Lessons From Hurricane Katrina

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.

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

The devastating and deeply rooted traumatic effects of Hurricane Katrina will live in the psyches of the people of New Orleans and beyond for generations to come. Katrina was the largest and third strongest hurricane to make landfall in the United States barreling in as a Category 5 with up to 175 mile-per-hour winds and a 20-ft storm surge that would create a humanitarian emergency with the likes never before seen in the United States. This hurricane caused unimaginable death, destruction, and displacement, leaving a known death toll of 1,836 and an unknown number thought to be washed out to sea. The real truth is we will never know exactly how many people lost their lives during Hurricane Katrina.

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.

New Orleans took precautions to keep the city safe in the event of a future hurricane. The new buildings reconstructed after the destruction of the hurricane were built to be flood resistant (“After the Disaster”). Many of the new houses were being renovated to be higher off of the ground than previous homes in a like manner (“After the Disaster”). This was to prevent equivalent damage from flooding to occur in the future. Another effect of the levee problems that made Hurricane Katrina much worse was that the city installed more and stronger flood barriers to keep the city free of flood waters (“After the Disaster”). The Department of Health and Human Services sent multiple medical supplies to health professionals so they are prepared for the future as well (“Bush”). The city of New Orleans learned so much more about their city after the hurricane hit. They learned how close of a community they lived in. The amount of people that stepped in to help the city in its time of need was enormous. New Orleanian people received help from many organizations, including: The Social Security Administration, The Department of Labor, the Postal Service, and many others (“Bush”). In a like manner, the president at the time, George W. Bush, intervened and cared for the city of New Orleans when they needed it. He gave the city hope and motivation to get back onto its feet. President

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

Hurricane Katrina was one of the deadliest and costliest hurricanes to hit the United States in decades. The economic losses were extraordinary; however, it was the human losses that stuck Americans at their core. The media brought into our homes graphic images of the destruction of New Orleans. Its mayor had ordered a mandatory evacuation of the city and yet 150,000 citizens are said to have stayed. Like most of the nation I asked myself, “Well why did they stay? If a mandatory evacuation is issued, it stands to reason that state officials considered the situation to be precarious.” It is only recently, when I’ve seen reports of New Orleans slow rebuilding, that I have really given thought to the undisclosed factors that lead to such

Futhermore, crime in New Orleans increased drastically. On September 1, 2005, victims of Hurricane Katrina reperted crimes of rape and domestic violence. The violent crimes left corpses lying on the ground everywhere in the city. “We have individuals who

When Katrina was in the Gulf of Mexico, quickly approaching the coast most people who wanted to get out of the city could not, the reason for that is because most people in New Orleans did not have the means of transportation to leave the city, a large percentage of these people were black and living in poverty. New Orleans ranks fourth in the nation out of 297 metropolitan areas in the country in the proportion of households lacking access to cars. Most people could not leave even if they wanted to, most people stayed and were stranded

The hurricane brought social, economic, and morale parameters into play. New Orleans lost 95,000 jobs in the first ten month after the hurricane (Effects of Hurricane Katrina, 2012). Unemployment became a nightmare thus making living arrangement unbearable. Government agencies were having a hard time keeping up with unemployment thus making many residents

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

While the city did not take a direct hit, New Orleans also felt the impact of Katrina as she came ashore. The wind and rain from the storm put enormous stress on the levees protecting the city. Unfortunately, the levees could not withstand the forces applied to them and they eventually gave way flooding large portions of the city of New Orleans and surrounding areas. Large public places began to become places of refuge for those still in the

On August 29, 2005, hurricanes swept over the East Coast and Gulf Coast of the United States, many people were left without homes, many people died as a direct result of the storms. Hurricane Katrina; the most dangerous of these as it swept over the state of Louisiana, in New Orléans people were stranded; left without food, water, or power for weeks, even now, many people have not returned to their homes. Many celebrities offered their help to raise money for people who were displaced by the hurricane, some of them have purchased homes in New Orléans, Louisiana, and are still asking for help for people who have had difficulty rebuilding their lives. Hurricane Katrina was a powerful lesson in emergency preparedness, many people did not believe

Many people were injured and dead by the end of Katrina. Katrina claimed more than 1,800 lives of the New Orleans people. Most of the New Orleanians fled before the storm hit, but nearly 100,000 still remained in the city (Zullo VIII). Longtime friends Donald Colletti and Jimmy Pitre both decided to wait out the storm at their houses the day of Katrina. Suddenly the wind picked up speed and the levees broke, and into their houses rushed water. Donald being smart had his boat ready with everything he needed to survive, so he took Jimmy and Jimmy’s mother and went to the rescue shelter. Jimmy’s mom unfortunately died en route to the shelter. That didn't stop the two of them from rescuing others. They made a promise that they weren't going to let anyone else die, and they definitely fulfilled that promise. They had a hard and devastating experience with Katrina; but they were strong and brave to all of those who were weak and unable to survive by themselves (Zullo 1-20).

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.