...head: HURRICANE KATRINA AND THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS Hurricane Katrina and the City of New Orleans Carlos F. Campos Introduction to Public Safety Administration 302 Professor Wertman February 7, 2016 1 HURRICANE KATRINA AND THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS 2 Abstract Hurricane Katrina hit the southern states of Louisiana and Missouri in late August of 2015 almost as a Category 3 hurricane leaving behind death, devastation, and displaced people. The Washington Times (2005) reported that “Louisiana officials have said there were more than 1 million evacuees from that state alone, and Mississippi officials have said the total number of people displaced there could be several hundred thousand.” This essay provides a brief history of the devastation left by Katrina: one the costliest and deadliest natural disasters ever to strike the United States in the last 10 years, and what the city of New Orleans learned from such disaster. HURRICANE KATRINA AND THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS 3 Hurricane Katrina and the City of New Orleans Introduction According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) (2015), “Hurricane Katrina was responsible for 1,833 fatalities and caused $108 billion in damage.” making Hurricane Katrina one of the costliest and deadliest hurricanes ever to strike the United States. On August 25, Hurricane Katrina made landfall in the southern counties of Florida as a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale...
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...Governmental Fumble: Hurricane Katrina Things that occur naturally such as tornadoes, earthquakes, and hurricanes are unpreventable and are considered to be natural disasters. However, when man knowingly aids in the destructive power of naturally occurring events to inflect more damage, it is unquestionably a manmade disaster. For many years, both in the past and present, the United States has experienced some of the most devastating natural and artificial catastrophes such as The Dust Bowl of the 1930’s and the September 11 terror attack by the Al-Qaida terror network among others. In the case of Hurricane Katrina, the human factor contributed to both the deadliest and costliest hurricane to impact the city of New Orleans. A city that is known to be the birth place of Jazz and the yearly celebration of Mardi Gras has unfortunately inherited a new chain of thought as the city that went underwater. Hurricane Katrina was the third strongest land hurricane and the sixth-strongest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded. The hurricane is approximated to have affected more than 1.5 million individuals in the states of Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama, which contributed to the loss of billions of dollars in damages and job losses caused by the hurricane. The city of New Orleans was the most affected because it stood directly in Katrina’s path and although it is impossible to stop a naturally occurring event from occurring, it is not impossible to limit the damage that it inflicts...
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...is a documentary about the disastrous flooding of New Orleans during the Hurricane Katrina in a different viewpoint. While mass media describes the flood as well as the hurricane as a natural disaster, Shearer claims that the flooding was actually a man-made disaster, not a natural one; and the film contains comprehensive investigations with scientific data to support the claim. “The Big Uneasy” emphasize on the ineffective design and maintenance of the flood-protection system as well as the engineering structure of Mississippi River’s waterway in the city. Severe environmental damages due to poor infrastructural planning also ruin the natural flood barrier of the region. Furthermore, these problems are supported...
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...seven years ago, one of the deadliest hurricanes struck the United States on the early morning of August 29, 2005. Hurricane Katrina was an extraordinary powerful hurricane that took the lives of several people, and it is considered the third deadliest hurricane to ever strike the country on top of being the costliest. Devastation spread throughout the central Gulf Coast as people from the affected areas evacuated their cities in hopes that they would have a home and a place to work when they returned. Katrina made landfall at three different locations, but its impact was seen all throughout the world as people came together to restore the destruction created by the storm. For the past 30 years, inland flooding has been the primary cause of hurricane-related fatalities with fatalities due to strong winds not far behind. Most hurricanes can produce a rainfall of least 6-12 inches, or 15-30 centimeters. Inland residents have to be cautious of slow-moving storms (NG). From its center, Katrina spread over 100 miles, or 160 kilometers, and is the largest hurricane of its strength to have ever struck the United States. It is recorded as the third strongest hurricane to make landfall in the United States and named sixth as the strongest hurricane ever recorded. Out of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, Katrina was the 11th named storm as well as the 5th hurricane and second Category 5 hurricane (DISCOVERY). The Saffir-Simpson scale measures hurricane intensity by placing them in categories...
