The Impact Of National Guidance On Hurricane Katrina

time of crisis by R. David Paulison, who unlike Brown, has had a career focused on disaster

Federalism is a system of government in which things likes states share power with a national government. The United States government functions according to the principles of federalism. There are a lot of things that happen in the world that cannot be explained. Hurricane Katrina is one of the worst natural disasters in American history that raises this question like why or how did this happened. Hurricane Katrina was an extremely destructive and deadly tropical cyclone that was the costliest natural disaster and one of the five deadliest hurricanes in the history of the United States. It was the eleventh named storm, the fifth hurricane, and the third major hurricane of the record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. The hurricane was so disastrous, there was no help for days after it hit. A lot of lives lost because of no communication and bad execution of a hurricane that was aired to hit the United States.

In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, Louisiana and the Gulf Coast. The results were catastrophic. Katrina and storm-related flooding took more than 1,800 lives and caused an estimated $81 billion in damages. In the storm’s aftermath, there was widespread debate over government response to the disaster. I believe that the bulk of the responsibility lay with the state and local governments. They should have been better prepared ahead of time and had more comprehensive plans in place to minimize danger to citizens. The national government has traditionally only sent its military into a state at the request of that state’s governor. The governors of Louisiana and Mississippi did not immediately request that action (Fraga, L.

In my opinion, all three levels of government failed the people of New Orleans in responding to Hurricane Katrina. There was plenty of pushing the blame on one another that ended up delaying responses and finding results. It seemed like one level of government would try saying the other level of government is responsible for that role. For example, The Director of FEMA, Michael Brown would say that the local and state are in charge of evacuation planning. There is some truth to that, but according to the U.S federal law governing homeland security it states that FEMA, “operations to save lives, through evacuating potential victims.” (Producers, 2005).

Before watching the video titled Federalism: Lessons of Katrina, I expected it to be about how the government responded to hurricane Katrina. Not only was my assumption correct, I gained a better understanding of federalism by observing how the local, state, and national levels of government responded to one of the worst crises in American history. From my observation, it seemed that the government on all levels failed to prepare, and then aid, the victims of the disaster. I think this failure was caused by the lack of communication between the different levels of government and could have been prevented had the governments worked together. In addition, I think the government’s failure to respond effectively

B. Thesis: The government should have help Hurricane Katrina, through additional money, supplies, and community help.

Packing 145-mile-an-hour winds as it made landfall, the category 3 storm left more than a million people in three states without power and submerged highways even hundreds of miles from its center. The hurricane’s storm surge — a 29-foot wall of water pushed ashore when the hurricane struck the Gulf Coast — was the highest ever measured in the United States. Levees failed in New Orleans, resulting in political and social upheavals that continued a half decade later. (Laforet, New York Times)

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.

As the Gulf States begin the massive task of reconstruction after Hurricane Katrina, the nation is actively engaged in a dialogue concerning the lessons learned from this catastrophe, and the best options moving forward. Many are asking whether the aid package and policies proposed by President Bush are the right approach to rebuilding and restoring the region. While the hurricane shines a much needed spotlight on a number of societal issues, it is crucial that programs initiated in the storm¡¦s aftermath have the desired effect¡Xnot just regionally, but on a national scale. The devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina has raised other, more general public policy issues about emergency

This decrease in intensity as Hurricane Katrina approached the southern United States was a result of the replacement of the storm’s eyewall. As the storm moved from the warm waters of the Loop current in the direction of the shore, rainstorms within Katrina robbed the eye of the storm of moisture. This process caused the replacement of the eye, and the reduction to the category three storm that made landfall in the vicinity of Buras, Louisiana on the morning of August 29, 2005. At this point, Hurricane Katrina’s storm surge was greater than 20 feet high. Though Buras, Louisiana was the location of landfall, Hurricane Katrina’s reach was much more vast: rampaging winds and the destruction of levees only added to the ruin this storm caused (Ahrens & Sampson, 2011).

According to the Business Dictionary, government involvement is considered any “regulatory action taken by a government in order to affect or interfere with decisions.” Many accuse the United States’ national government of minimal and slow actions taken after the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, while others share the blame of this response. Local, state, and national government response will be discussed, focusing on the government’s interaction after the strike of Hurricane Katrina.

I believe the principle of federalism didn’t work in the case of hurricane Katrina for the following reasons. Before the storm no one really did anything to prepare. Very little people evacuated like the mayor urged them to. Some people gathered food food and tried to fill up their cars with gas but gas stations started to close down. Even though the President knew that the storm was going to hit, he was on vacation visiting his mother instead of preparing for the storm.

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.

I believe that the SLOSH model can be used to educate the public in a few different ways. One being that storm surge is just as bad if not worse that the wind damage associated with tropical storm. Also in recent years the amount of strong storms happening there is more cause for concern with storm surge damage. I think also for the public they need to know that if you lived in a coastal city it might be imperative to get some sort of insurance to cover the damage that will happen if your home is impacted by storm surge. Also tell the public that using the Slosh Model helps in evacuation purposes.

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.