OVERVIEW…
Hurricane Katrina is officially the costliest and one of the most deadliest hurricanes in the history of the United States. It was formed on August 23 and dissipated on August 31st 2005. Wind speed was as high as 175 miles per house. Damage cost well over 81.2 billion (2005 USD) or 84 billion (2006 USD); thus making it the costliest Atlantic hurricane in recorded history. Death tolls were at least 1,833 but number is still not positive because even a year after the hurricane, not all missing persons have been found neither have their bodies. Areas affected are the Bahamas, South Florida, Cuba, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida Panhandle, and most of eastern North America.
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GROWTH AND PATH…
Hurricane Katrina began as a tropical depression over the south-eastern Bahamas on the 23rd that had upgraded to a tropical storm by the 24th and eventually into a hurricane soon after. It officially became a hurricane soon after it had moved toward Florida State between Hallandale Beach and Aventura.
The storm intensified after entering the Gulf of Mexico as a result of the storm’s movement over the warm waters. On August 27tth the hurricane reached category 3 and soon intensified into category 5 on the morning of the 28th with its peak strength at 1:00pm EST. On the 29th Katrina’s strength redeveloped and continued to devastate everything in its path as a hurricane category 3 with wind speeds up to 125 miles per house from Louisiana to Mississippi. Eventually Katrina downgraded to a tropical depression in Mississippi and the storm continued its journey to southeast Ontario and Quebec.
Courtesy of youtube.come
IMPACT…
Total cost of Katrina is estimated at $81.2 billion, which is nearly double the cost of the previously most expensive storm (Hurricane Andrew). Katrina caused several breaches in levees around the city of New Orleans; thus causing most the city be to flooded as the breached drainage and navigation canals allowed water to flow from the lakes into the low lying areas of the city. Additional environmental impacts include substantial beach erosions and in worst case scenarios completely devastating coastal areas.
A Red Cross disaster relief truck is caught in the flood. (Adopted from katrinahelp.com)
As of May 19, 2006 confirmed death toll as a result of direct and indirect deaths stood at 1,836 people, mainly from Louisiana (1,577) and Mississippi (238). Although there is still an additional 705 people categorized as missing in Louisiana, since their bodies have not yet to be found or identified they are still considered “missing”, not dead. Essentially the disaster covered 90,000 square miles of the United States (233,000 square kilometres). It left three million people without electricity and many of those without a home.
ECONOMIC EFFECTS…
As of April 2006, the Bush Administration has officially spent $105 billion on repairs and reconstruction in the regions devastated by Hurricane Katrina. That amount does not account for indirect damages such as interruption of oil supply, destruction of Gulf Coast’s highway infrastructures, export commodities (grain), as Katrina did do major damage to some 30 oil platforms and caused nine refineries to closure. Some 1.3 million acres of forest lands in Mississippi were also destroyed as a result of Katrina, which could increase total damage up another 5 billion.
Disaster response and planning begins at the local government level throughout the United States. It is when the local government has exhausted its resources, and then requests are sent for additional resources further up the hierarchy. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is one of the first organizations to respond to Katrina by providing housing assistance to over 700,000 applicants. They also paid for hotel costs for families that were displaced from their houses for several months after Katrina had done its damage. Internationally, many countries offer financial aid to the United States that summed up to some $500 million. Other countries like Canada offered electricity and water pumps to aid in the disaster recovery process. Non-government organizations also played an important role in response to Katrina by providing housing, food, water to victims of the storm.
Although soon after Katrina made its appearances, criticism of the government to the response of the disaster began. As many believed the lack of preparations and response to the hurricane lead to many more excessive citizen deaths as a result of thirst, exhaustion, and violence. Others believed race, class, and other similar factors had contributed to the slow response from the government as the percentage of black victims was near some 49%.