Analysis: What Went Wrong With Hurricane Katrina

In the late summer of 2005, a terrible tragedy occurred that changed the lives of many in the south-east region of the United States. A Category 3, named storm, named Hurricane Katrina, hit the Gulf Coast on the 29th of August and led to the death of 1,836 and millions of dollars’ worth of damage (Waple 2005). The majority of the damage occurred in New Orleans, Louisiana. Waple writes in her article that winds “gusted over 100 mph in New Orleans, just west of the eye” (Waple 2005). Not only was the majority of the damage due to the direct catastrophes of the storm but also city’s levees could no longer hold thus breaking and releasing great masses of water. Approximately, 80% of the city was submerged at sea level. Despite the vast amount

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)

On the morning of August Twenty-ninth, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana and the Gulf Coast region. The storm brought the water to about twenty feet high, swallowing eighty percent of the New Orleans city immediately. The flood and torrential rainstorm wreaked havoc and forced millions of people evacuate from the city. According to the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration, Katrina caused approximately one hundred and eight billion dollars in damage. Hurricane Katrina was one of the most destructive disasters have ever occurred in the United States, but it also revealed a catastrophic government at all levels’ failure in responding to the contingency.

The failure of the local government to respond to Hurricane Katrina that the emergencies plan of the government were lacking. The city official responsibility for evacuation of its citizens and the intent was to assist those who needed transportation for the incoming storm but had no actual plan to implement that intent. When the hurricane Katrina made a landfall in New Orleans on 29 August 2005, heavy rain battered the area and the storm surge measuring as high as 30 feet and moving toward inland and breached several levees intended to protect New Orleans from the water of the lake. The water poured through the breaks in the days following the storm, covering approximately 80% of the city with water as deep as three meters. The flooding, wind, and waves it caused the city major damage to building and infrastructure. There is a lot of people stranded on the rooftops of their houses and people wading through the water. The communities suffered from the disaster, particularly the city of New Orleans. Most of their first responders like

Hurricane Katrina, one of the most destructive hurricanes to whirl through the southern states of America in 2005, is probably one of the worst natural disasters of the United States in the 21st century. Damages from the storm were estimated at more than $100 billion . People living in the southern states fled north to reach safety from the storm after hearing about it being a category five hurricane on the news a few mornings before Katrina hit the shore. Authorities were doing what they were supposed to be doing, telling everyone to seek shelter, board up windows, head north and prepare for the storm. Everything in the beginning appeared to be just another

Katrina hit New Orleans, Louisiana on August 29th, 2005, but the failure of the government started before this day “by allowing building and growing in areas in low flood lands.” The government did not regulate these land areas that have always been at a threat for flooding and natural disaster, which was ignored by the government and public, and was in place, still a place for growing infrastructure. Failures included by the author of the national agencies include design limits that can lead to levees being overtopped by flood and hurricane events that are larger than they were designed for and design flaws and construction and maintenance shortcomings that lead to protective works being breached when they cannot stand up to the forces exerted by large flood and hurricane events. The author also points out the problems with the hundred-year flood event, which only has a one percent chance of happening every year. When the NFIP focuses on this possible catastrophe, it losses the

555). I have noted that regular assessments and monetarization to policies and regulations is crucial for the implementations to work to their full potential. I have explained how the Love Canal is also classified as a top man-made disaster and with regular toxin monitoring and some assessments to policies, the area is no longer harmful to nearby residents or schools. Though Hurricane Katrina was a major disaster and impacted poor African American’s the hardest, the Corps did learn from the disaster and conducted a project that involved fixing more than half the system of levees, canals, and floodwalls. I was very pleased to learn that the Corps is continuing to monitor the waterway system and even published an updated map “showing block-by-block where flooding would likely occur if a 100-year hurricane were to strike” Layzer pg. 555). Hurricane Katrina has been one of the most expensive disasters ever recorded. However, the extent of the damages to the city of New Orleans could have been minimized with regular monetarization and assessment of the waterway system of the Mississippi River, specifically the levee system. A simple check up on policies or regulations could be matter of life or death

In the year 2005, New Orleans was famously hit a major natural disaster that took lives and destroyed the homes and civilians. This wrath of Mother Nature became to be known as Hurricane Katrina, a category 5 hurricane with gusts peaking at 174/mph according to the Safir- Simpson wind scale (SSHS). With this Hurricane having its path directly on a city only being on average 1-2 feet below sea level, it created conditions for serious havoc (NOAA, 2012). The aftermath left a serious physical imprint on the city, which has the potential to never be removed. This imprint left by Hurricane Katrina caused extensive damage to 134,000 housing units, destroying multiple bridges along the Gulf Coast, as well as various buildings across the city, which led to harmful chemicals leaking into the water system, such as petroleum and natural gas. Finally, Hurricane Katrina also caused the main power grid to be disoriented for a number of weeks. As a result, the damage costs from the storm added up to be about $108 billion (2005 USD), which according to Eric Blake was the costliest storm ever to hit the United States (Blake et al. 2011). Hurricane Katrina perpetuated all of these tribulations, as it drastically altered the lives of the many inhabitants of New Orleans and they continue to face the repercussions of the storm in their day-to-day lives.

