Hurricane Katrina made landfall in New Orleans, on the United States Gulf Coast, on August 29, 2005, leaving a path of devastation and flooding in her wake. Katrina claimed the lives of over 1,800 people and inflicted more than $100 billion in damage (Groen et al, 2020). Because of the inundation, the city of New Orleans was particularly heavily damaged. Severe flooding was caused by the hurricane’s storm surge of 19 feet. Reports in the media blamed deficiencies in New Orleans’ flood defense system. After assessing the situation in New Orleans, where a large portion of the metro area has been submerged, state and federal officials declared the city to have “advanced.” While the storm’s tremendous winds missed New Orleans, the threat was rapidly revealed. A storm surge and 10 inches of rain destroyed the levee system that kept Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne at bay. Water pressure from behind the Industrial Canal and other areas caused some levees to breach. A quarter of the city had been inundated by the afternoon on August 29.
Mayor Ray Nagin had ordered a mandatory evacuation earlier in the day. Some couldn’t leave their homes owing to health issues. Following the hurricane’s passage, many people remained in their homes or sought shelter in the New Orleans Convention Center or the Louisiana Superdome. The city was 80 percent submerged by August 30 due to a series of levee collapses that occurred over some time (Olshansky,2017). As a result, local authorities could not respond to the rapidly deteriorating situation since their headquarters and command centers were submerged beneath 20 feet of water. Looting was widespread in several neighboring areas, and planes were dispatched to the Ninth Ward to rescue many persons trapped on their roofs. Unable to adequately repair and maintain the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet led to catastrophic flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina, according to a 2009 New Orleans federal judge’s finding. Several New Orleans areas were inundated due to levee collapses near Lake Pontchartrain.
Emergency Response to Hurricane Katrina
The emergency team responded fast and effectively to the affected areas. According to Duccio (2019), the Army responded rapidly to Hurricane Katrina’s devastation by delivering more than 5.7 million hot meals, 8.3 million sandwiches, snacks, and beverages to those who needed them. Every level of government has a key role to play in providing an effective response to large-scale calamities. A high level of planning, coordination and dispatch across the government’s many units is required to perform this event. A major federal government overhaul occurred after September 11, 2001. This redesigned system failed miserably in its first big test. Katrina highlighted that there is still much work to be done. Within two weeks after Catastrophe Katrina’s arrival on the Gulf Coast, the Committee began its inquiry into the preparations for and reaction to the hurricane. Katrina’s devastating devastation and human suffering would have been enough to draw the Committee’s attention had it not been for the Committee’s failure to act. It was important because of the obvious shortcomings in government emergency preparedness and response following Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. The investigation was launched as a result of the hurricane.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration photo the increased national awareness of terrorist attacks and natural calamities and the effort put into development. The Committee’s bipartisan probe focused on municipal, state, and federal officials. While disaster struck cities along the Gulf Coast, the Committee focused on New Orleans, where major flooding hampered first responders and citizens. A harmful component of the government’s Hurricane Katrina response was interfering with private relief efforts. Strangers join nonprofit groups, municipal governments, and government leaders at all levels to save lives and help thousands of individuals affected by the storm and flooding. Locals helped locals, and people from all over the country came to Texas to help. On August 25, near Rockport, preparations for the hurricane began.
Hurricane Katrina Review
Catastrophic natural events like Hurricane Katrina are rare. It decimated 90,000 square kilometers of land, greater than the UK. The storm surge in Mississippi destroyed coastal villages, displacing thousands of people. Floodwaters completely submerged the city of New Orleans. In total, more than 1500 people lost their lives (Olshansky, 2017). Thousands of residents went nearly a week without food or water along the Gulf Coast. The inability of all levels of government to adequately plan, prepare, and respond to the storm worsened the suffering that stayed — and, in some cases, compounded it. They were obvious, but they were also ubiquitous in their failings.
The Committee discovered that, among the numerous reasons that contributed to these failures, four overarching ones were responsible: During the days coming up to and following landfall, government employees did not conduct their responsibilities properly. Officials failed to lead effectively in the face of a tragedy. Whether caused by nature or humanity, a true catastrophe necessitated individual failures. Implications for catastrophe planning, response, and recovery have weakened public faith in our governments. Ida wreaked havoc on cities and towns, flooding streets and tearing down buildings and homes along her path. At least two persons were killed in the incident. Crews are still attempting to determine the full extent of the damage.
