New Orleans

Name

Professor

Subject

Date

New Orleans

A hurricane is a colossal storm which is accompanied by very strong winds and can cause severe damage to earth when it occurs. Hurricane Katrina occurred in the United States of America on the 31st of August 2005 after being formed on 23rd August the same year. This Hurricane is regarded as the most costly and deadliest disaster to occur in the history of the US.It is the third hurricane in the United States regarding intensity. The total number of individuals who perished was approximately 1,245 during and after the floods. The destruction of the hurricane on the property was intense, with analysts projecting the total amount of $108 billion which exceeds any other hurricane in the history of the US .

The Impacts of the Hurricane

Hurricane Katrina resulted in severe damages along the coast stretching from the central Florida coastal regions to Texas. The property was damaged in the coastal regions like Mississippi Beachfront cities. Almost all the coastal cities were flooded. The winds and storms made the boats at the beaches, and the casino barges bumped into the buildings, hitting the cars and other structures located in the inland areas. The water is approximated to reach 19 km away from the beach (Knabb, Rhome, & Brown).

The main region which was highly affected was the New Orleans area.53 beaches were destroyed in this area which had previously been termed as flood protected. Almost the entire city was submerged in water, with only 20% remaining unaffected. According to the American Association of Engineers, much of the flooding resulted from the inefficiencies of the floodwalls which had been erected to safeguard the city. Katrina caused massive deaths, although the exact number of deaths differs according to a variety of sources. The National Hurricane Centre report showed that a total number of casualties totaled to 1,836. However, there was still a large number of people still missing after the report indicating that the exact number of fatalities was not arrived at. For instance, Louisiana recorded 135 people who were missing and were not included in the report while other deaths were indirectly caused by the storm and could not be exactly be categorized. .However, the research carried out by the Louisiana Department of health found out that the direct fatalities of death due to storm totaled to 1170 whereas other deaths were caused by indirect sources such as suffocation due to gas poisoning and firearm and related activities.

Aftermath of the Hurricane

The hurricane had various impacts which can broadly be categorized as economic and environment impacts. The economic factors include the high cost that the US government incurred in the reconstruction of the affected areas. The amount totaled to $105 billion. There were other costs related to the demolition of the Gulf Coast, the oil pipelines as well as various infrastructures such as roads and rails. The hurricane led to unemployment due to the destruction of factories and other revenue earning places (Vigdor).The other major impact was on the environment. The storm resulted in the beach erosion where most of the coastal land was swept away into the sea. The Dauphin Island has pushed away from its location towards the dry land areas. The study carried out by the Geological Survey estimated an average of 560 square kilometers of land which was carried away due to the hurricane in the US (Fields). The ecology was disrupted such as the habitats and breeding points of some organism for sea turtles and woodpeckers.

Government Involvement in Hurricane Katrina

The government played a large role in the prevention of the hurricane. However, most of the government actions were criticized, and many people have termed the US government under President George W Bush to be the main institution that resulted in more deaths and destruction of property. The Corps blamed the government for the failure to enhance construction of appropriate protection mechanisms. The Corps presented a budget of 1 million dollars to the government to necessitate the project, but the project was never approved (Sobel).Instead of increasing the money for the project in the Southeast Louisiana, the government reduced the budget allocation. But this decision cannot be blamed entirely on the government. The Chief engineer for the project spoke to the media saying that the project did not require too much funding the structures already in place had an ability to protect the region for almost three years or slightly less. The Bush government attempted to slice the budget allocation for the levees by 67% in 2001, but the decision was rejected by the Congress who permitted the amount to be cut by 50%.The limited amount allocated for this project resulted in various problems such as debts for constructors and shortage of resources as illustrated by Naomi. The push by the government to reduce budgetary allocation for Corps engineers was also done due to public demand and American philanthropists who saw the amount allocated for the projects to be a waste of resources. Katrina, therefore, proved the impacts of ignorance among the people in the society. Despite various reports about the intensity of the hurricane, people did not take protective measures.

Many people who were holding government positions concerning the emergency reaction were criticized and forced to step aside. For instance, the FEMA director resigned. Other people such as President Bush was also criticized for his low concentration on the deadly catastrophe

Conclusion

Hurricane Katrina is the deadliest natural disaster to occur on US soil. The hurricane witnessed various reactions from various groups of people. Perhaps the people who made an adequate effort of controlling the hurricane were the scientists since they predicted its occurrence period as well as impacts. However, the advice of the scientists was not well utilized by policy members. Some people blamed the engineers for constructing weak protection structures that could not handle the high intensity of the storm. However, the engineers defended themselves saying that the money allocated for them in the budget was low compared to the requirements of constructing the levees and floodwalls. We can, therefore, conclude that the reaction to Hurricane Katrina was done with a lot of ignorance. Both the US federal government and the Army Corps did not care much about the destruction that the hurricane could cause. The hurricane displays the dangers of large storms and how they can cause severe destruction on the land such as erosion. It is, therefore, necessary to study land science for the purpose of militating against such catastrophes.

Works cited

Barbier, Edward B., et al. "The value of wetlands in protecting southeast Louisiana from hurricane storm surges." PloS one8.3 (2013): e58715.

Fields, Billy, Jeffrey Thomas, and Jacob A. Wagner. "Living with Water in the Era of Climate Change: Lessons from the Lafitte Greenway in Post-Katrina New Orleans." Journal of Planning Education and Research 37.3 (2017): 309-321.

Green, Timothy F., and Robert B. Olshansky. "Rebuilding housing in New Orleans: the road home program after the Hurricane Katrina disaster." Housing Policy Debate 22.1 (2012): 75-99.

Knabb, Richard D., Jamie R. Rhome, and Daniel P. Brown. Tropical cyclone report: Hurricane katrina, 23-30 august 2005. National Hurricane Center, 2005.

Sobel, Russell S., and Peter T. Leeson. "Government's response to Hurricane Katrina: A public choice analysis." Public Choice 127.1-2 (2006): 55-73.

Vigdor, Jacob. "The economic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina." Journal of Economic Perspectives 22.4 (2008): 135-54.