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Cause And Effects Of Hurricane Katrina

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Hurricane Katrina was one of the greatest natural disasters of history. A 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. The economy suffered greatly after the hurricane.

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Katrina formed over the Bahamas on August 23,2005 as a tropical depression.
Katrina moved towards Florida and hit Florida as a category one hurricane on August
26,2005. After the hurricane passed over Florida it weakened and was reclassified as a tropical storm. Katrina emerged into the Gulf of Mexico and gained massive strength. Later, Katrina became a category five hurricane. Coastal states were warned that the hurricane was moving toward them. Katrina was now a category three hurricane it weakened while moving. Katrina then made landfall on the Louisiana coast as a category five hurricane . Unfortunately, “The surge exposed engineering mistakes in the levees and floodwalls designed and built by the U.S Army corps of engineers, causing extensive flooding throughout the New Orleans region,” said Sandy Rosenthal.After the hurricane passed in New Orleans the levees creaked, and it began to flood the city. Furthermore, “Hurricane Katrina cost $108 billion. Insurance covered $80 billion of the losses. Flooding in New Orleans caused half the damage. It destroyed or rendered uninhabitable 300,000 homes. It left in its wake 118 million cubic yards of debris. That made clean up efforts a mind-boggling attempt.”(The Balance.com). Katrina did a massive amount of damage, and it wasn’t cheap to fix it either. Even more devastating, 1,833 people died from Katrina, and over 600,000 animals were killed or stranded.

“It was not until September 2 that an effective military presence was established in the city and National Guard troops mobilized to distribute food and water. The evacuation of hurricane victims continued, and crews began to rebuild the breached levees. On September 6, local police estimated that there were fewer than 10,000 residents left in New Orleans. As the recovery began, dozens of countries contributed funds and supplies, and Canada and Mexico

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