- stacybourne
- June 27, 2023
- 6:30 pm
- No Comments
The different types of atmospheric disasters leave a great deal of damage and losses on their path. In addition to the damage to buildings, all types of life are affected, from trees, coasts, rivers, oceans, and even human beings.
The arrival of hurricanes in cities and towns can destroy these areas in hours. In the last thirty years alone, high winds, floods, and storm surges have caused economic losses valued at more than two billion dollars. Of course, the damage caused will vary from country to country or area to area. It will depend mainly on the vulnerability and living conditions in the affected area.
Increased water flows in rivers, streams and along the coast, caused by floods and rainfall, cause waste that was previously dumped in the city to be washed away and end up contaminating freshwater bodies and soils. In the aftermath of hurricanes, the degree to which cities take care of their solid waste can be noted. Such was the case in the Dominican Republic a couple of years ago when, after a couple of days of torrential rains, the sea was totally contaminated with waste, mainly plastic.
The dragging of solid waste has been aggravated mainly for two reasons:
Populations have moved to areas where rivers and streams were previously located, which are returning to their former courses due to flooding.
Poor solid waste management
Trash and waste generated in cities alone pose a risk to the environment. However, their environmental impact is exacerbated when they are washed by currents into areas where plastic and other more toxic materials would not naturally reach, contaminating animals, flora, and ecosystems. The main polluting materials include organic matter, plastic, cardboard, wood, debris, fuels, and even solvents.
Open Landfill Conditions
The floods and strong winds caused by hurricanes highlight the consumerist tendency of cities and their poor management of solid waste. In addition, they slow down the efforts of waste management processes, such as recycling and sorting of waste for treatment. Recycling in cities after natural disasters stops for weeks or even months, which means a delay in terms of circular economy and good waste management. Due to the havoc and consequences caused in cities and towns, authorities choose to look for solutions in the immediate aftermath, which worsens the situation in landfills. Waste is generally sent to landfills without being previously sorted. This can have two serious impacts: it can affect the condition of the landfill soils due to the heavy weight of the materials sent, and it can lead to contamination by toxic and hazardous materials, which then reach the water.
The damage caused will depend on the factors that characterize hurricanes and atmospheric disasters, their wind speeds, and rainfall. In addition to causing major damage to cities, hurricanes generate a large amount of debris from damaged vehicles, trees, building debris, organic waste, city rubbish, and even dead animals. However, the main threat is that of contaminating water, air, and soil with hazardous or highly toxic materials.
Preventing Environmental damage
In order to reduce the waste and debris generated and washed away by hurricane floods and winds, there are certain actions that can be implemented.
- Do not remove stones and sand from beaches and riverbanks
- Trim branches that may end up damaging electric and telephone cables
- Avoid throwing any kind of litter into rivers, public areas, or directly into the environment.
- Place solid waste in areas where it is moderately protected from strong winds and flooding.
- Place hazardous waste in completely safe areas to prevent it from contaminating water and soil afterward.
Debris removal
The collection, clean-up and reconstruction of affected cities and areas requires a great deal of personnel and work. Usually this type of work is carried out by NGOs and the United Nations due to a lack of personnel or departments to deal with these situations, depending on the specific country.
However, the arrival of aid takes time, so two alternatives tend to be used:
- Hiring experts who own heavy machinery
- Involve the inhabitants to work on the reconstruction and clean-up, paying them for their work.
In the case of debris collection and disposal, always exercise the utmost caution, because there are still a lot of risks. For example, pieces of cable are still connected to the mains or sharp materials. To avoid injury, make sure that you wear personal protective equipment (PPE) when carrying out these activities.
Classification of the waste collected
When collecting debris and solid waste, make sure to separate the materials to facilitate their subsequent treatment. You can separate them according to their type:
- Electronic devices: Televisions, computers, telephones
- Household appliances: Refrigerators, cookers, washing machines, dryers, dryers
- Hazardous waste: Oil, batteries, pesticides, paints and cosmetics
- Organic waste: Tree branches, leaves, plants and foodstuffs
- Building debris: Remains of cement, building parts, windows, rebar and other construction materials.
The Piney Point incident: What we want to avoid
In 2004, heavy rains caused by Hurricane Frances caused a leakage of contaminated water at Piney Point, which resulted in a phosphogypsum red tide that killed about 1000 kg of marine life. Cases like this are entirely avoidable through prevention and continuous and effective communication by the authorities.
Recycling: hurricane-related waste
Recycling is an important solution in the management of waste from post-hurricane collection. Having a good recycling system in cities can reduce a large amount of the waste that ends up in rivers and subsequently in the seas and oceans. At the same time, by recycling, the collected materials can be reused to rebuild cities and affected areas.
Examples of products that can be made from recycled products include the following: Doors, Benches, beam, etc.
