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It’s Time To Ditch The Concept Of β€˜100-Year Floods’

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It’s Time To Ditch The Concept Of β€˜100-Year Floods’

"That’s no surprise to experts, who say the concept of the β€œ100-year flood” is one of the most misunderstood terms in disaster preparedness. In the wake of catastrophic flooding on the Texas coast, the media has been working hard to explain the term, turning out dozens of articles explaining that a β€œ100-year flood” is not a flood that you should expect to happen only once every 100 years. Instead, it refers to a flood that has a 1 percent chance of happening in any given year. Over the course of a 30-year mortgage, a house in a 100-year floodplain has a 26 percent chance of being inundated at least once."

Eid al-Adha

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Eid al-Adha

"Eid al-Adha (Arabic: عيد Ψ§Ω„Ψ£ΨΆΨ­Ω‰β€Ž, translit. ΚΏΔ«d al-aḍαΈ₯ā, lit. 'Feast of the Sacrifice'β€Ž, [Κ•iːd Γ¦lΛˆΚ”Ι‘dˀħæː]), also called the "Sacrifice Feast", is the second of two Muslim holidays celebrated worldwide each year, and considered the holier of the two. It honors the willingness of Ibrahim (Abraham) to sacrifice his son Ismaeel, as an act of obedience to God's command. Before he sacrificed his son God intervened by sending his angel Jibra'il (Gabriel), who then put a ram in his son's place. In commemoration of this, an animal is sacrificed and divided into three parts: the family retains one third of the share; another third is given to relatives, friends and neighbors; and the remaining third is given to the poor and needy."

Hurricane Katrina

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Hurricane Katrina

"Hurricane Katrina was the eleventh named storm and the fifth hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. It was the costliest natural disaster and one of the five deadliest hurricanes in the history of the United States."

"The storm originated over the Bahamas on August 23 from the interaction between a tropical wave and the remnants of Tropical Depression Ten. Early the following day, the new depression intensified into Tropical Storm Katrina. The cyclone headed generally westward toward Florida and strengthened into a hurricane only two hours before making landfall at Hallandale Beach and Aventura on August 25. After very briefly weakening to a tropical storm, Katrina emerged into the Gulf of Mexico on August 26 and began to rapidly deepen. The storm strengthened to a Category 5 hurricane over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, but weakened before making its second landfall as a Category 3 hurricane on August 29 in southeast Louisiana."