Hurricane Katrina’s Recovery Ten years ago Hurricane Katrine made history by being one of the worst hurricanes to make landfall. It was ranked as one of the deadliest hurricanes in the US history causing over $100 billion dollars in damages. There were over 1,800 confirmed deaths due to Katrina. Hurricane Katrina destroyed over 1 million acres throughout the Gulf Coast and over 80% of New Orleans was flooded. Most of New Orleans was below water for days and many other areas were under water for weeks. Since then recovery in New Orleans has been challenging. Part of the recovery phase were to strengthen and replace 220 miles of floodwalls and levees. Congress provided $16.7 billion dollars to rebuild damaged housing and infrastructure. There …show more content…
As the city was pumped dry, the sheer level and scope of damage became an insurance and federal aid minefield for many residents. A team was assembled by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDI) to examine its urban design, energy security, coastal protection, toxic waste, public health and global warming. They were in place to present practices and course of actions to take in order to protect Gulf Coast Residents. Financial, emotional and health factors made every Katrina survivor’s recovery story different and each factor created unique problems for those individuals and their families. Insurance scams and contractor fraud made many people weary and distrustful regarding the rebuilding efforts and is one of many contributing factors to why many former residents have not returned to New Orleans. These are just some of the problems the City of New Orleans was faced with. A flood protection plan system designed by ACE (Army Corps of Engineers) that can endure a storm that could transpire once every 100 …show more content…
Short term problem for correcting the roads motorists will continue to be face with congestion across the city but motorist would agree that the work in needed. The damage of their streets has gone too long untended to. New Orleans goal for long goal repairs is to resurface the street that needs it and replace damaged concrete panels in others, as well as upgrade curbs and handicap ramps as needed. This program to the re-construction of the roads of New Orleans and surrounding area is a part of a $90 million regional program this program was named Submerged Roads Program. Ten years later the program ended at $118 million budget this program fix the major streets across New Orleans like the French Quarter, the Super Bowl, the Duncan Canal to Loyola Drive, and on Loyola, from West Esplanade Avenue to Vintage. These are heavy tourist area. New Orleans is known for their attraction the key thing is to get more money back into New Orleans. New Orleans was not the only city that was effected by Hurricane Katrina nearly 45 bridges were damaged. The states that was effected by Hurricane Katrina were Alabama, Louisiana and
In the book A.D New Orleans After The Deluge, By Josh Neufeld is about Hurricane Katrina and how it affected the people of New Orleans. This book was about real people that escaped and lived through the storm. Most people lost everything including their houses, all personal belongings, and jobs. As I was reading the book was shocked that in the beginning most of the characters were not worried about the storm they just wanted to wait it out. No one was expecting such a big storm and thought it would turn east like they normally did.
New Orleans After the Deluge by Josh Neufeld is a comic book that tells the story of post Hurricane Katrina New Orleans and the aftermath of the horrified incident. Although being a comic book, the author successfully illustrated the scenes of the cause of damage by the Hurricane. He not only showed the before and after of the city but also showed how different people reacted to the situation back then. Prologue, Part 1 shows the Earth and the moon. The scene is zoomed out all the way to the universe, portraying a sense of serenity.
Additionally, scientists had been warning New Orleans and the government that climate change would lead to increased storm activity and that the city’s defenses weren’t strong enough for such a storm. However, these warnings were ignored by the government and no preventative measures were taken which has influenced the effects of the storm. The reason for the poor response of the government and their negligence of the warnings is arguable. However, it is positive that the reason for this is that the majority of the people affected were the poor, and mostly colored, citizen of New Orleans. The city is racially and economically segregated and these citizen lived in the lower parts of the city, which go down to 11 feet below sea level.
Although Hurricane Katrina wasn’t expected to ever hit land, it is one of the biggest storms to hit the United States. The storm devastated the city and the country more than anyone would have every thought. Zeitoun, by Dave Eggers, displays many of the disastrous events that take place during and after Hurricane Katrina. The book follows Zeitoun and his wife Kathy, a Muslim couple, with four kids and their own painting business, through the storm. After the storm, while Kathy and the kids are staying with friends and family, Zeitoun rides around in his canoe rescuing survivors and watching his properties which has a phone he uses to keep in touch with Kathy.
