A Comparison Of Hurricane Katrina

The city that was affected the most by Hurricane Katrina was New Orleans, Louisiana. Governor Blanco called for state emergency in Louisiana on August 26, 2005. Then on August 29th, Mayor Nagin issued a mandatory evacuation of the City of New Orleans. The people who were unable to escape the city, were just desperate for help and the worst came out of people. Katrina forced the city into anarchy. Disaster relief agencies were not around to aid people so many resorted to looting because they needed food and other supplies to survive. The New Orleans Police Department (NOPD), whom already did not have a favorable reputation in the city, didn’t help either. Some NOPD officers chose to leave their post and others also participated in the looting which was happening throughout the city. Other NOPD officers were

On August 29th, 2005 Hurricane Katrina caused catastrophic damage and flooding in Mississippi, Louisiana, New Orleans and areas in between. It destructed the lives and homes of thousands of people, with a total of 1,883 fatalities (Hurricane Katrina Statistics Fast Facts, 2015). Hurricane Katrina left many homeless and hospitals unprepared for the challenges posed to the healthcare system as a whole. Some of these challenges included gaining access to healthcare facilities, providing expedited care to those most in need, and preventing spread of disease that commonly occurs during natural disasters. Many facilities did not evacuate in time and many were left stranded in flooded waters as patients conditions worsened and access to essential medications and treatments became limited.

and federal funds. Soon after, New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin ordered an evacuation of all

Why was the Louisiana National Guard unable to help? The headquarters were flooded also by Katrina

In my opinion, all three levels of government failed the people of New Orleans in responding to Hurricane Katrina. There was plenty of pushing the blame on one another that ended up delaying responses and finding results. It seemed like one level of government would try saying the other level of government is responsible for that role. For example, The Director of FEMA, Michael Brown would say that the local and state are in charge of evacuation planning. There is some truth to that, but according to the U.S federal law governing homeland security it states that FEMA, “operations to save lives, through evacuating potential victims.” (Producers, 2005).

Hurricane Katrina was a devastating disaster that has affected many people in New Orleans. The communication broke down hours after Katrina because of the unexpected fast winds and floods that broke down “3 million phone lines and 1,000 cellular towers in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.”( Joch ). Because of the millions of phone lines that were broken down, contacting the government for help was difficult hours after hurricane Katrina. Not only that, the people of New Orleans underestimated the power of Hurricane Katrina causing many to be “ stranded with no food or water” (Narrator, “The Storm”,PBS).

Hurricane Katrina was a big threat to the coastal areas of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, and the governor declared a state of emergency in reaction towards potential destruction the hurricane may fall in New Orleans, a major city in Louisiana. To prepare for the threat of Hurricane Katrina, FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), was sent to Louisiana to help aid the state. Later, a big disaster befalls in the state of Louisiana, and the governor declared a national evacuation. New Orleans, the heavily populated city, ordered its citizen to evacuate in the Superdome, with food, shelter, and rations being distributed. After the state evacuation was made, there was a shortage of food, water, and operable toilet facilities, thus creating

Hurricane Katrina was a devastating disaster that has affected many people in New Orleans as well as the surrounding areas. It had a stunning “death toll of 1300 people and damage over $100 billion ”( Davlasheridze 94 ). The communication were taken down hours after Katrina because of the unexpected fast winds and floods that broke down “3 million phone lines and 1,000 cellular towers in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.”( Joch ). Because of the millions of phone lines that were battered, contacting the government for help was difficult hours after hurricane Katrina. Not only that, the people of New Orleans underestimated the power of Hurricane Katrina causing many to be “ stranded with no food or water” ( Narrator, “The Storm”,PBS ).

B. Thesis: The government should have help Hurricane Katrina, through additional money, supplies, and community help.

On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast at daybreak, “pummeling a region that included the fabled city of New Orleans and heaping damage on neighboring Mississippi. In all, more than 1,700 people were killed and hundreds of thousands of others displaced.” (Laforet, New York Times)

When a natural disaster comes to mind you think many resources are utilized. You think many agencies from around the world must have come to help one of the biggest disasters the country has seen. Although that is not exactly what happened in New Orleans many agencies did come to help. Local, State, and Federal agencies were present during and after the hurricane. Governor Katherine Babineaux Blanco and Mayor Ray Nagin called a state of emergency and issued a mandatory evacuation, shortly after, President Bush to issue a state of emergency and mandatory evacuation on a federal level to ensure assistance from agencies like FEMA and the America Red Cross (Kamp). Mayor Ray Nagin also

After reviewing the problems caused, what type of assistance should the citizens of New Orleans have expected from the federal government?

When a disaster strikes, part of FEMA’s duty is to make sure people are prepared with sufficient supplies in order to improve the situation. FEMA’s second failed attempt in response to the storm was with transporting citizens out of the city. Despite the early warnings for New Orleans citizens to evacuate some decided to stay since they themselves lacked the transportation to leave or some believed they could wait out the storm similar to what they had done in the past with other hurricanes. With the amount of citizens that stayed in the city, FEMA

This decrease in intensity as Hurricane Katrina approached the southern United States was a result of the replacement of the storm’s eyewall. As the storm moved from the warm waters of the Loop current in the direction of the shore, rainstorms within Katrina robbed the eye of the storm of moisture. This process caused the replacement of the eye, and the reduction to the category three storm that made landfall in the vicinity of Buras, Louisiana on the morning of August 29, 2005. At this point, Hurricane Katrina’s storm surge was greater than 20 feet high. Though Buras, Louisiana was the location of landfall, Hurricane Katrina’s reach was much more vast: rampaging winds and the destruction of levees only added to the ruin this storm caused (Ahrens & Sampson, 2011).

it came to a point where it was so muddy that tanks were rendered immobile and