New Orleans: The Environmental Impact Of Hurricane Katrina

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

“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.

Hurricane Katrina was one of the deadliest hurricanes ever to hit the United States. Hurricane Katrina started out as any other hurricane, as the result of warm moisture and air from the oceans surface that built into storm clouds and pushed around by strong forceful winds until it became a powerful storm. Hurricane Katrina formed over the Bahamas on August 23, 2005 and crossed southern Florida as a moderate Category 1 hurricane, causing some deaths and flooding there before strengthening rapidly in the Gulf of Mexico. The hurricane strengthened to a Category 5 hurricane over the warm Gulf water, but weakened before making its second landfall as a Category 3 hurricane on the morning of Monday, August 29 in southeast

Hurricane Katrina began as tropical Depression twelve, which formed over the Bahamas on August 23, 2005. On August 24, the storm strengthened and became known as Tropical Storm Katrina, the 11th named storm of the 2005 hurricane season. A few hours before making landfall in Florida on August 25, Tropical storm Katrina was upgraded to Hurricane Katrina (Category1, 74mph winds). An analysis by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) climate prediction center

New Orleans was originally founded on high ground overlooking the Mississippi River, above sea level. Also surrounded by Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne, New Orleans was susceptible to hurricanes that would come up the coast into the Gulf. Originally New Orleans was naturally protected by “coastal swamps that helped absorb the energy of storm surges before they reached dry land.” (Stillman 228) At this point Americans were more concerned with the floods that happened annually from the Mississippi River. In the early days, settlers built a mile long levee to block overflows from the mighty Mississippi while landowners constructed their own levees.

On the morning of August Twenty-ninth, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana and the Gulf Coast region. The storm brought the water to about twenty feet high, swallowing eighty percent of the New Orleans city immediately. The flood and torrential rainstorm wreaked havoc and forced millions of people evacuate from the city. According to the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration, Katrina caused approximately one hundred and eight billion dollars in damage. Hurricane Katrina was one of the most destructive disasters have ever occurred in the United States, but it also revealed a catastrophic government at all levels’ failure in responding to the contingency.

The location of the city has always been very low in relation to the sea level, but the amount of human growth and expansion has caused the city to sink deeper into the landscape. When New Orleans was originally being laid out they were in short supply of good, usable

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

10 Years ago on the last week in August, one of the most brutal storms the United States has ever had hit Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. On August 28th and 29th, Fifty-five-foot waves crashed down the Mississippi coast leaving total destruction behind. In New Orleans a levee was built to protect the city but failed in 50 different places due to it being poorly designed. FEMA brought many survivors to their camps, but some weren’t that lucky. In New Orleans about 20,000 residents were trapped in the Louisiana Superdome without clean water, medical care, or working toilets. After the floodwaters receded, over 100,000 residents left the city of New Orleans to never return. 10 years later after the hurricane, most of the affected

Hurricane Katrina occurred in the year 2005; it made landfall on the morning of August 29th. However, the origins of this storm began as early as August 24, 2005. In the course of those six days, Hurricane Katrina varied in location and intensity before making final landfall on the southeast portion of the United States (Ahrens & Sampson, 2011).

On August 23, 2005 Tropical Storm Katrina began as a tropical depression over the Bahamas. Three short days later she was upgraded to a Category 3 full blown Hurricane headed toward the gulf coast. Kathleen Blanco, governor of Louisiana, declared a state of emergency and requested 4000 National Guard troops. The following morning, President George W. Bush declared a state of emergency and Governor Blanco ordered evacuation out of the coastal areas while Mayor Ray Nagin ordered a voluntary evacuation of New Orleans.

Another questionable aspect of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans is the police’s interactions public. Although the topic was not very heavily reported, the locals all had very different opinions about how the police handled the situation and communicated with the locals.

On August 29, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast. Winds of more than 125 miles per hour, coupled with storm surges reaching up to 34 feet, devastated several coastal communities. These communities were “Bay St. Louis, Biloxi, Gulfport, Pascagoula, and Pass Christian in Mississippi; and Bayou La Batre, Dauphin Island, and Mobile in Alabama (Funk and Wagnalls)”. The storm destroyed a amount numerous homes, businesses, and roads and bridges. “In New Orleans, winds of up to 100 miles per hour damaged many buildings (Funk and Wagnalls)”. But rapidly increasing water levels brought the most destruction. A storm surge pushed water over the New Orleans levee system. The city’s low level neighborhoods became submerged within minute of the levees

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 made its impact on numerous families in so numerous ways. A very close friend lives on the north side of Lake Pontchartrain which is the north or New Orleans. When Hurricane Katrina hit the gulf coast she and her mother were visiting family and friends in Texas. Her father stayed behind in New Orleans. It was during that time that Katrina hit and he had not evacuated in order to stay and ride it out. Most of the damage was done in New Orleans; however, he only encountered power outages and wind damage but the lasting effect it had on that area and the people who live there lasted a lot longer.