Jacqueline Adams and Ken Kostel talk about Hurricane Katrina that cause great despair in New Orleans. They state, “Nearly 80 percent of New Orleans sits in a bowl-shaped area between two bodies of water.” This represents a cause, as the shape of the city makes it susceptible to being flooded by the two bodies of water. Due to this, the townspeople built levees which broke because of the water’s strength during the hurricane. Within “The Perfect Storm”, it stated, “One cause may be the tightening of environmental laws, which has reduced the amount of oil flushed into the ocean by oil tankers.”
New Orleans was founded on geologically young river deposits near the terminus of the North American continent’s largest delta. It is surrounded by water bodies on the three sides, with the highest point located about 25 feet above sea level. The Mississippi River is largely contributes to the most of the New Orleans’ landform. The rich soil which New Orleans is built on is made up of silt which is constantly covered with water every time the river floods or storm comes in from the water. This creates unique wetland landscape of swamps, salt-water marshes and bayous.
However there was additional devastation and neglect to be found in the rescue of the citizens of New Orleans. The Un Human Rights Committee issued a report in 2006 that showed how our Government failed to make sure plans were in place to ensure that the black citizens of New Orleans were included in a plan to make sure they had adequate housing and healthcare available after the disaster. Not only were blacks affected, but people in the handicap group were also. New Orleans and the surrounding areas in the gulf coast region had plenty of warning, but yet there were numerous lives lost and more devastation with the people themselves than the property that could not have been saved. This toll does not include the losses suffered by those who are handicapped and depend on aids, such as service dogs, wheelchairs and the likes they need for everyday survival.
Federalism is one of the most important and innovative concepts in the U.S. Constitution, although the word never appears there. Federalism is the sharing of power between national and state governments. In America, the states existed first, and they struggled to create a national government. There are many states, which always face storm and flood, and there is an agency which provides service to rescue and helps the victims and family which is called federal emergency management agency and it is established for over 200 years. However, there were many times where FEMA failed to do their job properly for example the hurricane Katrina and New Orleans was at particular risk.
“The Atchafalaya” is an article by John McPhee, concerning the flow of the Mississippi River into the Atchafalaya region. McPhee interviews several people who have jobs related to the river and the maintenance of the Atchafalaya’s water flow. The location of the Mississippi River is crucial because if it moves, it could potentially destroy all of New Orleans and Baton Rouge, and, subsequently, their status as major shipping channels. Reading this article, I gained more insight on the importance of the river for the state of Louisiana and New Orleans. A quote in the article summarizes the reoccurring theme of society versus Mother Nature: “Man against nature.
Lake Pontchartrain overflowed and caused flooding. Many bridges were demolished. The I-10 Twin Span Bridge was one of them. This bridge joins Slidell with New Orleans.
The reaction to Hurricane Katrina to me is shockingly similar to events that have happened both in the past and today in New Orleans. In the weeks after Katrina, the people of New Orleans were devastated by the death of family members, and the loss of their businesses, but eventually they began to rebuild the city just like they did after Hurricane Betsy. Since the construction of the levees
There was a major blackout - the city came to a standstill. The result, not less than 1,400 people died and more displaced. Was this great city disfigured beyond repair? Could this city ever recover? At the time of writing this manuscript it is exactly a decade after New Orleans
On August 29, 2005, a category five hurricane, named Hurricane Katrina struck the city of New Orleans and destroyed everything in its path. As all the other residents of New Orleans, I was one of the people who experienced this horrible disaster. No one ever predicts that this kind of thing will ever happen to them. Everyone has their story about what happened to them during Hurricane Katrina, but I am going to tell you about my experience and how to affected my life.
The Stafford Act was enacted in 1988 and determines how and when the federal government is allowed to intervene in a natural disaster. It also defines the type of assistance to be provided as well as the distribution of funds among the federal, state and local governments. FEMA is responsible for coordinating the assistance identified in the Stafford Act. However, FEMA has to answer to the Secretary of Homeland Security rather than making their own decisions. The authors describe how our current governmental system isn’t well equipped to deal with major devastation such as Hurricane Katrina.
Ultimately, the entire government failed the people affected by Hurricane Katrina and are still handling the terrible situation to this day. Had the captivation and focus not been so hard on terrorism, I believe that