Katrina was predicted to approach by weather forecasters. Thus, government officials should have been prepared for its arrival. This was unfortunately not the case, as Hurricane Katrina revealed serious vulnerabilities in the United States’ disaster preparedness and response system. Among the many mistakes made by the federal government are the following: Confusion. Several federal agencies “demonstrated varying degrees of unfamiliarity with their duties and obligations under the National Response Plan and National Incident Management System,” according to a bipartisan House review of the disaster released in 2006, entitled A Failure of Initiative. “There is widespread misunderstanding about mission assignments, deployments, and command structure,” according to the assessment.” Many of the people in charge of FEMA’s executive offices were political appointees who had little or no disaster management expertise.
Failure to Acquire Relevant Information. It was known that a hurricane of this magnitude was on its way, and weather forecasters correctly forecasted Katrina’s approach before she made landfall, yet the federal government was unprepared for Katrina’s arrival. According to the National Cyclone Center, the government attempted to model a storm of equal size hitting New Orleans a year before Katrina, but the simulation “failed to provide crucial lessons.” a hitch in the communication “A full breakdown in communications rendered command structure inoperable and spatial awareness at best unclear,” according to the investigation’s findings. Communication between agencies was hampered by problems with equipment and system compatibility. Despite the fact that the federal government has been paying state and municipal governments for emergency communications infrastructure since the Cold War, similar problems have arisen.
A hitch in the distribution chain Some emergency supplies were on hand prior to the hurricane, but there were not nearly enough of them. There were delays in the delivery of medical supplies to the Superdome in New Orleans. Additionally, FEMA ran out of supplies. Many millions of pounds of ice were hauled hundreds of kilometers away by this vehicle alone. ICE truckers were sent on a nationwide search by the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA). One hundred million dollars of ice was dumped two years after the storm. Due to FEMA’s restrictions barring such units from being deployed in flood plains, where most Katrina victims lived at the time of the disaster, the 25,000 mobile homes went mostly unused.
Government authorities were hampered by indecision in the deployment of supplies, the selection of medical staff, and various other areas. Hurricane Katrina hindered and complicated even the terrible process of body reconstruction. Uncollected remains remained uncollected for several days due to “state and federal officials’ uncertainty.” It took FEMA longer to negotiate a deal with a contractor than expected. Many of the same concerns impacted decision-making during Hurricane Katrina, such as evacuation planning and law enforcement resources.
Hurricane Katrina relief rushed in like water, revealing lies and cruelty. $1 billion or more in aid payments for individuals was deemed invalid by federal auditors in one year. Other estimates have the total value of the garbage at $2 billion (Tariq, 2020). No amount of zoning and urban planning by the government could have stopped the flooding brought on by Hurricane Harvey. However, if the government had not subsidized flood insurance, which encourages people to develop in low-lying places, the damage might have been less widespread in both the Texas Gulf and Florida.
Evacuations and lost utilities, as well as damage to buildings and equipment, displaced employees, and other factors, created acute interruptions in business and other creative work. Business sales, employment, and wage earnings are all negatively affected by these changes, which have a ripple effect throughout the region. Known as the costliest hurricane in US history, Hurricane Katrina had widespread economic consequences. Following the storm, oil and gas production were halted, and coastal villages that rely on tourism suffered from a combination of infrastructure and business losses, as well as coastal erosion and destruction of the natural environment. Construct shutters or other shielding materials to cover all window and door openings as a precautionary measure. Make sure to check your batteries and stock up on supplies such as canned food, first aid supplies, drinking water, and prescription medication. Bring lawn furniture and other loose, light-weight items into the house, such as garbage cans and garden tools, in advance.
References
Olshansky, R. B., & Johnson, L. A. (2017). Clear as mud: Planning for the rebuilding of New Orleans. Routledge.
Tariq, H. (2020). The Racialization of Muslim-Americans Post 9/11: Causes, Themes, and Effects.
Duccio Gasparri, B. A. (2019). Locals, New-locals, Non-locals (Doctoral dissertation, Oxford Brookes University).
Groen, J. A., Kutzbach, M. J., & Polivka, A. E. (2020). Storms and jobs: The effect of hurricanes on individuals’ employment and earnings over the long term. Journal of Labor Economics, 38(3), 653-685.