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...Resilience Planning during Hurricane Sandy: Hurricane Sandy Lessons Learned from Hurricane Katrina University of Maryland University College Homeland Security Management: Resilience Planning and Preparedness for Disaster Response and Recovery (2152), Spring 2015 Written By: Brittany Wiley Introduction: Major Hurricane disasters along the coastlines have affected many cities and communities which have forced them to take into action and adopt the conception of emergency management, such as resilience planning, disaster preparedness, response and recovery planning. Mitigation preparedness plays an effective part in the emergency management plan. Many cities and communities must explore strategies to reduce the major impact these disasters have and implement resilience planning that will allow communities to rebuild. According to the National Disaster Recovery Framework (2011), “a successful recovery process promotes practices that minimize the community’s risk to all hazards and strengthens it’s ability to withstand and recover from future disasters, which constitute a community’s resiliency” (p. 11). Furthermore, Hurricane disaster’s not only expose community’s vulnerabilities but it gives them the opportunity to rebuild with more resiliency. When comparing two devastating Hurricane disasters that have impacted many cities, communities and lives; it’s important to consider Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and Hurricane Sandy, New Jersey and New York. Both disasters distinguish...
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...Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans in 2005 Most of the population in the United States is known for living in coastal cities such as: Houston, New York, and Miami. Although these cities have significant landscaping, behind the landscaping is a hidden body of water. That body of water is mostly an ocean rather than a river. Since coastal cities are closer to a body of water – known as an ocean – the chances of floods increase through seasons. While living in the coastal planes, there is a higher chance of undergoing a hurricane or tornado due to the land being located by a big body of water. Unfortunately, in 2005, a hurricane known as Hurricane Katrina hit the most vulnerable city in the United States, New Orleans. New Orleans is located...
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...The Case For, or Against, New Orleans Cost-Benefit Assessment Too asses and give recommendation on whether or not to rebuild the city of new Orleans I will be examining the cost to benefits of such a rebuild and the impact and benefits it will have towards the city. In the CBA, I will be examining the cost of rebuilding New Orleans to pre Katrina conditions without making any additional upgrades to the levees and infrastructure. This will give me a more accurate cost model to base my recommendation on. As for the benefits I will examine the benefits of recovered losses when comparing pre Katrina data to post Katrina dat. The areas where I will be examining are tourism recovered, port operations recovered, wages recovered, spending recovered, and taxes recovered. The future value (FV) of these benefits will then be discounted to present value (PV) and compared to the cost of rebuilding to represent the net present value (NPV) of the expected amount to be gained or lost by carrying out the recovery. If the NPV is less than the cost, then rebuilding New Orleans will yield a loss and my recommendation will not favor a recovery. If the inverse is true, and the proposal will be in favor of the recovery. All calculations will based on post Katrina 2006 reports and data to give a more realistic prediction of the decision that could have been concluded given data directly after the catastrophe. Costs of Rebuilding These cost are compiled from the Department of...
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...market in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina Table of contents 1. Introduction………………………………………………………………………3 2. Pre-Katrina situation ………………………..…………………………………..4 3. After-Katrina situation…………………………………………………………..6 4. Current situation New Orleans….………………………………………………8 5. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………...…9 6. References…………………………………………………………………….….10 Introduction It is August 29th of 2005 when the United States of America is badly affected by one of history’s most catastrophic nature disasters. Hurricane Katrina hits the south of New Orleans and causes severe damage to this city. This second biggest hurricane in the entire history of America left 80 percent of New Orleans flooded, approximately 80 billion dollars of damage and more than 1800 killed civilians. Due to this disaster, New Orleans was almost completely destroyed including the residences of thousands of families. Not only were there economic enormous problems but also political questions rose by that time. The president by then, president Bush, came in discredit because of cutting in the federal funding which was protecting New Orleans. Since then a lot of things have actually changed but unfortunately, too late. Complete neighborhoods were removed from the map, people became homeless and moved to different places. The effects on the housing market in New Orleans were immense. Because of the effect hurricane Katrina had on the housing market in New Orleans, the question...
