when the levees broke essay

Max Massimo Professor Gwaltney English 1102 18 March 2014 When the Levees Broke Rhetorical Analysis On August 25th at six thirty P.M, one of the most devastating natural disasters the U.S had ever seen touched ground in Florida. Hurricane Katrina was a category five hurricane that had made its way to New Orleans by August 29th. This storm was so destructive that not only did it leave a mark in the gulf coast, but it put the whole country into complete turmoil. Spike Lee was one of the first

Chase Caldwell Professor Gwaltney English 1102 14 March 2013 When The Levees Broke Rhetorical Analysis Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Louisiana on the morning of August 29, 2005. The storm produced sustained winds of up 125 mph when it hit that morning. On that same day Katrina caused 53 different levee breaches in greater New Orleans, spilling the waters of Lake Pontchartrain into the city and flooding an overwhelming majority of New Orleans. The floodwaters destroyed countless homes

Earlier this year, I viewed a documentary directed by Spike Lee titled When The Levees Broke. From that film, I learned about the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, which left a permanent stain in the fabric of black New Orleans’ memory. Managing to set off about 30 tons of dynamite on a levee in an effort to protect New Orleans from

These are the four problems (and a solution) related to Hurricane Katrina:  Hurricane Katrina was coming over to New Orleans and people thought that the levees would protect them (but 80% of the town left anyways). Even though that’s what they thought, the 26 ft. storm surge did not keep away and the levees broke. Because the levees broke, everyone who stayed went to their last resort (was said to withstand 200 mph winds) which was the Superdome, the roof had broken at 100 mph winds.  After Hurricane

When the Levees Broke is about Katrina and how New Orleans was affected, but not only by the storm, but by the levees that were built to protect them. After the storm had hit and they were picking up what little pieces were left of New Orleans, it became know that even the levees that were possibly built for a level three storm broke down from a level one storm. New Orleans was told to be ready for the storm, but they weren’t even close. The images shown in the documentary only showed the half of

of rain, which saturated the soil. Instead, of a hot summer, the rain kept coming and the Upper Mississippi River Basin received three and a half times its normal rain. Since it continuously rained, the water levels kept rising and many of the levees broke. The water levels stayed high for weeks destroying towns and agriculture all throughout the Midwest. One of the main issues leading up to the flood of 1993 was the failed communication and partnership between local, state, and federal governments

severe engineering flaws. The same walls both failed when the water rose only about half way up the wall, proving that the levees were poorly constructed in the Ninth Ward (npr.org). Bob Bea is an engineer and professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and was given the task by the National Science Foundation to find the cause of the breaching of the levees. According the Bea, the levees had a weak enough layer underground to allow the levees to break. The Army Corps, who are responsible for

and New Orleans were required to evacuate immediately from their current area. Another difference between the two hurricanes was the strength of each Hurricane. Hurricane Harvey came out to be a category four when the hurricane breached land, and Katrina came out to be a category three when the hurricane breached land. A similarity of each response towards each hurricane was how the government seemed to be extremely concerned for the safety of their citizens. A similarity between

During times of extreme poverty and inequality more attention is provided to those in hardship. A prime example of this is New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit. Before the hurricane hit the only time I had hear of New Orleans was if someone was speaking about doing down to Mardi Gras. The people affected by the hurricane lost a lot. Many lost their homes, tangible possessions stored in their homes, animals, and some lost their lives. Hurricane Katrina was a huge devastation to the country, but

(Leyendecker, E., Marshall, R., Pfrang, E., & Woodward, K., 1982). The second floor’s walkway was suspended from the fourth, which was suspended from the roof. The third floor’s walkway was hanging from the roof of the atrium, independent to the other two. When a collapse occurred on July 17, 1981, the fourth floor, which was suspended from the roof, collapsed and landed on top of the second floor. As a result, both floors crashed into the atrium at ground-level (Leyendecker, E., Marshall, R., Pfrang, E.