Hurricane Katrina Research Paper

Hurricane Katrina was one of the deadliest hurricanes ever to hit the United States. Hurricane Katrina started out as any other hurricane, as the result of warm moisture and air from the oceans surface that built into storm clouds and pushed around by strong forceful winds until it became a powerful storm. Hurricane Katrina formed over the Bahamas on August 23, 2005 and crossed southern Florida as a moderate Category 1 hurricane, causing some deaths and flooding there before strengthening rapidly in the Gulf of Mexico. The hurricane strengthened to a Category 5 hurricane over the warm Gulf water, but weakened before making its second landfall as a Category 3 hurricane on the morning of Monday, August 29 in southeast

In the history of the United States of America, Hurricane Katrina was known as one of the worst hurricanes in the world. The hurricane was a combination of tropical waters and gushing winds. It was the vicious hurricane that caused severe damage to the citizens of the United States of America. The amazing city known for its southern style, Cajun cuisines, jazz music and its celebration of Mardi Gras will never be the same. New Orleans, Louisiana was changed forever in August 2005 when this category five hurricane left the city devastated. The catastrophic storm tore through the city of New Orleans and surrounding areas destroying everything in its path and killing hundreds of people.

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 was one of the most destructive hurricanes to ever hit the United States, causing damage across the entire Southeast, with the harshest conditions falling on the city of New Orleans. This hurricane began as the consequence of a tropical wave encountering the traces of an earlier tropical depression in the Gulf of Mexico. Once the wave and depression interacted, a new depression formed, located right near the Bahamas. This depression intensified exponentially, developing into a complete hurricane. Katrina wreaked havoc for slightly less than a week before subsiding over the eastern Great Lakes. This hurricane had catastrophic social and economic effects on the Southeast requiring a lengthy reconstruction period.

Hurricane Katrina had many short-term and long-term impacts. One short-term effect caused by the massive destruction was significant loss of life. The total death toll is estimated to be 1,833, over 75 percent of the deaths occurred in Louisiana. According to CNN, approximately 40 percent of the deaths in Louisiana were caused by drowning, and 25 percent were caused by some type of injury or trauma. Another impact of the hurricane was the damage that it did to Louisiana’s infrastructure, 80 percent of New Orleans was underwater and many houses even floated off there foundation. Loss of electricity was a huge problem during and after the storm, with over 800,000 people without power, this lead to panic and

Thanks to advanced technology meteorologist were able to warn the people of the Gulf of this world wind stirring up. An immediate evacuation process started as those were informed that the areas affected by the hurricane would be uninhabitable for weeks at a time. Seeing as how New Orleans is completely surrounded by water all eyes were on this area. Due to being surrounded by such bodies of water New Orleans and Mississippi has levees in place some of those that are very reliable and do their jobs well and some who aren't. Such as the levee that broke surrounding Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Borgne, and many swaps and marshes. The breaking in this leevee is what cause the mass amount of flooding. While many things played a factor in this devastating time economically, socially, and politically America was affected the most by Hurricane

In late August of 2005, Hurricane Katrina descended on the Gulf Coast of the United States, forever altering millions of lives. The category 5 hurricane became the third largest storm to hit the United States. It caused $150 billion in property damages (not including the destruction of the New Orleans levees) making it the costliest hurricane in United States History. In the immediate aftermath of the storm, the United States Coast Guard rescued over 34,000 people in New Orleans alone. Others were saved only by the bravery and kindness of their neighbors. Despite these heroic efforts, this catastrophe still killed 1,836 people. Another 700 people are still missing 10 years later (“Hurricane Katrina”, 2015).

First, Hurricane Katrina started by the Bahamas on August 23 and headed northwest towards Florida. That evening it hit between Miami and Lauderdale, Florida as a category one hurricane. Four days later, the strom moved on to the Gulf of Mexico and strengthened to be a category 3 hurricane. On August 29 it hit Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana and New Orleans, as a category 5 hurricane. The natural disaster brought 125 miles per hour winds, huge waves, flooding and enormous surges. 80 percent of the city was underwater and there were billions of gallons of water in New Orleans. About 1,000 people drowned because of the flooding and others struggled to survive as water filled their homes. Tens of thousands of people, that either couldn’t or

After Katrina made landfall, Mississippi and Louisiana looked like a third world country. With over 50 levee failures and numerous levee breaches causing severe flooding in 80% of the city and 180,000 in structural damage the cities were faced with a death toll of 1,300 casualties (Hurricane Katrina Rebuilding). Half the cities were sitting under water, which made it hard for rescue missions, recovery and evacuation organizations to be able to begin the recovery phase. What made it even harder was that just a couple of weeks later hurricane Rita made landfall to the already devastated states.

