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2024 Hennepin County All -Jurisdiction Hazard Mitigation Plan <br />Volume 2 — Hazard Inventory <br />AREAS WHERE WIND EROSION OCCURS ON CROPLAND <br />tilop Al ro <br />03 <br />`l I + � wI � "f f ��I :�. p 4 t$j"P d�✓�' W }r�.?ny..l� <br />tr <br />1 <br />i <br />Many believe that dust storms are not a worry for urban areas. However urban communities are not <br />immune to the harmful effects of dust storms either. One thing that is a concern when a dust storm hits <br />a town or city is power outages and infrastructure damage. Anyone of these two things could have a <br />negative result for a business. Also, there could be extensive damage to computers and communications <br />equipment from the buildup of dust. The dust particles can get into buildings and businesses and work <br />their way inside computers and telecommunications equipment, ruining the delicate technologies on the <br />inside. Again, with many businesses today being dependent on technologies such as computers and <br />communications equipment, this could have a negative impact on commerce. <br />Additionally, vulnerable populations within urban or other populated areas may experience <br />disproportional consequences from dust storms. For instance, those without shelter would have little to <br />protect themselves from the airborne particulates and may suffer more frequent or acute respiratory <br />distress. Those with limited mobility may find it similarly difficult to seek shelter. In all cases, persons with <br />respiratory conditions like asthma, the elderly, infants, and anyone with compromised health may bear a <br />greater cost from dust storms than the general population. <br />4.3.9.4. Potential for Cascading Effects <br />The immediate economic impact of dust storms is significant, but it doesn't rival major natural disasters <br />that destroy entire cities. For instance, the damage due to dust storms in China averages at about $6.5 <br />billion per year. A single major earthquake can do damage five times that figure. However, experts argue <br />that the real economic impact of dust storms, particularly those that originate in areas of desertification, <br />is difficult to pin down because of the long-term consequences they have on the livelihood of people who <br />live in the area. When dust storms kick up in agricultural dry lands that are degraded, they remove the <br />topsoil, which causes further desertification. As a result, farmers are forced to watch the topsoil, and their <br />livelihood, literally blow away. This cycle, if gone unchecked, threatens to displace whole communities in <br />some regions. <br />154 <br />