wind & storm disasters
These include: Tornadoes, Hurricanes, Cyclones, Dust / Wind / Hailstorms, other sever storms
tornadoes
A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cloud.They can also be called a twister. Tornadoes come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, but most are shaped like long, tall funnels with the narrow end touching the earth. Tornadoes have wind speeds of between less than 177 km/h and up to 480 km/h and can be 80 m to several kilometers across. Most travel only a few kilometers before stopping but the worst can go for many kilometers. Tornadoes tear up whatever is in its path and alot of the the debris gets sucked into the rotating column of air and spat out the bottom as it travels.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW TORNADO VIDEO
CLICK HERE TO VIEW TORNADO VIDEO
cyclones
Cyclones, hurricanes and typhoons are different names for the same thing, a cyclonic storm system that forms over the oceans. These storms can cause environment destruction when they cross over from the ocean to land masses, where they eventually deteriorate into high wind and rain storms. These can cause flooding and massive wind damage. Cyclones form over warm oceans when warm and cold air meet.
Other sever storms
Other storms can result in Hail, dust, electrical or wind storms. All of these can result in environmental damage depending the severity of the storm and the environment it occurs in. Electrical storms cause lightning strikes which sometimes can start bushfires and other fires. Dust storms are mainly caused by sever winds and are common in outback and desert areas and can travel several hundred kilometers blowing dust and sand particles across large distances. Hailstorms are falls of rain drops that arrive at the ground as ice, the size of the hail and where it lands dictates the damage to property and the environment. For hail formation there needs to be strong, upward motion of air and moisture is sweep up quickly to freezing heights.