The Role Of Hurricane Katrina In New Orleans

This case summarizes events preceding the Hurricane Katrina, which was one of the worst natural catastrophes in the modern history of the USA. It raises questions about the lack of reasonable prevention and preparation actions due to flimsy structure and management of the responsible organizations and persons, invalidity and inconsistence of their actions and incapability of making the decisions in a timely manner. As a result of the unstructured and incoherent activities, we could observe several ineffective and costly attempts to mitigate floods and hurricanes. In the beginning the local officials, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and “White Houses past and present always seem penny-wise and pound-foolish” because of the chain of the wrong

During Katrina there were many times that the local, state, and federal governments did not cooperate effectively. For example, the governor of Louisiana, Kathleen Blanco, addressed the issue her state faced and asked for “everything” the federal government had, as in disaster relief and aid, but the ambiguity of the statement caused the federal government to withhold resources until the governor addressed more specific needs. Issues such as these prevent the different levels of government from cooperating in an effective manner and demonstrate one of the most significant problems with federalism. Another example of how the different levels of government fail to cooperate effectively is a statement by William Lokey from the federal government’s disaster relief agency, FEMA. During an interview with the press, Lokey tells the governor and the entire nation that certain areas of Louisiana’s coasts are safe and that flood waters are receding. The statement made by Lokey misinformed the public and other levels of government, causing more confusion and hindering relief

Hurricane Katrina was one of the deadliest hurricanes that hit America. Federalism played a major role in the rescue missions for this natural disasters. It’s evident that the government failed in many ways during Hurricane Katrina. Federalism plays a huge part in preparing for natural disasters. The powers were not equally shared within the levels of government, which made the local government weak and had to completely rely on the federal government. The government of U.S. was not prepared enough for hurricane Katrina.

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.

New Orleans took precautions to keep the city safe in the event of a future hurricane. The new buildings reconstructed after the destruction of the hurricane were built to be flood resistant (“After the Disaster”). Many of the new houses were being renovated to be higher off of the ground than previous homes in a like manner (“After the Disaster”). This was to prevent equivalent damage from flooding to occur in the future. Another effect of the levee problems that made Hurricane Katrina much worse was that the city installed more and stronger flood barriers to keep the city free of flood waters (“After the Disaster”). The Department of Health and Human Services sent multiple medical supplies to health professionals so they are prepared for the future as well (“Bush”). The city of New Orleans learned so much more about their city after the hurricane hit. They learned how close of a community they lived in. The amount of people that stepped in to help the city in its time of need was enormous. New Orleanian people received help from many organizations, including: The Social Security Administration, The Department of Labor, the Postal Service, and many others (“Bush”). In a like manner, the president at the time, George W. Bush, intervened and cared for the city of New Orleans when they needed it. He gave the city hope and motivation to get back onto its feet. President

Many people acted gallantly after Hurricane Katrina. The Coast Guard, rescued nearly 34,000 people in New Orleans alone, and everyday citizens commanded boats, offered needed supplies including food, and did whatever else they could do to help the ones in need. But, the government seemed to be caught off guard from this disaster. The FEMA took days to authorize operations in New Orleans, and even then did not seem to have a guaranteed plan. Officials, along with President George W. Bush, seemed oblivious to the extravagance of problems and suffering New Orleans and elsewhere.

Instantly following hurricane Katrina, FEMA was hesitant and did not accept help from non-government organizations, “The American Red Cross was not allowed into New Orleans following the disaster and was unable to supplement the government’s response’ (American Red Cross 2005).” According to the Government Accountability Office, during the hurricane Katrina catastrophe, the failure to designate a single official to lead the overall federal response made matters worse (Fessler, 2006). The Government Accountability Office also noted that Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff never named the storm as a catastrophic event which would have activated a much greater federal response (Fessler,

Even though it is the responsibility of the federal and state governments to aid citizens during times of disaster, the people devastated by Hurricane Katrina were not effectively facilitated as according to their rights as citizens of the United States. The government’s failures to deliver assistance to citizens stem from inadequate protection systems in place before the storm even struck. The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security were the two largest incumbents in the wake of the storm. The failure of these agencies rests on the shoulders of those chosen to head the agency. These directors, appointed by then president George W. Bush, were not capable of leading large government agencies through a

The contingency plan for the hurricane should of included supplies, personnel, and equipment stationed inside the hurricane zone, in case there was difficulty getting into the area, which it was. Agencies such as FEMA, should have moved resources in, and protected them for the storm as opposed to station it on the outside of the area, and expecting an ability to move it in. Stationing the supplies and help outside the area shows that our government was hoping for a best-case scenario when they should have planned for the worst.

In a time of crisis, the government response to the situation at hand was poor and inefficient. There were numerous flaws and errors in the relief plan proposed to the government which in turn led to delayed relief to victims in need. The immediate response phase after Katrina lasted roughly 12 days. During this time, “victims were evacuated, rescued, sheltered, and received medical care from first responders, charities and other non-governmental organizations, and private citizens”(McNeill, 2011). The fact that the U.S. government organizations were not the first responders to the disaster is shameful for our country.

The overwhelming extent of disruption and destruction at all levels of emergency management, and all levels of government particularly during the preparedness and response phases, made Hurricane Katrina a catastrophe. Prior to the 2005 hurricane, the National Response System underwent restructuring which produced both intended and unintended outcomes, which later on, became apparent during the response to Hurricane Katrina. In addition, the National Incident Management System structure implied, but did not define, an information flow that would ensure a common situational awareness at all levels of the distributed decision network. As a result, this lead to a communication breakdown between the federal, state, and local government and prevented

Katrina exposed the nation’s poor emergency management system and its ability to respond to a deadly disaster such as Hurricane Katrina.

The massive hurricane that decimated large areas of the southeastern coast originated as a small category 1 hurricane. The state and federal government received lots of criticism for their minimal preparation and their ineffectual evacuation procedures. The storm shed light on the role of the government in natural disasters and its need for serious evaluation.

First, we must look at what led up to Hurricane Katrina and the response to it. In 2001, the United States suffered the worst ever terrorist attack in our history. As a result, the government and public both interpreted the lack of preparedness for the 2001 attack to meant that there wasn’t enough being tone to plan for and protect the nation from the suddenly obvious terrorist threat (Haddow, Bullock, & Coppola, 2017, p. 333). One can only imagine, that an unforeseen attack of that magnitude would lead to changes in policy, whether or not the changes would prove to be

"The Secretary Department of Homeland Security should have designated the Principal Federal Official on Saturday, two days prior to landfall, from the roster of PFOs who had successfully completed the required training, unlike then FEMA Director Michael Brown.