New Orleans Case Study

New Orleans as time has progressed has become more susceptible than most cities when it comes to the detrimental power of hurricane force and storm surges. There are two reasons for this. The first is that New Orleans has a very low elevation relative to the surrounding sea level, the second is the lack of Louisiana’s natural defense against storm surges; that is the coastal wetlands and its barrier islands.

The failure to adequately prepare for the storm led to increased and more widespread devastation, which in many cases harmed those living in the affected areas. An independent analysis of the reason for such massive chaos was performed and determined that “Most of the damage was due to the failure of the levee system that surrounds the city to protect it from flooding” (Ubilla). Had these levees been properly built, and had there been more of them protecting the city of New Orleans, major flooding could have potentially been lessened. A simple feature of the levee structure which engineers neglected to include is the concrete

Hurricane Katrina was an extraordinary act of nature that created massive human tragedy. Experts say that Hurricane Katrina was the most destructive natural disaster in U.S. history. This massive hurricane brought with it catastrophic floods, obliteration of numerous homes and business, ruined the offshore energy infrastructures, and caused an estimated $96 billion dollars in damage. The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina resulted in an estimated 1,833 human fatalities. Many victims found it significantly difficult to reconstruct their shattered lives. So who is to blame for such massive destruction of property and loss of life? Do we just simply blame Hurricane Katrina

New Orleans known for its arts, entertainment, recreation, and food service is known for several historic and celebratory events including the Mardi Gras, the New Orleans Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival all accustomed to large numbers of visitors was hit hard by the effects of Katrina. Port Operations: These operations mining, transportation, and warehousing even though not as visible as tourism still held an important place in the scheme of New Orleans economy. For example, the Port of New Orleans carried out most bulk tonnage in the world. Educational Services; Several institutions of higher learning called New Orleans home including the Universities of New Orleans, Tulane, Loyola, Xavier, Southern, Dillard, and the Louisiana State University Medical School. These schools has educated numerous students including many from the African-American communities (Dolfman, Wasser, & Bergman,

We will look at many factors in our case for rebuilding or not rebuilding New Orleans. This recommendation will be reviewed by state and local governments for their decision. We will perform a Cost-Benefit Analysis which will represent the residents of New Orleans, the residents of the surrounding floods plains, the Mayor of New Orleans, and the federal government represented by FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) and the taxpayers. We will look at scenario models, risk management, and decision trees to support our decisions and analysis. This natural disaster took an enormous toll on

Overall, more than a thousand people died due to the hurricane and the following floods, making it the most deadly United States hurricane since the 1928 hurricane in Okeechobee. Places East of the Industrial Canal were the first to flood. By the mid-day on August 29, some twenty percent of the city of New Orleans was under water. By the 30th of August, the remaining people of New Orleans were faced with a city which was almost eighty percent submerged in water, while the already stressed levee system continued to break apart. Hurricane Katrina not only killed many people, it also devastated homes and destroyed lives during its run. New Orleans, Louisiana also had the most amount of deaths happen, due to the levee system failing and causing the city to flood. This happened in a lot of cases just hours after the storm moved inland. After a while, eighty percent of the city and large tracts of neighboring parishes were flooded. However, the worst property damage occurred in coastal areas, like the Mississippi beach towns where over ninety percent of them were flooded. Many boats and casino barges rammed buildings, pushing cars and houses inland; water reached six to twelve miles from the

The fact that Hurricane Katrina was a Category Five storm when it was over the Gulf of Mexico is important when looking at the hurricane’s effects on the Gulf Coast. One big contributor to onshore damage from hurricanes is the storm surge, or the “continual increase in sea level as the storm approaches landfall” (Keller, 346). Especially in low lying areas with elevations near 0 feet, storm surge can be very devastating. Due to its Category Five intensity over the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Katrina had a storm surge that got up to as high as 28 feet, which is extremely high. To put this in comparison, the average storm surge for a Category Three hurricane is only around 9-12 feet while the average for a Category

This research project is “A look into why the levees failed during Hurricane Katrina?” This report includes a brief description of the intensity, size and the destructive impact of Hurricane Katrina. It also states the observations of the levee failures at different sites and areas. There were five levees that are discussed in this report: the 17th Street Canal, London Avenue Canal – North, London Avenue Canal North - across from the breach, London Avenue Canal – South, and outside New Orleans.

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.

The devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans and its barrier islands in 2005, worsened by degradation of the coastal ecosystem due to overdevelopment on the Mississippi River, demonstrated the wisdom of thinking ahead and not waiting for disaster to strike.

New Orleans was built on a risky location. According to Lalwani, Khagram, Evans, Jackson, and Lindenber (2007, p1), New Orleans was built on “a natural levee adjacent to the massive Mississippi river that was not embayed and therefore not protected from flooding.” When French colonizer, Jean Baptiste La Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, founded New Orleans in 1718, it was considered a strategically significant port of trade between North America and the rest of the world due to the Mississippi River and its’ vast network of tributaries (Lalwani, et al., 2007, p1). On the other hand, the city’s first chief engineer, Del la Tour, and geologists Kolb and Van Loplin found the site unsuitable for a city because the threat of flooding (Lalwani, et al.,

New Orleans was one of the hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005. The impact of Hurricane Katrina was so vast because of the powerful winds, heavy rainfall, and storm surge that it brought. The wind and rain cause heavy damage to the trees and agriculture but the storm surge amplified the effects of Hurricane Katrina. The storm surge damaged New Orleans’ levees and canals. The peak of the storm surge was at Clermont Harbor, Mississippi and had a height of 10 meters. The storm surge was caused by the rush of water towards the shore that was associated with the hurricane because of the hurricanes’ large area and powerful winds.  According to a study by McCallum and Heming in 2006, the unusually high storm surge was because of “the long, gently sloping shelves and shallow water of the Gulf coast” (McCallum & Heming, 2006 p. 2014). The storm surge brought massive flooding and residents who were in low-lying areas had to go to their rooftops and attics to stay dry. Hurricane Katrina flooded almost 80% of New

New Orleans is built on a dangerously dynamic environment where the Mississippi River is constantly changing causing major maintenance of water resource management systems. One of the focus of the management was providing dry land for housing. In the twentieth century, New Orleans development of an extensive water management infrastructure caused the spatial separation of European American and African American by allowing urban expansion via development of suburbs growing into segregated housing. The main elements of this separation are wealth and racism. The ending result is a differential risk of flooding between European American and African American hence the catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina.

The first Europeans that are known to go past the big city of New Orleans were followers of a Spanish soldier named Hernando Cortez. He died on the banks of the Mississippi River in 1543. Later, a French explorer named Robert Cavelier de La Salle had led an expedition from Canada going through the Mississippi state. To make a larger population in new settlement, France had to send prisoners, bonded servants, and slaves, and slaves. Back then in New Orleans French is one of the most popular languages. Also, the history of New Orleans around 1718 defined “Creole” as “a child born in the Spanish Colonies.” New Orleans has a lot of history to it, very exciting too.

Hurricane Katrina affected millions of people and its aftermath has continued to affect Louisiana’s economy and environment to this day. In addition to the estimated 1,833 people that died due to the storm, millions of others were displaced from their homes in the surrounding areas (Zimmermann, 2015). According to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, Hurricane Katrina caused an estimated $108 billion in damages (National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, 2015). The storm caused extensive damage to the coast due to intense waves, and an estimated 80 percent of New Orleans and the surrounded area were flooded for an extended period of time.