New Orleans And Southern Louisiana

“There are natural hazards, but disasters are the result of human actions that put people and property in harm’s way” (Cigler 2007: 64). Throughout history New Orleans has been continuously altered by the presence of humans through the creation of levees and canals, the introduction of artificial irrigation systems, and through human induced processes that have ultimately accelerated the process of land degradation and erosion. While a natural hazard struck New Orleans in 2005, the disaster portion resulting from Hurricane Katrina was a result of human induced interactions throughout the history of New Orleans.

Kate Chopin was born Katherine O’Flaherty on February 8, 1851, in St. Louis, Missouri, into a socially prominent family with roots in the French past of both St. Louis and New Orleans. Her father, Thomas O’Flaherty, an immigrant from Ireland, had lived in New York and Illinois before settling in St. Louis, where he prospered as the owner of a commission house. In 1839, he married into a well-known Creole family, members of the city’s social elite, but his wife died in childbirth only a year later. In 1844, he married Eliza Faris, merely fifteen years old but, according to French custom, eligible for marriage. Faris was the daughter of a Huguenot man who had migrated from Virginia and a woman who was descended from the Charlevilles, among the earliest French settlers in America.

Hurricane Katrina was a devastating disaster that has affected many people in New Orleans. The communication broke down hours after Katrina because of the unexpected fast winds and floods that broke down “3 million phone lines and 1,000 cellular towers in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.”( Joch ). Because of the millions of phone lines that were broken down, contacting the government for help was difficult hours after hurricane Katrina. Not only that, the people of New Orleans underestimated the power of Hurricane Katrina causing many to be “ stranded with no food or water” (Narrator, “The Storm”,PBS).

On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast at daybreak, “pummeling a region that included the fabled city of New Orleans and heaping damage on neighboring Mississippi. In all, more than 1,700 people were killed and hundreds of thousands of others displaced.” (Laforet, New York Times)

In this country’s amazing history there have been very many important expeditions, encounterments, exchanges, and discoveries. Within this journey we see two very brave men that meet countless obstacles, converse between cultures, and explore some of the most beautiful land ever made. This land that was explored was called the Louisiana territory.

In this paper I read the Essay that Abe Louise Young wrote about “The Voice of Katrina Part One”. In this Essay at its core is about Hurricane Katrina, which was a massive hurricane that hit in 2005. It caused massive damage and destruction along the Gulf coast from Florida to Texas. Hurricane Katrina will always be remembered for hitting New Orleans, Louisiana, when the levee system failed leaving 80% of the city flooded and destroyed. Hitting the worst parts of New Orleans such as the 9th ward, already being one of the poorest areas in Mississippi. Much of the Essay talks about the people of New Orleans, Abe being a new graduate started Alive in Truth: The New Orleans Disaster Oral History and Memory Project, her goal she state’s is to

For this discussion, I researched Louisiana’s health care reform after the devastating Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana on August 29, 2005 and changed the residents lives forever. The city of New Orleans was affected the worst by the hurricane. Before the hurricane, Louisiana already had high rates of poverty and a lack of financial resources that put Louisiana as a high-spending and low-performing state. There was a lot of destruction that took away some of Louisiana’s health care facilities so they had to figure out “how to rebuild the infrastructure, how to protect the citizens, how to reestablish and perhaps reconfigure programs and services (Morial, J.,2007) .”

Billions of years ago, an asteroid destroyed nearly the entirety of life on Earth, wiping out various species of dinosaurs, fish, and other animals. However, life managed to survive the apocalyptic setting and evolution bested natural disaster in the same struggle fought today. Every natural disaster tests human and environmental abilities to recuperate from damage and turn desolation into a thriving ecosystem, which requires a pointed effort on the part of humans. Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005, and recreated an environment that forced the instinct to flourish to battle with unpredictability once more, as the question of rebuilding the city became prominent. Though many oppose efforts to rehabilitate the regions devoted by the

The issue with the re-developing of New Orleans is an area that has been debated between governors, investors, urban planners, residents and other professionals since hurricane Katrina, the costliest “natural” disaster in 2005. This wonderful place, is a Louisiana city near the Gulf of Mexico. Its strategic position, becomes the exit of the great Mississippi-Missouri river system, which drains the interior North of America. New Orleans is one of the lowest spots in the United States, it is already as much as 17 feet below sea level in some places, and it continues to sink more than an inch a year. Re-developing New Orleans will be a difficult aspect because of its location, topography and weather conditions. However, New Orleans is one of the most culturally rich urban

In the year 2005, New Orleans was famously hit a major natural disaster that took lives and destroyed the homes and civilians. This wrath of Mother Nature became to be known as Hurricane Katrina, a category 5 hurricane with gusts peaking at 174/mph according to the Safir- Simpson wind scale (SSHS). With this Hurricane having its path directly on a city only being on average 1-2 feet below sea level, it created conditions for serious havoc (NOAA, 2012). The aftermath left a serious physical imprint on the city, which has the potential to never be removed. This imprint left by Hurricane Katrina caused extensive damage to 134,000 housing units, destroying multiple bridges along the Gulf Coast, as well as various buildings across the city, which led to harmful chemicals leaking into the water system, such as petroleum and natural gas. Finally, Hurricane Katrina also caused the main power grid to be disoriented for a number of weeks. As a result, the damage costs from the storm added up to be about $108 billion (2005 USD), which according to Eric Blake was the costliest storm ever to hit the United States (Blake et al. 2011). Hurricane Katrina perpetuated all of these tribulations, as it drastically altered the lives of the many inhabitants of New Orleans and they continue to face the repercussions of the storm in their day-to-day lives.

The changes to the coastline have affected the sustainability of the region. The loss of wetlands and other natural barriers have eliminated protection from higher and faster moving storm surges. New Orleans and other regions of the Louisiana deltaic plane could not be protected without proper account of the tremendous change that occurred to Louisiana's coastal landscape (IPET).

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

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.

Hurricane Katrina showed the United States what climate change may mean for our future. In American National Security, Jordan, et al. describes the extensive social, economic, and political damage caused by the hurricane. More than a million residents from Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama were displaced, fleeing across the country; nearly 2000 people died and damages amounted to over $80 billion (Jordan, et al. 2009). Soldiers, including the National Guard, were mobilized to assist while we were fighting two wars overseas. Blocked physical access and civil disorder kept responders from delivering aid. Victims of the hurricane were seen on rooftops to get shelter and were without food and water. All of the critical infrastructure sectors in the region were put out of commission at the same time and civil chaos ensued. Hospitals did not have the capacity to respond to the disaster and the government was ill-equipped to deal with the power outages, water shortages, and displacement of thousands of people. One of the lessons learned from Katrina is that natural disasters should be part of the national security agenda. It proved the devastating impact a natural disaster has on people of low socioeconomic status.

The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina reveals the continuation of vulnerability to natural disasters in highly-developed countries and exposed the shortcomings of engineering design and emergency response. In order to reduce the likelihood of future hurricane losses in these coastal geographic regions, an analysis of the impact of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans can provide insights on the relationship between humans and the natural environment. Ultimately, analysis can yield insight in improving future mitigation and planning systems.