Cause And Effects Of Hurricane Katrina

The resources most in demand for the vulnerable populations after a storm in Houston: electricity, food, water, information, and housing. Also, citizens

Flooding hit Baton Roughe, the capital of the southern state of Louisiana from August 8th to 14th. Thirteen people were killed and about 100,000 homes were damaged. Thousands of people are homeless. Many are staying in shelters or the homes of friends or family. People built a sandbag wall around their house to drain the water in their

Flights were full and if you could find a seat, the prices were outrageous. Not only were flights full but getting out by car was a major dilemma as well. Gas was in high demand which led to outages and fuel prices sky rocketed. Traffic was at an all-time high for some of these areas and with an estimation on where the track of the storm could go, it led people not knowing where to find shelter.

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)

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).

Natural disasters can bring communities together, even if they have been torn apart. One morning, residents of New Orleans emerged from various shelters and their homes to examine the remnants of Hurricane Katrina. Several hours later, they realized there was more devastation awaiting them. Hours later, “…a breach in the levees allowed water to continue to rise until whole neighborhoods were flooded.” Hurricane Katrina brought great attention to the lack of local and disaster relief programs. Most programs are not designed or funded to help assist people for more than four or five weeks. When federal assistance money (FEMA) started to run out, the people were expected to find jobs or get help from other government agencies. This only caused

Hurricane Matthew tore through the southeastern United States, leaving thousands of people homeless and without the necessities to live. Lumberton, North Carolina and the surrounding areas in Robeson county experienced some of the worst flooding because the levees holding the water back from the Lumber River broke. Many families lost everything from their homes, personal belongings and even loved ones. As the student body President at Lumberton High School, I have been working with organizations such as the Red Cross and United Ways to help collect and distribute clothes, school supplies and other necessities to students affected by the flooding. I am currently working with our Student Government Association to coordinate the pickup and transport

Thousands of people lay dying, stranded from the deadly Hurricane Katrina, a natural disaster destroyed many homes in New Orleans. This powerful hurricane killed thousands of people and impacted the entire United States economy. Hurricane Katrina cost billions of dollars in damages. Even ten years later, the city continues to recover from the disastrous aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Many of the hurricanes’ victims still continue to recover from the financial and emotional effects. The severity of Hurricane Katrina’s flooding left the city underwater for weeks, due to issues with the levees. Hurricane Katrina struck land on August 29th, 2005, leaving New

In regards to criticism of government response, the first responders in situation such as this are the local government. They were ill prepared for the magnitude of the damage to the levees, compounded by the large number of individuals unable to evacuate. The Superdome and the Convention Center were designated “refuges of last result” but it is unlikely that they were part of the city’s refuge network. These two structures were merely big enough to accommodate the amount of citizens that were stranded in the city; hence they were lacking the resources necessary to be effective refuges. Social stratification, inadequate evacuation measures, poor leadership among those coordinating relief efforts, ill conceived and equipped refuges, and delayed action in recruiting county, state and federal relief

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.

On a normal August day, Hurricane Katrina inflicted massive damage on 3 of the poorest states in the United States. Mississippi, with a poverty rate of 22 percent; Louisiana, with a poverty rate of 20 percent; and Alabama, with a poverty rate of 22 percent (Rodriguez, H. & Aguirre, B, E.). Katrina was the cause of one of the biggest evacuations of any major American city in history. These cities also housed a major socio-economic gap with over 23 percent of the residents living in some form of poverty (Schneider, 2007). Over 1 million Americans were forced to leave their ruined homes, especially in areas like New Orleans where the majority of the affected citizens were forced to relocate elsewhere. As many as half of a million people have been relocated to other states of refuge, like Texas and many of which have high rates of poverty themselves like the 22 percent of Texans (Schneider, 2007).

Hurricane Katrina was a historical natural disaster that affected millions of people. Televised nationally, as the damage was revealed, seemed surreal and the lives lost along with property damages is heartbreaking. I have family in New Orleans, whom were affected; however, no lives were lost. The power of water should never be underestimated, as many feared damage from the wind, and did not consider the water. After the levees broke, supply was immediately affected. By the oil refining being inoperable for several weeks, gasoline was scarce (Carden, 2010, p. 82). First responders, medical providers, and emergency rescue teams were needed instantly. As people were trapped in their homes, on top of their roofs, and in vehicles, desperation

Ever wonder how bad hurricanes get? Early in the day on August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast of the United States. It had a rating of 3 on the Hurricane Scale–it brought continuous winds of 100–140 miles per hour and 400 miles across. The storm itself did an abundance of destruction, but its aftermath was somewhat apocalyptic. Hundreds of thousands of people in Louisiana were taken from their own homes, and experts say that Katrina caused over $100 billion in damage.

Nonetheless, as Hurricane Katrina made landfall on August 29th, 2005, destruction started as the storm grow stronger. The winds and severe rain fall devastated homes, causing them to be flooded. Families were trapped inside their homes and forced to seek refuge in their attics and rooftops, while waiting helplessly as water levels continues to rise one brick every 20 minutes, according to The Times-Picayune. Some people fled their unsafe homes, and were lucky enough to make it the Superdome. People that could not make it to the dome seek refuge on a dry section of the highway, while others quickly gathered at the convention center on high ground waiting to be rescued.

When hurricane Katrina first made landfall in southern Florida it looked as if it wasn’t going to deal very much damage to the United States. Unfortunately after it passed Florida it stayed in the Gulf of Mexico for about two days before strengthening into a category 5 hurricane. By the time it struck Louisiana it weakened to a category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. According to livescience.com, the storm flooded about “80% of New Orleans” and “displaced over 1 million people.” The floods cost 1 million residents of Louisiana and Mississippi their homes. Some of the houses were lost forever, some houses were just unsuitable for living while the flood waters were present. Weather.gov states that, “Hurricane Katrina was responsible for 1,833 fatalities and approximately $108 billion in damage (un-adjusted 2005 dollars)”. This extraordinary amount of damage has made hurricane Katrina the most costly hurricane to ever strike the United States.