Hurricane Katrina: Facts
Hurricane Katrina was one of the most serious natural disasters to hit the United States of America over the last hundred years. Besides, due to the development of the modern meteorology technologies, the size and impact of this hurricane was predictable. The area it hit was rather large. The White House (n. d.) approximated its size to the territory of Great Britain. Besides, the part of the United States that experienced the landfall of Katrina is under the impact of various coastal storms quite frequently; therefore it is expected to be prepared for smaller and larger disaster strikes. Most importantly, apart from being recognized as one of the strongest storms (category 4), hurricane Katrina is also referred to as one of the most anticipated cataclysms to happen (Cash, 2014). This claim reflects the level of failure of the government and the administrations that were supposed to provide security to the affected regions. The storm devastated a large portion of the Gulf Coast and created a massive destructive influence on the lives of millions of people.
The Devastating Impact of Katrina
Even though the cities such as New Orleans that are located right on the coastline and are surrounded or situated nearby the bodies of water are equipped with the protective barriers and levees, the impact ended up devastating for the population. The main contributing factors to the enormous number of injured, killed, and displaced individuals are threefold. First of all, the area of New Orleans was not properly warned and assured of the seriousness of the disaster. The evacuation was a necessary measure in that situation, yet the city administration failed to enforce it due to the poor organization.
They explained it by the lack of vehicles to carry all the citizens out of the dangerous zone, but in reality, the city had many school buses that quickly became unavailable because of the flooding (Williams, 2006). That means that the evacuation of the citizens was still not accomplished by the time the water penetrated the inhabited regions. Apart from buses, New Orleans also lacked boats and rescuers who would assist the civilians during the storm. All of these failures were caused by the massive flood that was not predicted by the government or the city administration. The people or New Orleans believed that they were safe in their homes while the storm was going on. No one suspected that rivers of water will burst into the streets due to the poorly designed levees. The flood was the impact that caused the most destruction. The city might have been prepared for the strong wind, but not for the tons of water rushing through it.
Prognosis of repetition
The disaster could happen again. The tragic example of New Orleans was a living proof that the protective walls and dams are useless when they are constructed on the weak ground. Besides, even a predicted and expected cataclysm may end up as a massive ruination of big cities when the government officials and security organizations fail to address it in time. The most regrettable aspect of the tragedy is that the state had all the resources and opportunities, the leaders were warned multiple times about the possibility of flooding, the flawed levees, the upcoming storm of extreme danger, yet the necessary measures were still ignored. The next storm may end up having similar consequences if the leaders do not learn their lessons from the Katrina events.
Reference List
Cash, J. T. (2014). Political Failures of Hurricane Katrina. Web.
The White House. (n. d.). The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned. Web.
Williams, B. (2006). As Katrina built up steam, the warnings were clear. Web.