Causes Of 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

“When communities are rebuilt, they must be even better and stronger than before the storm,” (“Bush”). This is what former president George W. Bush said during his speech in New Orleans concerning the effects of Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina was a massive natural disaster that consisted of high powered winds and immense amounts of water. The hurricane was initially a category 3, but gradually rose to the classification of a category 5 storm, which is the largest storm there is (“Hurricane Irene”). In fact, there were accounts of winds recorded at about 127 miles per hour in the Gulf areas such as Grand Isle, Louisiana, and near the Mississippi River (“Hurricane Katrina Statistics”). All of these factors are made

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.

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

(Thiede & Brown, 2013). Lastly, the improper constriction levees and floodwalls will be addressed (Thiede & Brown, 2013). By narrowing down the substantial factors, the government and public can learn from the disaster management mistakes of Hurricane Katrina so aftermath effects can be prevented/alleviated in the future. Recommendations for improving disaster management practices can also be provided and would be beneficial in saving many lives.

During the early hours of the morning on 29 August 2005 5:10am, a hurricane of 205km/h struck New Orleans. She was named Hurricane Katrina. Katrina stretched over 400 miles across and was one of the deadliest hurricanes in the United States, killing 1,836 people and millions of others were left homeless. $16.7 million dollars was spent trying to rebuild infrastructure alone. Hurricane Katrina struck a levee in New Orleans so aside from the damage caused by the hurricane, flooding was also a problem. New Orleans levee walls were designed for category 3 hurricanes, and were not prepared for Katrina's category 5 winds. USA and many other country's pulled together to help in any way.

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.

Hurricane Katrina hit the southeastern coast of the United States in August of 2005. The eye of the storm went through the city of New Orleans and caused thousands of casualties and more than eighty billion dollars in damage (Schwartz). However, poor engineering and design allowed the immense flooding to breach the levee system and flood most of the metropolitan area. Despite the Delta Service Corps admitting that they knew of the possible failures for over twenty years, they claimed that insufficient budgets set by Congress and local governments prohibited them from restructuring and preserving the levees (Can We Save New Orleans?). Katrina was the third most intense land falling tropical storm in United States history. The combination of

On the morning of August 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina made landfall bringing with it winds between 100-104 miles per hour. Upon landfall the storm stretched approximately 400 miles across and was rated a category 3 hurricane (History.com Staff, 2009). The aftermath of the storm left the areas of Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana with flooding displacing hundreds of thousands of residents and caused more than $100 billion in damages (Townsend, 2006). The events of the hurricane and its aftermath including government response or rather the perceived lack of was widely broadcasted. Hurricane Katrina provoked an enormous response from all levels of government, the private sector, and foreign countries, however even with the vast resources the response

Hurricane Katrina is known for being the most dangerous and murderous hurricane that occurred on August of 2005. It was formed by a tropical wave that moved from the coast of Africa to the Gulf Coast. According to hurricanes they are distinguished by five different categories, the fifth being the strongest. The tropical wave turned into a hurricane under the fifth category that destroyed thousands of homes and killed thousands of people. Hurricane Katrina destroyed New Orleans hardest since it is located below sea level. Also because they had levees designed for a category three hurricanes. Therefore, it flooded quicker allowing places to flood from four feet to about nine feet. People went to their roof tops to find a way of survival. Hurricane Katrina impacted the ethical, social, and economical implications towards the survivors.

Hurricane Katrina is considered, to this day, one of the costliest and most catastrophic disasters that has hit the United States (“Hurricane Katrina Statistics”). The total amount of damage was estimated to cost more than $123 billion dollars (“Comparing Hurricanes”). This huge amount of money accounts for damage from flooding, destruction of buildings, and helping the needy. Many people needed to flee the areas around the Gulf of Mexico in order to stay safe. Almost 70% of housing in New Orleans was damaged or destroyed because of the hurricane, which forced many people out of the city (“Hurricane Katrina Statistics”). People were likewise forced out of the city and into new areas due to flooding, which in New Orleans, was exceptionally deleterious. In New Orleans, 80% of the entire city was covered in water (“Hurricane Katrina Statistics”). This was a result of the failed levees. Levees are embankments used to keep overflowed water from rivers or streams out of cities (Levee). The levees in New Orleans were obviously not strong enough to hold back the tremendous amounts of water from the hurricane. The levees that were built in New Orleans were only designed for hurricanes going up to a category 3 (“11 Facts”). The city was not protected by these levees because of how intense the storm was. Compared to other hurricanes such as Hurricane Irene that affected the Caribbean region, Hurricane Katrina was much more intense and caused more damage (“Hurricane Irene”). These levees and excessive amounts of water throughout the city resulted in many deaths and hardships for the New Orleanian people. Nearly 40% of the total deaths that occurred in Louisiana were due to drowning (“Hurricane Katrina Statistics”). There was an overall total of nearly 15 million people affected by the hurricane (“11 Facts”). Many people were either: stranded in their homes, had to evacuate, or were missing relatives

Their were storm shelters open to these people that had no other option. “It is estimated that around 1.2 million people evacuated the metropolitan New Orleans region and that about 100,000 people remained in New Orleans. Of those remaining, around 10,000 went to the Superdome shelter before the storm”(Hurricane Science). Due to their being so many people left behind, their were also a huge number in deaths from this tragic disaster. “Overall, more than 1,800 people lost their lives as a result of Hurricane Katrina. More than 1,500 death occurred in Louisiana”(Hurricane Science). This huge devastation affected many lives, not only in Louisiana but also Mississippi and Florida. People were shocked at how fast the water was rising and the weather conditions worsening. “Katrina is the third deadliest hurricane in U.S. history. In New Orleans, people were trapped in their houses and on their roofs as the rapidly rising water caught many people by surprise. The flooding and widespread damage from Katrina delayed rescue and aid efforts for days. Besides the death toll, hurricane Katrina left many people homeless as more than 800,000 housing units were destroyed or damaged in the storm”(Hurricane Science). Being one of the deadliest hurricanes in our history, Hurricane Katrina changed many

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.

Hurricanes are among the costliest and the most destructive of natural disasters. Since 1995, the United States has witnessed more intense activities by hurricanes with Mobile County in Alabama experiencing hurricane Ivan and hurricane Dennis in 2004 and 2005 (Link, 2010). In 2005, Hurricane Katrina was the costliest and one of the deadliest hurricanes to have hit the United States and was rated category three in Mobile County (Marchi, 2007). The response to the disaster was poor owing to the lack of proper disaster preparedness as

Hurricane Katrina pounded the Gulf Coast with tremendous force at daybreak, August 29, 2005, severely punishing regions that included the city of New Orleans and its neighboring state Mississippi. Resulting in a total of just over 1700 people killed, and hundreds of thousands missing. When we think of Hurricane Katrina stories, we think of stories that were published by the media such as, “Packing 145-mile-an-hour winds as it made landfall, the category 3 storm left more than a million people in three states without power and submerged highways even hundreds of miles from its center. The hurricane's storm surge a 29-foot wall of water pushed ashore when the hurricane struck the Gulf Coast was the highest ever measured in the United States.