurricane, serves as a warning to
the world. The researchers believe that the increasing levels of global warming has impacted
upon it. It is reviewed that the rising sea levels in Florida, had aggravated the situation of
flooding in the country. Secondly, the increasing temperature of the city had also contributed
in the worsening the depression over the sea. Thirdly, the global warming slows down the
weather patterns, which makes the storms to move more slowly, increasing the rate of
damage (Trenberth et al.).

8Photo Analysis of Hurricane Irma
References:
Chava, Raja Venkata Satya Phanindra, et al. "Big Data Text Summarization-Hurricane Irma."
(2018).
Feng, Yanlei, et al. "Rapid remote sensing assessment of impacts from Hurricane Maria on
forests of Puerto Rico." PeerJ Preprints 6 (2018): e26597v1.
Rowell, Lonnie. "A brief update from across the big pond’s troubled waters: beliefs, science,
politics, and action research." Educational Action Research 26.1 (2018): 4-8.
Trenberth, Kevin E., et al. "Hurricane Harvey links to ocean heat content and climate change
adaptation." Earth's Future6.5 (2018): 730-744.
Tyler, Jenna, and Abdul-Akeem Sadiq. "Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery in the
Aftermath of Hurricane Irma: Exploring Whether Community-Level Mitigation
Activities Make a Difference." Natural Hazards Review 20.1 (2018): 04018026.
Xian, Siyuan, et al. "Rapid Assessment of Damaged Homes in the Florida Keys after
Hurricane Irma." arXiv preprint arXiv:1801.06596 (2018).