Final Hazards Report

 

    

Venezuela is known to suffer from many different natural hazards, but the one that causes the most damage and takes the most lives is flooding. Venezuela’s rainy season runs from mid-April to December in which during this period, there is the possibility of some flooding in certain low-lying areas and in some valleys. It is when the heavy rainfall occurs that can happen either during or out of the rainy season that cause severe flooding, landslides, damages to the roads, loss of housing, losses to basic services (food, water, electricity), and of course the loss of many lives.

There are two reasons why Venezuela experience so much heavy rain. The first is because Venezuela climate is much warmer and warm air holds more moisture creating heavier rain. The second is heavy rainfall produced from hurricanes. As I have mentioned before in my blog post Extreme Weather, hurricanes are not much of a threat to Venezuela (their capital is largely protected by the Avila Mountain range and hurricanes tend to lose their strength as they move over land) but they have occurred and should still be treated as any other threat. Hurricanes can produce 6-12 inches of heavy rain or more.

One of the first recommendations I would make would be to fix existing storm drains (roughly 80% of the storm drains in the capital city Caracas do not work) and develop more throughout all cities as these are the riskiest areas. This would significantly minimize and possibly eliminate flood damage done to properties and homes, especially those in low-lying areas. Being that storm drains flow directly into rivers and oceans, I would make sure that there are strict policies in place that people are dumping any harsh toxins into these drains.

Major flooding is also a risk when the rivers overflow. There are many people who have built their homes near these rivers to have easy access to clean water. For rivers near lakes, like the Catatumbo river and Lake Maracaibo, I would utilize watersheds to guide the water overflow from the river into the lake. I would also have levees constructed to prevent overflow, but I would have them built higher than necessary because of climate change, the expected amount of flooding is going to continue to increase. Along with levees, I would add side channels as alternate routes for flood water. Not only would this help minimize flooding, it would also create temporary water storage areas that could possibly be used as drinking water by the Venezuelans that live near these rivers. Monitoring, warning, and evacuation plans will be in place as well.

If I were to build a home in Venezuela, I would do so in Isla Margarita. It is a beautiful island in Venezuela that is not located in the hurricane zone. I would not want to live inland near mountains as that is where a lot of flooding and landslide occur after heavy rainfall. Isla Margarita is said to have few small storms during the rainy season but is mostly a beautiful place to be. The island contains about 70 beaches and is a popular tourist destination.  

 

References:

Keller, E.A., & DeVecchio, D.E. (2014). Natural Hazards: Earth's Processes as Hazards, Disasters, and Catastrophes (4th ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315508696

file:///C:/Users/ahuse/Downloads/34038.pdf

https://reliefweb.int/report/venezuela-bolivarian-republic/flood-risks-venezuela-increased-%E2%80%9Cnew-rains%E2%80%9D-linked-climate

https://www.epa.gov/green-infrastructure/manage-flood-risk

https://traveldoneclever.com/2020/01/16/margarita-island/