Hurricane Katrina Research Paper

Hurricane Katrina: Destruction and Devastation Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was the costliest hurricane, as well as one of the five deadliest in the history of the United States. The record of Atlantic hurricanes said it was the sixth strongest overall. Prior to Katrina, the most deadliest hurricane was the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane. Hurricane Katrina was formed on August 23, 2005 over the Bahamas as a moderate Category 1 hurricane. The storm weakened before making its second landfall as a Category 3 storm on August 29 in southeast Louisiana. The majority of lives lost and property damage happened in New Orleans, Louisiana. The storm was estimated to be responsible for $ 81.2 billion in damage due to its destructive
The storm caused breaches in levees in approximately twenty places on the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, which flooded nearly all of Saint Bernard Parish and the East Bank of Plaquemines Parish. There were three major breaches in the city that included breaches at the 17th Street Canal levee, The London Avenue Canal, and the wide, Industrial Canal. This left approximately 80% of the city flooded. Flooding from the breaches put the city under water for days and in many places for weeks. A June 2006 report on the disaster stated that the U.S Army Corps of Engineers admitted that the failures of the levee system were due to the incomplete sections and standard construction of levee segments. This aided the damage done to New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina. The flooding in the city could have been avoided if the American Corp of Engineers would have taken the time to complete and upgrade the levee system in New
More distinctively, the blame focused on the delay response to the flooding of New Orleans. Criticism came by way of televised images of frustrated political leaders and residents who remained stranded by the floods. There was criticism of Mayor Ray Nagin and Governor Kathleen Blanco who failed to put into action the New Orleans evacuation plan and for ordering residents to shelter without any food, water, security or sanitary conditions. The most important government failure was Mayor Nagin who delayed his emergency evacuation order until 19 hours before landfall, which led to hundreds of deaths. A quicker response for evacuation from the government would have saved many lives of New Orleans residents. Many people would not have suffered from loss of shelter, food or safety