My Life After Hurricane Katrina

When one reads a book or article, conflict, setting, and point of view are critical to understand what they're reading. “I Survived, Hurricane Katrina, 2005”, by Lauren Tarshis is a fiction book based on the event of Hurricane Katrina. The novel is about a young boy who lost his family, and is trying to survive. The nonfiction resource “Hurricane Katrina Coverage for Central Alabama” by the National Weather Service is also about Hurricane Katrina but, the author took a different way of writing it. The website basically summarizes Hurricane Katrina and the damage effects of it. Hurricane Katrina was a serious event, and both of these resources helped inform everybody about it but, took very different approaches while doing it, both, the nonfiction

During Hurricane Katrina, my family and I had to evacuate from Louisiana and leave our home and belongings behind. As a child, I did not understand the actuality of the situation before us. I can clearly remember the day that they called a mandatory evacuation on Port Sulphur and my mom frantically packed as many photographs and important memorabilia as she could. My grandparents and other family members also had to evacuate from New Orleans. Seeing my dad board up all of the windows to try and keep the water from getting inside our house during the storm was the most frightening part for me. Our plan was to go and stay with my Uncle and Aunt in Tyler, Texas and eventually return home. What unfolded those next few weeks can only be described as unimaginable.

On August 29th, 2005 Hurricane Katrina caused catastrophic damage and flooding in Mississippi, Louisiana, New Orleans and areas in between. It destructed the lives and homes of thousands of people, with a total of 1,883 fatalities (Hurricane Katrina Statistics Fast Facts, 2015). Hurricane Katrina left many homeless and hospitals unprepared for the challenges posed to the healthcare system as a whole. Some of these challenges included gaining access to healthcare facilities, providing expedited care to those most in need, and preventing spread of disease that commonly occurs during natural disasters. Many facilities did not evacuate in time and many were left stranded in flooded waters as patients conditions worsened and access to essential medications and treatments became limited.

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.

Hurricane Katrina came ashore the Gulf Coast and New Orleans and caused not only physical damage but psychological/mental anguish. This was at the end of August 2005. As a result, there was a lot of PTSD cases that were as a result of this catastrophic event. People across the United States witnessed the event unfolding on television and word of mouth but had no idea of the tremendous amount of emotional toll that the people of these communities went through and were going to continue to go through.

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.

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. Levees failed in New Orleans, resulting in political and social upheavals that continued a half decade later. (Laforet, New York Times)

Hurricane Katrina was a catastrophic natural disaster in American history. The aftermath had substantial negative impact on New Orleans and it could have been avoided if proper disaster management practices were put in place. Therefore, it is important to determine the factors that caused the hurricane to be catastrophic. One factor that was responsible for the disaster was failure of the three levels of the government working cohesively (Thiede & Brown, 2013). The incoherent interaction between the three levels of government will be assessed. Another factor that will be examined is social and psychological refusal of Hurricane Katrina

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.

When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in late August of 2005, it not only destroyed the city, but unraveled the ties that held the society together. Tens of thousands of people were forced out of their homes, bound to find a means of survival on their own. Relationships they had previously formed, social constants they had grown accustomed to were thrown out of the window, and laws became irrelevant. Within a matter of days, everything they had known was destroyed, and it had became the survival of the fittest and the wealthiest. While this broken society brought out the inner hero in some people, it brought out the chaos and lawlessness in others. Some embraced selflessness and saved hundreds of people, while others turned to looting, shooting,

Hurricane Katrina was devastating. My sister’s husband was a lifeguard when that occurred. He saved a couple lives but felt as if he failed since he couldn’t save more. He is a hero, but feels guilty about all the ones he couldn't save. I couldn’t believe the amount of damage that occurred, how unprepared the local, state and national governments were and the large amount of deaths that took place. I experienced Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey which was truly a scary experience. I can’t even imagine what the people in Katrina had to go though since that was ten times worse.

Hurricane Katrina struck the United States on August 29, 2005; it was the costliest and deadliest hurricane to ever hit the nation. It was one of the strongest to hit the coast in the last 100 years. Katrina caused as widespread of devastation along the Gulf Coast states and cities such as Mobile, AL, Gulfport, MS and the worst being New Orleans, LA. Although many people were prepared for the hurricane, no one would imagine the damage it would cause and the many lives it would take.

Most hurricanes have a very bad effect on people. Such as when their home gets destroyed after hurricane, and being too dangerous to rebuild the home. This is a moment in life that people don’t want to remember, and are thankful for those who survived. This is why people are thankful for who survived during the hurricane, it is too dangerous to live close to the coast when it is a high effect that the house may not be there after the hurricane happens. After Hurricanes happen, people would want to rebuild, but the rebuilding has a lot of factors that most people don’t think about like, recurring hurricanes, cost, and hazardous issues.

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

When I got home later that night, the news was now claiming my neighborhood as an evacuation zone. I didn't believe it. "It'll be fine," I thought "nothing bad will happen here." Apparently, I was the only one that believed that because every person in my development was gone. The storm was scheduled to arrive that next morning and I would be facing it alone. I came to the realization that I was the only person in my county with a functioning brain. Everyone was wasting their time and energy preparing for nothing.