The city of New Orleans lies below sea level in a bowl bordered by levees which prevent the high waters of the Mississippi River from flooding the city. These levees were put to the test on August 29, 2005 when Hurricane Katrina hit, causing severe destruction along the Gulf coast. Three concrete floodwalls protecting the city of New Orleans fractured and burst under the weight of surging waters from the hurricane, killing hundreds and resulting in an estimated $100 to $150 billion worth of damage (Luegenbiehl, 2007). In the aftermath of the storm, society placed part of the blame on design flaws that compromised the safety of the levees and endangered the public. Under the Flood Control Act of 1965, Congress had mandated the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to protect the city from a Category 3 storm, yet the floodwalls were unable to withstand the force of Hurricane Katrina, which was eventually classified as Category 3 (Grunwalk & Warrick, 2005). The Corps pointed towards a massive surge that exceeded the height of the floodwalls, but investigations by civil engineers and other experts pointed towards the inadequate design and construction by the Corps of Engineers as the cause of the failure (Englehardt et al., 2013). The Corps acted in a manner contradicting ethical engineering behavior by being less than forthcoming about deficiencies that were accumulating in the overall system. In order to prevent future disasters involving human life, the government should require

Disaster is no stranger to the city of New Orleans. Its unique geographic placement below sea level makes the sinking city suitable for massive flooding. Its “un-American” reputation, as discussed in class, has created many local social issues that currently affects the city’s demographic environment today. Although any form of disaster can occur anywhere, I believe in the notion that any response that New Orleans' may give in relation to its disasters is best understood through the people and historical implications of those who have served as an at-fault, underlying factor of the end result that its citizens have faced.

Hurricane Katrina hit the southern coast of the United States on August 28, 2005. The center of Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans on the morning of August 29, 2005. The devastating effect of this hurricane resulted in more than 1,800 citizens losing their lives, as well as more than an estimated $81 billion dollars in damages occurred. By August 31, 2005, eighty-percent of the city became submerged under water because the storm surge breached the city's levees at multiple points. If the levees are damaged massive water will flood Louisiana from the Gulf Coast, the Mississippi River, and other surrounding bodies of water. Some areas of New Orleans were 15 feet under water. Winds of Hurricane Katrina reached an astounding category 3 as

Even though it is the responsibility of the federal and state governments to aid citizens during times of disaster, the people devastated by Hurricane Katrina were not effectively facilitated as according to their rights as citizens of the United States. The government’s failures to deliver assistance to citizens stem from inadequate protection systems in place before the storm even struck. The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security were the two largest incumbents in the wake of the storm. The failure of these agencies rests on the shoulders of those chosen to head the agency. These directors, appointed by then president George W. Bush, were not capable of leading large government agencies through a

While the city did not take a direct hit, New Orleans also felt the impact of Katrina as she came ashore. The wind and rain from the storm put enormous stress on the levees protecting the city. Unfortunately, the levees could not withstand the forces applied to them and they eventually gave way flooding large portions of the city of New Orleans and surrounding areas. Large public places began to become places of refuge for those still in the

On August 29, 2005, hurricane Katrina made landfall in Louisiana as a category three storm and brought with it some of the most catastrophic effects that any hurricane has ever left behind. Twenty foot surges of flood water washed into New Orleans after the levees broke, and ended up flooding over 80% of the city. It was now in the hands of the United States government to help the millions of displaced Americans find proper shelter, food, water, and services that were required for their recovery.

On August 29, 2009, Hurricane Katrina struck the United States Gulf Coast. It was a Category 3 Hurricane, according to the Saffir Simpson Scale. Winds gusted to up to 140 miles per hour, and the hurricane was almost 400 miles wide . The storm itself did a tremendous amount of damage, but the storm’s aftermath was cataclysmic. Many claimed that the federal government was slow to meet the needs of the hundreds of thousands of people affected by the storm. This paper will examine the four elements of disaster management – preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation – as well as an analysis on the data presented.