New Orleans: A Case Study

During our week in New Orleans, we will have excellent opportunities to learn about different cultures, the effects of natural disasters, and reasons as to why New Orleans is facing poverty and economic distress through our volunteer work with Project Homecoming, 1 in 5 homes in New Orleans is still blighted, 10 years after Katrina. New Orleans still has a high rate of blighted (abandoned) homes. We will be helping to rebuild homes, but we will also be helping to improve the surrounding community spaces such as there local gardens.

The calamitous natural phenomenon known as Hurricane Katrina brought terrible side-effects to lower-class African Americans. A catastrophe like Hurricane Katrina changed the lives of the lower-class African Americans forever because of the devastation from several effects. People today are more prepared for a natural disaster because “Hurricane Katrina was one of the strongest storms to hit the United States coast within the last 100 years” in New Orleans (Brianna Frank). Most of these ramifications of Hurricane Katrina came from the phycological, economic and medical effects due to this natural disaster,

Instead African Americans because of the economic differences were more likely than White Americans to live in lower lying areas of the city which were more affected by the ocean swells and sea wall breaches caused by Hurricane Katrina. It would seem as Klein put it, “wealth buys altitude”. And the numbers seem to resonate this sentiment, “A block-by-block analysis of census data and flood maps reveals that about half of the city’s white residents experienced serious flooding, compared with three-quarters of black residents.” (Fussell, Elizabeth)

Before the development of an extensive water management infrastructure, New Orleans city confined on the high grounds between the Mississippi river and the Back swamp. However, when the construction began, the city started to reclaim the wetlands and expanded onto the lower grounds. In this essay, I argue that the development of the extensive water management infrastructure in and around New Orleans directly interacted with the policies, beliefs and practices of Jim Crow era to make the people of color face the consequences of the highly segregated landscapes associated with higher risks. The following points support my argument, including the poor and people of color became concentrated on low lands and the affluent whites occupied the burbs

On August 29, 2005, one of the largest hurricanes ever recorded hit the city of New Orleans, devastating millions and changing their lives and their city forever. The category 3 hurricane created mass displacement and mass destruction that the city has yet to fully recover from. The residents of this once lively and culture-filled city are still attempting to rebuild what was washed away for them ten years ago.

During the time of Hurricane Katrina, there were numerous failures from the government to provide aid to those who resided within the boundaries of New Orleans. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina became one of the deadliest hurricanes to strike North America. With over 1,500 people killed and over $100 billion in property damage, all levels of government were not prepared for and did not cooperate efficiently with one another to react to this type of natural disaster. The many government officials near the New Orleans area, all failed to provide proper assistance while the hurricane cycled through and wreaked havoc about the state.

I am writing to you in regards to the recent disaster that hit New Orleans, Louisiana “Hurricane Katrina.” Besides the death toll, hurricane Katrina left many people homeless as more than 800,000 housing units were destroyed or damaged in the storm. Katrina is the costliest U.S hurricane, with estimated damage over $81 billion and costs over $160 billion (2005 US dollars). I believe that the socioeconomic impact of “Katrina” was not felt equally amongst the different classes. Those who were wealthier typically whites were able to flee, and the poor typically black were unable to flee to safety, and suffered the worst during and after ‘Katrina.” Many of the residents were displaced to different states which included Texas, Colorado, Illinois, North Carolina, Oklahoma to name a few. In a study conducted by Kaplan- Meier called the Displaced New Orleans Residents Pilot Study showed the discrepancy amongst blacks and whites and their duration of displacement. One-quarter of white residents had returned to the city within 2 months of Hurricane Katrina, whereas it took an additional month for one-quarter of the black residents to return. The durations at which half of the pre-hurricane population of blacks and whites returned to New Orleans differ greatly. In particular, half of white residents had returned within 3 months of the storm; on the other hand, fewer than half of black residents had returned. (Kaplan- Meier) A poll done by Newsweek magazine showed

The City of New Orleans, Louisiana was particularly vulnerable to the ramifications of Hurricane Katrina. Despite all of the forewarnings, determinants such as socioeconomic status influenced resident’s ability to evacuate their homes. Additionally, topography of the region increased the capability for destruction as nearly half of the city, on average, lays six feet below sea level and is surrounded by water.

