INQ-251 | Natural Hazards & Catastrophes

Full Title: Natural Hazards & Catastrophes

Topic Description:

This course will examine multiple natural phenomena that occur regionally and are hazards to life and the built environment. The mid-Atlantic region is a bull’s eye for excessive rainfall events, whether from targeting by remnants of tropical systems or by summertime convective complexes, as flows of Gulf and Atlantic air masses provide copious amounts of atmospheric moisture. Moreover, the topography of Appalachia and the Piedmont contributes to enhanced precipitation from orographic lifting of air masses and by the ability of terrain to concentrate storm runoff quickly. Undoubtedly, students have experienced a flood near their home or know of some other extreme weather/natural hazard event near their home. Students may well remember the 2012 derecho that slammed the Commonwealth, the 2011 Mineral, VA, earthquake that damaged the Washington Monument or the two extreme (0.1% chance) floods that occurred in just a two-year span (2016-2018) and devastated downtown Ellicott City, MD

Counts as Global? No

Topic Approved: December 2022