The Causes Of Hurricane Katrina

On August 29th, 2005 Hurricane Katrina caused catastrophic damage and flooding in Mississippi, Louisiana, New Orleans and areas in between. It destructed the lives and homes of thousands of people, with a total of 1,883 fatalities (Hurricane Katrina Statistics Fast Facts, 2015). Hurricane Katrina left many homeless and hospitals unprepared for the challenges posed to the healthcare system as a whole. Some of these challenges included gaining access to healthcare facilities, providing expedited care to those most in need, and preventing spread of disease that commonly occurs during natural disasters. Many facilities did not evacuate in time and many were left stranded in flooded waters as patients conditions worsened and access to essential medications and treatments became limited.

After Hurricane Katrina, ten months later, jobs plummeted to an average loss of 95,000. “During the month of November 2005, employment had dropped to 105,300 below the previous year’s figure.” (Dolfman pg. 7) Furthermore, Hurricane Karina in doubt did cause more damage to the economy than expected. The hurricane “affected 19% of U.S. oil production.” (Dolfman pg. 7) Hurricane Katrina completely destroyed 113 offshore oil and gas platforms, occurs damages to457 oil and gas pipelines, and spilled as much oil compared to the Exxon Valdez oil disaster. This devastating event “caused oil prices to increase $3 a barrel,” and gas prices sky-rocketed to $5 a gallon. (Dolfman pg. 7) Lastly, Hurricane Katrina’s impact struck Louisiana’s sugar industry, totaling an estimate of $500 million in “annual crop value.” (Amadeo)

“When communities are rebuilt, they must be even better and stronger than before the storm,” (“Bush”). This is what former president George W. Bush said during his speech in New Orleans concerning the effects of Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina was a massive natural disaster that consisted of high powered winds and immense amounts of water. The hurricane was initially a category 3, but gradually rose to the classification of a category 5 storm, which is the largest storm there is (“Hurricane Irene”). In fact, there were accounts of winds recorded at about 127 miles per hour in the Gulf areas such as Grand Isle, Louisiana, and near the Mississippi River (“Hurricane Katrina Statistics”). All of these factors are made

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.

Hurricane Katrina is the most expensive natural disaster in American history (Kates et al., 2006). This is supported by the statistics from August 2006, where the death total surpassed 1836 and the cost of the destruction was projected to be near $108 billion (Kates et al., 2006). On August 29, it made landfall in Louisiana as a category 3 Hurricane and its aftermath was devastating

On the morning of August 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina made landfall bringing with it winds between 100-104 miles per hour. Upon landfall the storm stretched approximately 400 miles across and was rated a category 3 hurricane (History.com Staff, 2009). The aftermath of the storm left the areas of Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana with flooding displacing hundreds of thousands of residents and caused more than $100 billion in damages (Townsend, 2006). The events of the hurricane and its aftermath including government response or rather the perceived lack of was widely broadcasted. Hurricane Katrina provoked an enormous response from all levels of government, the private sector, and foreign countries, however even with the vast resources the response

In the year 2005, New Orleans was hit by a major natural disaster that took lives and destroyed the homes of many civilians. This wrath of Mother Nature came to be known as Hurricane Katrina, a category 5 hurricane with gusts peaking at 174/mph according to the Safir- Simpson wind scale (SSHS). The mix of both poor geographical characteristics and scientific accuracy resulted in damage costs accumulating up to $108 billion (2005 USD). The high damage costs made this natural disaster to be ranked as the costliest storm ever to hit the United States of America (Blake et al. 2011). The entirety of the damage is exemplified by the plethora of housing units dismembered, the annihilation of several bridges and buildings, which led to petroleum and

Katrina hit many southern cities. Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi were all hit but the most damage occurred in New Orleans. With the city mostly under sea level this presented much of the problem. The majority of the city was flooded. More than $200 billion dollars in damages were estimated. The loss of life, property, and business were devastating on New Orleans. This was the most costly of all natural disasters in the United States of America in my lifetime. This natural disaster disturbed the economic system of New Orleans, the labor markets around the U.S., and the individual businesses in New Orleans. The trending effect was a loss of 100,000 jobs in ten months and almost 2.9 billion in wages were lost (Effects of Hurricane Katrina, 2012). The storm helped to crush New Orleans and put a devastating effect on the economy of the U.S. Gas prices rose, product prices rose, and the tourism rate in New Orleans went to zero. The port was unable to open, the colleges were closed due to the devastation, and as I stated earlier tourism became null and void.

