New Orleans Levee Cases

Numerous different aspects were altered due to the ruckus of Hurricane Katrina. The first major aspect was housing and location. Katrina nearly demolished 300,000 homes. The ascending sea level along the coast resulting from onshore winds is a storm surge. With a twenty-two foot storm surge in New Orleans and a twenty-seven foot storm surge in Mississippi, Hurricane Katrina averaged a shocking twelve foot storm surge. As a storm surge’s footage increases, the surge will continue to move inland farther and farther. Hurricane Katrina’s storm surge is documented as moving inland a total of twelve miles into the state of Mississippi (FAQS, 2013). Hurricane Katrina impacted a total of seven states. Five of these states were Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Kentucky and Ohio were two more states affected but in a different way. Because of the tremendous amount of water, Kentucky and Ohio were victims of the Mississippi River flooding. Some states experienced more extreme destruction than others. Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana experienced Hurricane Katrina’s wrath firsthand. These three southern states were affected the worst by the massive storm (FAQS, 2013). Mississippi’s forest industry experienced a great amount of destruction losing 1.3 million acres of valuable forest land. The main cause of destruction in New Orleans was blamed on the failure of the levee system to stand its ground

and federal funds. Soon after, New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin ordered an evacuation of all

Hurricane Katrina was a big threat to the coastal areas of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, and the governor declared a state of emergency in reaction towards potential destruction the hurricane may fall in New Orleans, a major city in Louisiana. To prepare for the threat of Hurricane Katrina, FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), was sent to Louisiana to help aid the state. Later, a big disaster befalls in the state of Louisiana, and the governor declared a national evacuation. New Orleans, the heavily populated city, ordered its citizen to evacuate in the Superdome, with food, shelter, and rations being distributed. After the state evacuation was made, there was a shortage of food, water, and operable toilet facilities, thus creating

Over the years of Hurricane Katrina, FEMA faced many criticisms. Not only FEMA, but “every level of government was roundly criticized”( Howellq ). Back in 9/11, They acted fast and accordingly to the disaster. During hurricane Katrina, they were slow and had false promises that the locals of New Orleans believed ( Maestri, “The Storm”, PBS ). Many people asked FEMA for resources and help, but that turned down because they did not “ask the right way” ( Hale “The Storm”, PBS). During an interview with one of FEMA’s secretaries, “Michael Brown”, had claimed that FEMA could not help Louisiana because they didn’t tell them what they

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)

New Orleans itself is 10 feet below sea level. This only makes me wonder why even build a city there when there wont even proper conditions for one yet alone live there after experiencing the first hurricane that had hit them. When they were first told of that Hurricane Katrina would be hitting them, FEMA aka Federal Emergency Management Agency said they were ready for the news. Making people feel more relaxed about what was about to come. After being announced that Katrina had turned into a category five people started cleaning up their yards and boarding up the windows. The citizens were ordered to evacuate a bay before the storm and if they didn’t evacuate they were on their own. Along with that they were also told to write their social security on their arm with permanent marker in order to identify their bodies. I was definitely shocked about this information, why wouldn’t they

When a disaster strikes, part of FEMA’s duty is to make sure people are prepared with sufficient supplies in order to improve the situation. FEMA’s second failed attempt in response to the storm was with transporting citizens out of the city. Despite the early warnings for New Orleans citizens to evacuate some decided to stay since they themselves lacked the transportation to leave or some believed they could wait out the storm similar to what they had done in the past with other hurricanes. With the amount of citizens that stayed in the city, FEMA

Levees were implemented as the primary form of protection from the bodies of water surrounding the city. Moreover, officials recognized these structures were critical to protecting the city’s inhabitants given the city’s topography. However, a confluence of factors led to projects that were more immediately profitable being a top priority while simultaneously allowing the infrastructure critical to protecting the city deteriorate. Because of decisions to postpone upgrades and maintenance, the city’s chances of withstanding a hurricane of Katrina’s magnitude were decreased. Ultimately, the levee breaches caused the city’s destruction.

After receiving a call from Max Mayfield, Director of the National Hurricane Center, warning Nagin of the impending disaster and recommending an evacuation mandate, Nagin waited 15 hours to alert the public (*20 pg. 60). He finally issued an evacuation mandate on August 28, less than 24 hrs before the hurricane made landfall (*23, Pg. 360). This delay was due to concern about the city’s financial liability for closing hotels and other businesses (*23, Pg. 360). This resulted in 90,000 citizens remaining in New Orleans as 80% of the city went under water (*23, Pg.

Katrina hit New Orleans, Louisiana on August 29th, 2005, but the failure of the local government started before this day “by allowing building and growing in areas in low flood lands.” The local government did not regulate these land areas that have always

In August of 2005, a great blow was dealt to our country by the disastrous Hurricane Katrina. Where humans thought they could control the awesome power of such a natural disaster through the use of levees, they were wrong. Many of the failures were due to problems with the soil on which the levees were built. In the chapter, we read over many types of changes the planet goes through, and it seems that those key point were not very strongly considered when constructing the levees. Not only was the underlying soil an issue, but different elevation levels from around New Orleans also contributed to the failures.

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,

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.

In today’s world, there has been one disaster or another, and hurricanes are one of those disasters that always happens. But, for one reason or another we are never prepared or understand the danger of any type of hurricane over a category one. Most of us have been through many hurricanes, like this learner who has lived in Miami, Fla. for over 30 years, and experienced her last hurricane which was Hurricane Andrew. Warnings are always given, first responders are trained to all ways be on alert, and FEMA is supposed to be ready to jump in once the storm has done its damage. But we can never be prepared, because hurricanes are unpredictable, and can become deadly for citizens and create millions of dollars in damages. Within this post we will discuss Hurricane Katrina, preparedness and Emergency management before and after the disaster.

Before we discuss disaster management, it is important to briefly sum up the events of the events that began on August 25, 2005 to fully understand the brevity of the situation. Meteorologists began warning inhabitants of the regions that were hit by Katrina on August 23, 2005. By the 28th, evacuations were under way, that day, the National Weather Service predicted that after the storm hit, “most of the [Gulf Coast] area will be uninhabitable for weeks…perhaps longer.” (Spowart, 2015) New Orleans was particularly vulnerable. More than half of the city was built below sea level, and the levees protecting it were built on porous sand. The poorest parts of the city were completely unprepared for a storm surge. Many of these citizens lacked transportation and could not evacuate, and were left to wait out Katrina in their