Hurricane Katrina: Analysis and Summary of Articles 1
Hurricane Katrina: Analysis and Summary of Articles
Micheal Boor
GO125DL Natural Disasters
Park University
Ms. Jill Lockard
09 April 2017
Hurricane Katrina: Analysis and Summary of Articles 2
Abstract
The intent of this paper will be to analyze and summarize scholarly case studies and news articles concerning the flooding caused when Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Louisiana in 2005. Additionally, this paper will provide recommendations for how to prevent events of this magnitude from occurring or offer suggestions to mitigate the effects of flooding through providing government aid at the local, state or federal level. To accomplish this, examples and evidence
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The follow on program to the Standard Flood Project was instituted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency when they established the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP.) The NFIP effectively reset the assessment for high risk areas to every 100 years vice 500 years.
Severe floods in the United States between 1993 and 2006 resulted in further changes to how the government approaches floodplain management versus floodplain
Hurricane Katrina: Analysis and Summary of Articles 4 risk. One would assume that the Great Mississippi River flood of 1993 would have been the impetus to energize our government to take the steps to reform our aging flood control infrastructure. However, that was not the case and in 2004 Hurricane Katrina shined a spotlight on our out of date flood control infrastructure. Based on the post-flood analysis of the hurricane the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) found that the entire system was precariously designed at best and that if one component failed it would overwhelm the rest of the system causing a catastrophic failure of the flood controls. One thing the USACE did really well was to create an Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force (IPET), which acted as an independent group to assist in the fact check of the results from the studies conducted post Katrina. The increased focus on climate change, specifically the ebb and flow of the rainy season in conjunction with how the flood control efforts can play into this is
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
Hurricane Pam was an exercise for responders and citizens that took place in the summer of 2004, which helped prepare for a forecasted hurricane like Hurricane Katrina. After twenty days, the administration cut FEMA’s funding for the Pam exercise before it was even completed. Therefore, planning for the response to Hurricane Pam was not completed, causing many difficulties during the actual hurricane in 2005. In addition to Hurricane Pam, Project Impact was set forth to reduce the impact of natural disasters was also cut from its budget, causing difficulties to respond to Hurricane Katrina. Projects that are being cut from funding are affecting how responders and the federal government prepare for a natural disaster.
The failure to adequately prepare for the storm led to increased and more widespread devastation, which in many cases harmed those living in the affected areas. An independent analysis of the reason for such massive chaos was performed and determined that “Most of the damage was due to the failure of the levee system that surrounds the city to protect it from flooding” (Ubilla). Had these levees been properly built, and had there been more of them protecting the city of New Orleans, major flooding could have potentially been lessened. A simple feature of the levee structure which engineers neglected to include is the concrete
Hurricane Katrina. [Electronic Resource] : Wind Versus Flood Issues. Washington, DC : Office of Inspector General, U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security, [2008], 2008. EBSCOhost, excelsior.sdstate.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat04225a&AN=sdsu.008408717&site=eds-live.
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
Before Hurricane Katrina, a simulation called Hurricane Pam was created to prepare for a disaster like Katrina. It was the perfect model of what happened in Katrina ( Maestri, “The Storm” ). The purpose of it was to prepare the people (government) in what is needed during a real hurricane. Unfortunately, Before they could finish the exercise, FEMA's funding for the simulation was cut before it was completed causing the simulation to be canceled. The reason why Hurricane Pam was unsuccessful because “Medical care for hurricane victims was not yet finalized, communication systems were not addressed at all, and key transportation decisions were left to be determined ( Narrator, “The Storm”, PBS ). If the simulation were to be completed, the disaster of Hurricane Katrina could’ve been solved with a prepared plan to help many in New Orleans.
This case summarizes events preceding the Hurricane Katrina, which was one of the worst natural catastrophes in the modern history of the USA. It raises questions about the lack of reasonable prevention and preparation actions due to flimsy structure and management of the responsible organizations and persons, invalidity and inconsistence of their actions and incapability of making the decisions in a timely manner. As a result of the unstructured and incoherent activities, we could observe several ineffective and costly attempts to mitigate floods and hurricanes. In the beginning the local officials, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and “White Houses past and present always seem penny-wise and pound-foolish” because of the chain of the wrong
Before Hurricane Katrina, a simulation called Hurricane Pam was created to prepare for a disaster like katrina. iIt was the perfect model of what happened in Katrina (Maestri, “The Storm”). The purpose of it was to prepare the people (government) in what is needed during a real hurricane. Unfortunately, Before they could finish the exercise, FEMA's funding for the simulation was cut before it was completed causing the simulation to be canceled. The reason why Hurricane Pam was unsuccessful because “Medical care for hurricane victims was not yet finalized, communication systems were not addressed at all, and key transportation decisions were left to be determined (Narrator, “The Storm”, PBS). If the simulation were to be completed, the disaster of Hurricane Katrina could’ve been solved with a prepared plan to help many in New Orleans.
