1930 Catastrophes
Famous model and television host Petra Nemcova once said, "We cannot stop natural disasters, but we can arm ourselves with knowledge: so many lives wouldn’t have been lost if there was enough disaster preparedness.” The quote is explaining that if people were more careful and aware of their surroundings, there wouldn’t be as many deaths. During the 1930s, people weren’t ready for the natural disasters and had to go through more destruction than if they were prepared. Some of the damages that occurred during the 1930s negatively affected companies and family farms that provided food and health for children. One of the events that costed the farmers a lot of money was The Heatwave of 1936, all while the dust bowl was affecting other aspects of farmers lives. Lastly there is the Hurricane of Lake Okeechobee that affected a big part of Florida. There are so many catastrophes that occurred during the 1930s that affected the land that we walk on today. To begin, The Heatwave of 1936 was a catastrophe that hurt many people and took place during the great depression. Throughout the ten day heatwave there were many deaths, in the website, “ national weather service” it states, “Nationally, around 5000 deaths were associated with the heatwave.” These effects happened during the Great Depression, which affected people in a more rational way. Another thing that affected people was that they lost numerous crops, causing them to lose money. It wasn’t only the loss of crops but there were also many droughts. These droughts hurt the health of children and adults. The prices of many things that farms produced went up during this time as well. On the website “The Old Farmer's Almanac” it says, “Wholesale prices rose from $11 for a 40-quart can of cream in 1935 to $17.28 a can in July of 1936.”(1) As of 2019 this might not seem as an extreme amount of money but during that time $11 was equal to $166.01. These changes hurt families and caused the United States to lose money as well as their food. To follow, the Dust Bowl was an event that occurred during the great depression and damaged families while leaving them in more debt. This horrid event arises due to high winds that develop on the plains, picked up on the topsoil, and created giant dust storms. This event may seem very devastating, but the government attempted to support the country during the stage they were going through. The website “Wikipedia” reports, “During President Franklin D. Roosevelt's first 100 days in office in 1933, his administration quickly initiated programs to conserve soil and restore the ecological balance of the nation.”(1). This quote ensures that the government exerted themselves to support the families at their highest potential. Another occurrence of fatality was the trouble of shelter. “They lost both their livelihoods and their homes”(Amadeo1).The site verified that each family had its own effect on the affair and plenty of them had a hard time and could have ended up homeless. Farmer lost as much as $450,000,000 in the currency of 2019. When they would lose as much money as they did families would migrate to California and other states. These states tended to have better economic conditions than others. Lastly, the Okeechobee Lake Hurricane, which is known as the second deadliest tropical cyclone in the United States. This hurricane generated many deaths as it is stated in the website “Wikipedia”, “ Numerous structures were swept away or destroyed, and at least 2,500 people drowned.”(1) The site is referencing how many people were lost because of the high waters. Not only that but houses that kept memories within them. There were as many as 1,711 houses destroyed. In addition to this there were 6,369 houses that encountered damages. As a result of these houses being ruined there were as many as 2,100 families that remained homeless from the hurricane. (Wikipedia 1) When the waters went down and everyone was safe the state decided to begin building. “Overall, the hurricane left at least $25 million in damage.” (wikipedia,1)In the currency of 2019 there was a total cost of $466,901,515.15 used to restore houses and business’ that were affected during the catastrophe. As a result, there are so many catastrophes that occurred in the 1930’s to generate the land we walk on today. First of all, the Heat Wave of 1936 caused much mourning and loss of money. As well as the dust bowl that occurred during the same time and hurt many families. Furthermore Hurricane Okeechobee destroyed many houses. These catastrophes affected the United States and affected many citizens during the time of depression. After everything the families went through, it we can ask ourselves, “Do you think that it will happen again and will we be prepared?” |
This is part of the damage that hurricane Okeechobee made.
this is how a day in the 1930's would look like in the 1930's.
Man crops would die due to the lack of water and too much sun.
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