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...As the response to Hurricane Katrina and relevant recovery operations required ethical decision-making, due attention should be paid to assessment of the validity and effectiveness of ethical decisions. There are many resources, both videos and articles, that provide detailed description of the tragic situations created by the impact of the natural disaster and some ethical dilemmas faced by responders. In all cases, the concepts of ethics, justice, equity, equality, and professional competence played an important role in decision-making processes. The storm caused “more than 1,800 fatalities and more than $100 billion in damage” (American Society of Civil Engineers, 2015). Policy makers’ decisions caused harm and completely destroyed the...
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...August 25, 2005 Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in New Orleans Louisiana, killing 1,836 people third deadliest hurricane in the United States history. A town that sits below sea level never stands a chance of levee embankment not able to withstand the overflow of a flood from a river. When New Orleans Louisiana was founded in construction of the levee along the river began, and more extensive levee was built as the city grew. The barriers were erected to prevent seasonal flooding. Katrina was formed in the Atlantic and had reach a Category 5 status, it was described as the worst disaster of all times, hurricanes are formed in the tropics and required consistent heat to exist. Many scientists believe that global warming was partially responsible for the massive force hurricane Katrina threw out. Although there is considerable argument over how climate change will affect certain ecosystem, it is still believed that climate change causes major shifts in the distribution and ecosystem species. After reviewing the Katrina hurricane situation scientists and engineers research its alignment with national needs, the National Hurricane Research Initiative (NHRI) concluded that the United States must be engaged in a research initiative to expand the understanding of hurricane and determine some more effective’s strategies for dealing with the issue. Presently hurricanes are not obsolete researchers need to understand the complexities between hurricanes and climate. Modern shields...
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...Concept Paper: New Orleans Post-Katrina December 8, 2013 New Orleans post-Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina, which hit the southeast United States in late August of 2005 was one of the costliest and deadliest hurricanes in United States history. The city of New Orleans was arguably hit the hardest by the hurricane. The objective of this paper is to analyze the link between economic, political, and social conditions in New Orleans prior to Hurricane Katrina and the conditions in New Orleans post-Katrina. Although natural disasters are an inevitability, the human suffering that citizens faced in New Orleans immediately following Katrina were largely avoidable, the result of a lack of adequate evacuation planning and massive governmental negligence. Furthermore, it was no accident which people suffered the most in the aftermath of Katrina. Financial, political, racial, and social disparities in New Orleans long before Katrina dictated who would be most affected after Katrina, both immediately and years after the hurricane. Rebuilding efforts, just like the evacuation, have tended to favor the rich and White and neglect the poor and Black. Pre-Katrina New Orleans was disproportionately Black and poor relative to the rest of the United States. According to 2000 U.S. Census data, Blacks made up 12.3% of the nation’s population while Whites made up 75.1% of the nation’s population (U.S. Census, 2000b). In contrast, the city of New Orleans was 28.1% White and 67.3% Black...
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...9 RUNNING HEAD: LEADERSHIP FAILURES DURING KATRINA Leadership Failures of Hurricane Katrina Mark L. Perkins Webster University MNGT 6000 Professor Lee Trovas February27th2014 Abstract Hurricane Katrina was one of the most devastating natural disasters in recent history, not only because of the severity of the storm, which couldn’t be prevented, but due to poor planning and the years it took to rebuild and allow the people of New Orleans to move on with their lives.Hurricane Katrina happened four (4) years after the September 11th terrorist attacks and three (3) years after the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and one (1) year after the DHS had created a National Response Plan. With the world watching the Federal Government failed the people of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. The government failed to show initiative and the ability to provide for the basic needs for the people of New Orleans on many levels, including planning, logistics and communication during the natural disaster and the aftermath of the storm. . Introduction I’m going to discuss several failures of leadership and not just on the federal government but on the city and state as well. There are too many to fault that are identified later in this disaster ranging from pre-planning,...