Information that was used to develop my conclusions were relative to the history of Clearwater River such as the average normal discharge of 40,000cfs, the fact that the river can accommodate 55,000cfs before flooding will occur, and that with every increase of 2600cfs the river rises one foot. For example, this information helped to determine that four of the thirteen noted Peak Flood Discharges listed on the worksheet were not at flood stage as the river is able to accommodate discharges less than 55,000cfs. However, nine of the thirteen Peak Flood Discharges listed on the worksheet were at flood stage or drastically above; with the maximum rise of 17.77 feet above and a discharge rate of 101,200cfs. The average discharge rate of the top three noted floods per information on the Stream Gauge Data of Peak Flow Discharges is 93,613cfs, which is resourceful later in determining the extrapolated 75-year flood.
Hurricane Katrina resulted in massive loss of life and billions of dollars in property damage. There are many lessons worth learning from this event. Finger pointing started before the event was over. Most of the focus on Hurricane Katrina was on its impact on New Orleans; however, the storm ravaged a much wider area than that. This paper will briefly summarize the event, the impact on the city of New Orleans and the lessons learned to ensure preparedness today.
Often, the government responds to natural disasters with thorough preparation and planning. The federal, state, and local levels of government do this in an effort to help reduce injury and property damage as well as ensure the overall safety of the general population. The 2005 Atlantic hurricane season saw the costliest and one of the deadliest storms in United States history. This storm was Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina displaced of an estimated 645,000 Louisiana citizens (Cepeda, Valdez, Kaplan, & Hill, 2010). This paper will examine…
(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.
"In addition to endangering the wildlife and economic prosperity of an area, the loss of wetlands also puts humans at risk. Wetlands serve as a natural buffer zone against storms and hurricanes, slowing down the storms and reducing their force before they move inland. However, as the wetlands disappear, some cities are becoming more exposed. The city of New Orleans, Louisiana, has already suffered the consequences of this gradual depletion of wetland buffer zones. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina, one of the deadliest and most destructive hurricanes in the entire history of the United States, hit the Gulf Coast. There were more than 1,800 casualties, with the greatest number of them concentrated in New Orleans. Eighty percent of the city was flooded, and there were more than 700 dead. Many blamed the destruction of New Orleans on the failure of the levees, which are manmade barriers that prevent water from flooding into a city. However, scientists and researchers believe that the hurricane would have done far less damage to the city if the surrounding wetlands had been intact. Since the storm, there has been a greater national focus on preserving and restoring the wetlands on the Gulf Coast. Preserving our wetlands and maintaining a buffer zone against storms will only become more crucial in the future, as climate change may increase both the frequency and the severity of extreme weather events such as hurricanes. " There are so many
Numerous different aspects were altered due to the ruckus of Hurricane Katrina. The first major aspect was housing and location. Katrina nearly demolished 300,000 homes. The ascending sea level along the coast resulting from onshore winds is a storm surge. With a twenty-two foot storm surge in New Orleans and a twenty-seven foot storm surge in Mississippi, Hurricane Katrina averaged a shocking twelve foot storm surge. As a storm surge’s footage increases, the surge will continue to move inland farther and farther. Hurricane Katrina’s storm surge is documented as moving inland a total of twelve miles into the state of Mississippi (FAQS, 2013). Hurricane Katrina impacted a total of seven states. Five of these states were Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Kentucky and Ohio were two more states affected but in a different way. Because of the tremendous amount of water, Kentucky and Ohio were victims of the Mississippi River flooding. Some states experienced more extreme destruction than others. Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana experienced Hurricane Katrina’s wrath firsthand. These three southern states were affected the worst by the massive storm (FAQS, 2013). Mississippi’s forest industry experienced a great amount of destruction losing 1.3 million acres of valuable forest land. The main cause of destruction in New Orleans was blamed on the failure of the levee system to stand its ground
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.