It was late August 2005 when New Orleans, Louisiana was hit by the category 5 Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina was the fifth hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, and the eleventh storm named. It’s currently ranked as the third most intense United States hurricane, behind only 1900’s Galveston hurricane and 1928’s Okeechobee hurricane. It was the most costly disaster of natural means, while also being one of the five deadliest hurricanes in the United States of America. This storm affected America in many aspects including socially, economically, and politically.

When I first heard my youth group was traveling to New Orleans, I pictured Disney’s The Princess and the Frog. My perception of New Orleans was heavily influenced by Hollywood. At that point, I had very little authentic exposure to the Southern lifestyle, and would have told you it wasn’t my cup of tea. After all, I wasn’t fond of country music and believed Southern accents were a little annoying. Once upon a time I gagged when anyone mentioned seafood, and secretly wondered why anyone would live in an area prone to destructive hurricanes. Little did I know how much someone could learn about a city’s culture in a week.

According to the National Hurricane Center (Knabb, Rhome, & Brown, 2005, p. 1), Hurricane Katrina was a major hurricane, a tropical storm reached Category 5 hurricanes in the Saffir-Simpson. The hurricane winds reached over 280 km / h, and caused major damage in the coastal region of the southern United States, especially around the metropolitan area of New Orleans, on August 29, 2005, where more than a million people were evacuated. The hurricane caused 1,833 deaths and is therefore considered one of the most destructive hurricanes have hit the United States. The event much paralyzed the oil extraction activity and US natural gas, since much of the US oil is extracted in the Gulf of Mexico. More than five million people were without power in the region of the Gulf Coast, having taken weeks for the power was partially restored because the neighborhoods most affected the basic service framework provided slowly to be regularized.

The history of racial discrimination and disparity in New Orleans went hand and hand with deep racial distrust. Indeed, in New Orleans there has been a strong history of a connection between racism and flooding

The current problem which the city of New Orleans is experiencing is flooding which is caused by heavy storms as well as hurricane Katrina. For instance, August this year, Louisiana governor John Bel Edwards acknowledged a state of emergency since city’s failure of water pumping system exposes the residents of the city to the greater menace of tainted –weather flooding. This was less than a week where a flash flood had completely overwhelmed the city's water pumping system, and the city officials were struggling to make some repairs to the fire-damaged equipment which are at a power station plant and also shore up its drainage system. Therefore several residents were inundated by this incident. However, hundreds of homes as well as businesses

New Orleans is the largest city in Louisiana, it is located in the southern part of the state, between The Mississippi River and Lake Ponchartrain. New Orleans has belonged to Spain, France, and the United States. It was founded by the French in 1718. New Orleans has about 712 churches in all. It has about 165 city owned parks. New Orleans is famous for its French Quarter, with its mixture of French, Spanish, and native architectural styles. The Mardi Gras is a week of carnival held in New Orleans before the beginning of Lent, it is the most spectacular festival in the U.S. and is a popular tourist attraction. In spite of Hurricane Katrina, the 2006 Mardi Gras was still scheduled to be held. The mayor of New Orleans was named Mitch Landrieu.

Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast of the United States on August 29, 2005, with sustained winds of 280 km per hour. The storm itself caused a great deal of damage, but massive and prolonged flooding caused a greater catastrophe as several levees were breached and drain facilities failed. This paper will discuss the situation and the experiences of the people of New Orleans during and after Hurricane Katrina, in which the disaster demonstrated the failure of the government and exposed the “inequality of risk,” and argue that the Katrina disaster was intensified as a result of the neo-liberal urban policies implemented since the 1970s.