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...Variations in an Area’s Income Level Affect the Social, Economic and Environmental Impact of a Cyclone? All hurricanes may hold an element of danger, but some have many more catastrophic social, economic and environmental impacts, mainly due to an area’s income level. Hurricane Katrina and Cyclone Nargis were both very powerful tropical storms, but differed greatly in impacts in the two areas, due to economic reasons, as we will explore in this essay. On the morning of 29th August 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, with winds of around 200 km/h and 200-250mm of rainfall in Louisiana and a storm surge of 8.5m in Mississippi. The area of New Orleans holds both affluent and very poor areas within the city, meaning the population were affected differently when the hurricane struck. Before the hurricane hit land, the mayor of New Orleans ordered a mandatory evacuation of the city, with an estimated 80% of people leaving the city before the storm hit. This significantly reduced the number of people killed, as the majority of the population has already left the country. However, 100,000 people didn’t evacuate, either because they wanted to protect their property or they simply could not afford to leave the area. The hurricane ripped through New Orleans, killing 1,836 people, leaving 3 million people without electricity and polluting water supplies with sewage, chemicals and the deceased. The hurricane also destroyed 300,000 people’s homes, meaning emergency shelters had to be...
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...Datrel Johnson Professor Peter Johnson Geography 101 25 August 2013 Describe Hurricane Katrina Beginning in the 1950s, the United States have witnessed two Category Five Storms and seven Category Four Storms naming Hurricane Katrina as one of the most deadly Category Four hurricanes to hit the Gulf Coast. On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina dismantled several sections of the levee which caused it to collapse. The storm then breeched the New Orleans’ levee system allowing Lake Ponchartrain and the Mississippi River to flow in the heart of the city. Furthermore, a tremendous amount of damages occurred throughout the coast of Mississippi and Alabama. The state of Louisiana sustained most of the damages not just from Hurricane Katrina, “but also to a unique physiographic setting of New Orleans.” (Locke) The storm, Hurricane Katrina was identified as powerful and huge because of the well-formed eye of a typical category four hurricane. Throughout the duration, warm sea water was its fuel for continued momentum and power. The intensity had “closely matched the water temperature” which led the hurricane to reach its peak intensity; category five. (Locke) The storm predicted maximum “rainfall east of the storm-eye track.” (Locke) As Hurricane Katrina took her course, evidence provided “that the right front quadrant” was indeed the most powerful part of the hurricane. (Locke) “The powerful winds and rain occurred here because of rotational winds and steering winds (the prevailing...
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...Hurricane Katrina was one of the deadliest and costliest hurricanes in the United States. Katrina made landfall as a category three hurricane on August 29, 2005. The initial landfall was made in the Gulf Region near Buras Louisiana and later at the Louisiana and Mississippi border at Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Katrina packed sustained hurricane force winds of 125 mph, and extended out 75 miles from the eye of the storm (NOAA, 2012). Katrina’s damage was devastating to residents of the area affected. The causes and impact of hurricane Katrina were negative environmental, social, and economical effects on the Gulf Coast Region. A hurricane is a type of tropical cyclone or a low pressure system which forms in the tropics. It is a huge storm and is accompanied by thunderstorms. They can be as wide as 600 miles across and carry winds as high as 200 miles per hour. Hurricanes gather heat and energy from contact with warm ocean waters. The warmer the water is, the more intense the hurricane becomes. The storm surge caused by the hurricane which can be more than eighteen feet high causes flooding once it reaches land. Hurricanes range in categories one through five. A category one hurricane has winds of 74-95 miles per hour, and is considered to cause minimal damage. A category five storm has winds greater than 155 miles per hour, and the damage to expect is catastrophic. In 2001 FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) released a report that listed three most likely catastrophic...
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