The tragedies caused from the failure of people to listen to others views can be represented in the natural disaster of Hurricane Katrina. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina had struck the Gulf Coast of the United States and directly hit the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia and Alabama. However, it mostly targeted the poverty stricken city of New Orleans. Hurricane Katrina was the costliest natural disaster and one of the five deadliest hurricanes in the United States. The death toll was almost 2,000 people. However, the immense death rate was caused from the failure of people to listen to authorities and evacuate. Many lower class citizens didn’t evacuate because they didn’t own cars, which in turn would cause an expensive evacuation

Another issue the was presented when Hurricane Katrina hit American soil revolved around the how the United States governments agencies at all levels approached the environment that was damaged. As was stated earlier the local government is always first to come to the rescue when disasters hit, but when has such as immense as Katrina would call for the likes of the federal government. The Federal Emergency Management Agency was among many of the agencies that would be called into questioning during this dreadful disaster.

The two sources that i’m using for this report are CNN, Hurricane Katrina Time. The Disaster that i’m covering is Hurricane Katrina. This disaster took place on Monday of April 29th of 2005. Hitting all of louisiana and causing this country to fall in a big depression this hurricane had up to wind speeds of 127 mph (miles per hour) and also being in a category 3 storm. This left 10,000 people seeking for homes because Hurricane Katrina has destroyed them. After the hurricane had hit its damages was estimated up to 108 billion dollars just to repair everything.

When the storm hit, it destroyed multiple oil refineries off of the Gulf of Mexico as well as shut down many more within the area. It was reported that 95 percent of oil production in the Gulf shut down just one day after the hurricane hit and that the effects this had beyond the area that was hit were just as bad (Galea, 2). For instance, the nation saw record high spikes in gas prices simply due to the short term decline in refining ability and gasoline shortages. This shortage of gasoline and increase in gas prices had an even larger effect on the U.S. economy then was anticipated because it took more money out of consumer’s wallets, stalling or slowing the economy overall. In addition, Hurricane Katrina had such a massive effect on the oil industry because America’s main source of oil and gas is in fact the Gulf of Mexico, right where the storm hit (McQuaid and Schleifstein, 2). Thus, had the hurricane hit an area that was less important to the nation’s oil and gas resources, the economic effects would have been much less severe and wide

Hurricane Katrina had caused many people to lose their homes and costing billions. “People were displaced from their homes; some lost everything they had. Many left the area and did not return. With more than 1,800 deaths in five states and $81 billion in property damage.” Hurricane Katrina, although only starting at a category one, eventually did reach a category five causing extreme damage. Oil refineries, cargo facilities and fisheries, and New Orleans’s tourist industry were severely impacted by the storm. Homes were not the only thing damaged, New Orleans’s economy was also plummeting and affected the United

On August 29, 2005, hurricane Katrina made landfall in Louisiana as a category three storm and brought with it some of the most catastrophic effects that any hurricane has ever left behind. Twenty foot surges of flood water washed into New Orleans after the levees broke, and ended up flooding over 80% of the city. It was now in the hands of the United States government to help the millions of displaced Americans find proper shelter, food, water, and services that were required for their recovery.

With the huge impact of the oil spill on marine life and coastal regions, fishing and tourism industries of the places affected in the Gulf Coast severely declined. In the fishing industry, the incident led to an approximate $2.5 billion loss, while tourist industries experienced a loss of a predicted $23 billion (Jarvis, 2010). In addition, the moratorium placed on deep water drilling left 58,000 workers unemployed (ibid).