Hurricane Katrina was a storm that should not have caused as much damage as it did. Hurricane Katrina was category one when it made landfall in the state of Florida and was only a category three storm when it made landfall at the Louisiana-Mississippi border (Zimmerman). The weak infrastructure and physical characteristics of cities like New Orleans experience a much greater impact than would normally be expected with a category three hurricane. 1,833 people were killed, the majority of whom were in Louisiana (CNN Library). The total damage to property, buildings, infrastructure, etc. was $108 billion, the most damage ever incurred by a hurricane in the United States (CNN Library). Seventy percent of all occupied housing in New Orleans were destroyed and hundreds of thousands were displaced from the city (CNN Library). Overall, Hurricane Katrina was one of the most devastating hurricanes in U.S. history and could have been avoided had actions been taken earlier and had infrastructure been better.

Hurricane Katrina was a devastating event that left massive destruction in the Gulf coast of America from Florida to Texas. It is recorded as the most cost devastating disaster in American history and ranked third as the most catastrophic tropical cyclone in United States behind the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 and the Hurricane Camille of 1969. Much of this devastation was caused by failure of storm surge and levee put in place for protection against these natural disasters. Two thirds of deaths in New Orleans were attributed to these failures. Designers and builders of this system were made responsible for its failure since they used shortcuts to save on funds. The devastation that followed after the hurricane hit America was too big and people were furious at the government for their lack of quick response to help their citizen.

Natural disasters have struck the hearts of many, causing injury, devastation, and fatalities. When a natural disaster occurs the feeling of uneasiness, survival, and humanity is tested during these times. Hurricane Katrina is one of many, the deadliest, damaging, and expensive Hurricanes that struck the nation. Hurricane Katrina hit the southern coast affecting Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, and Louisiana on August 29, 2005. Hurricane Katrina’s powerful wind and extreme flooding took a major toll on New Orleans Louisiana. The biggest impact of the Hurricane ravaged homes, businesses, and organization, leaving thousands dead, and millions homeless. Days before the tropical storm reached landfall, Governor Kathleen Blanco of Louisiana

New Orleans was the city to be dealt the most damage. Over eighty percent of the city was left underwater from Hurricane Katrina (Nguyen, 2007). About seventy percent of occupied housing was taken by the hurricane (CNN Library, 2014). The population of New Orleans dropped from 484,674 in April of 2000 to 230,172 in July of 2006 (CNN Library, 2014). The hurricane’s total damages were estimated at about 125

On August 23, 2005, a storm had formed over the Bahamas and this storm was called Hurricane Katrina. Once it had formed, the citizens along the Gulf Coast were warned a storm was heading their way and were told to evacuate. Among the states that were warned was New Orleans and this state was at risk. The day before Katrina hit, the mayor of New Orleans had declared evacuation and if this was not possible the citizens would go to a stadium called the Superdome. Katrina hit New Orleans August 29 as a category 3 hurricane. The National Weather Service stated "The storm continued to track west while gradually intensifying and made its initial landfall along the southeast Florida coast on August 25th as a Category 1 hurricane (80mph) on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. After moving west across south Florida and into the very warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, Katrina intensified rapidly and attained Category 5 status (with peak sustained winds of 175mph) for a period of time as she moved north-west on August 28th. Katrina weakened to a Category 3 before making landfall along the northern Gulf Coast, first in southeast Louisiana (sustained winds: 125mph) and then made landfall once more along the Mississippi Gulf Coast (sustained winds: 120mph)" (https://www.weather.gov/mob/katrina). Time had passed and houses were filled with so much water the people living there were forced to move to higher ground. The city was under enough water, thousands of people were rescued. The coast

Hurricane Katrina is one of the biggest hurricanes ever seen on earth. Katrina was ranked in the top five hurricanes in the world. Katrina also killed 1,400 people and 110 dollars in damage(“History.com”). This hurricane hit the gulf of the united states causing 1400 people to die and 110 billion dollars in damage. August 29, 2005 thru August 31, 2005 is when hurricane katrina hit.Hurricane Katrina will be remembered because of the destruction it made and how many people lost their life that day.