Hurricane Katrina

         Hurricane Katrina was the deadliest and most destructive Atlantic hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. It was the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall. At least 1,833 people died in the hurricane and subsequent floods, making it the deadliest U.S. hurricane since the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane; total property damage was estimated at $81 billion (2005 USD),^[ nearly triple the damage brought by Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

 

 

 

Hurricane Katrina was a massive hurricane that hit the Gulf Region of the United States on August 29, 2005. The hurricane was a category 5 as it approached the coast, and hit land as a category 4.

The storm was quite large, with hurricane-force winds extending 105 miles from the eye, and tropical storm-force winds extending over 230 miles.

The hurricane caused extensive and severe damage in Louisiana and Mississippi, but the hardest hit area was New Orleans, Louisiana. Seventy percent of New Orleans lies below sea level and a series of levees normally preclude water from the Mississippi River from flooding the city. But a break in the levee system during Hurricane Katrina caused massive flooding throughout most of the city.

About 180,000 homes were under water during the flood.

And the electrical systems and water systems were non-functional.

Hurricane Katrina may prove to be the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States.

Emergency Response Planning and Implementation

The consequences of Katrina for anyone left stranded in New Orleans were not only foreseeable; they wereforeseen. Among difficulties faced by state and localplanners was that more than 100,000 New Orleanians,principally the poor, mostly black residents without cars,together with the elderly, disabled, and infirm, would beunable to evacuate themselves. In the face of this certain knowledge, government officials failed to provide public transportation, leaving tens of thousands of residents to fend for themselves.Despite ample and clear warnings, the federal government did not even begin seriously to address the situation until 2004. At that time, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a contract to a consulting firm to develop a better plan. FEMA Director Michael Brownpromised to move quickly to polish the plan and move forward. Nevertheless, DHS cut funding for hurricane disaster planning, and according to former FEMA
Director Michael Brown, “Money was not available to do the follow up.” The federal government also failed to provide any resources to the city or state to fund
emergency bus service or provide other means to assist in evacuation. In the absence of any federal help, New Orleans was unable to marshal the resources to
implement a public transportation evacuation plan. So when the order to evacuate New Orleans came on August 28, 2005, it was effectively meaningless to tens of thousands of residents without the resources to get out on their own.

 

 

 

Those Affected by Katrina Have Mixed Feelings About Their Road to Recovery

PROGRESS TOWARD RECOVERY
When asked whether they were making good progress toward their recovery from this disaster, at the
time they were interviewed, nearly half (48%) of all those affected by Katrina strongly agreed that
they were. This number is slightly higher for men (52%), those living in Alabama (54%), those who
did not seek additional aid (53%), those with incomes of $100,000 or more (60%), and those who are
employed (54%). There was little difference based on evacuee status, state of residence, level of education
or race.
Few respondents (7%) disagreed strongly that they were making good progress. However, 7% of
those affected by Katrina still represents approximately 153,060 adults. This number was slightly
higher for those who are divorced (12%), those who have a household income less than $35,000
(9%), those with disabilities (13%), those who returned to agencies for additional services (14%) and
those who are unemployed (9%).

About three-quarters (73%) of those affected by Katrina strongly agree that they have a strong and
supportive network of family and friends. Those who are married (77%), those with household
incomes of $100,000 or more (82%) and those who are employed (75%) are more likely to strongly
agree that they have strong support networks (see Table 8). Residents of Louisiana (76%) and
Alabama (78%) were also more likely than residents of Mississippi (65%) to strongly agree that they
have a strong and supportive network of family and friends.
Those who were more likely to receive aid in the first month after Katrina were more likely to strongly
agree that people were doing all they could to help their families. Non-evacuees because of limited
means (51%), those who were single (41%), adults between the ages of 35-54 (42%), those with children
(46%), and African American (52%) and other ethnic minorities (43%) were more likely to
strongly agree that people were doing all they could to help their families. Agreement with this statement
did not vary significantly by state of residence.

Economic effects

The economic effects of Hurricane Katrina, which hit Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi in late August 2005, were far-reaching. 2006, the Bush Administration had sought $105 billion for repairs and reconstruction in the region, making it the costliest natural disaster in US history. And this does not account for damage to the economy caused by potential interruption of the oil supply and exports of commodities such as cotton. Also, before Hurricane Katrina, the region supported approximately one million non-farm jobs, with 600,000 of them in New Orleans. One study, by Mark Burton and Michael J. Hicks estimated the total economic impact to Louisiana and Mississippi may exceed $150 billion. Hundreds of thousands of residents of southern Louisiana and Mississippi, including nearly everyone who lived in New Orleans, were left unemployed. No paychecks were being cashed and no money was being spent, and therefore no taxes were being collected by local governments. The lack of revenue will limit the resources of the affected communities and states for years to come. Before the storm, the region was already one of the poorest in America with one of the highest unemployment rates.

Furthermore, Jim Sensenbrenner, Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has refused to allow victims of the hurricane to take advantage of any exception to the recent Bankruptcy Reform, a recent bill passed with widespread support of the banking industry that aims to curb abuse of bankruptcy protection by repeat filers and those who are able to repay debts reasonably. "If someone in Katrina is down and out, and has no possibility of being able to repay 40% or more of their debts, then the new bankruptcy law doesn't apply," Sensenbrenner said.

There was also some concern when, on September 8, 2005, President Bush temporarily suspended the Davis-Bacon Act in the affected areas, which allowed for contractors working on Federal construction projects to be paid less than the prevailing local wage. The concerns over these actions were primarily that allowing the government to pay less than the prevailing wage would contribute to increased poverty in the region, which already ranked among the lowest in the nation in terms of household income. The act was later reinstated on October 26, 2005, amid political pressure from both Democrats and Republicans in the United States Congress.