When Ida reached the coast of the United States, it became the fifth most powerful hurricane in American history. It was rated the fourth degree out of five on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, and its speed was 230 kilometers per hour. Ida hit the American coast precisely 16 years after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, killing more than 1,800 people. A new hurricane in the United States began 72 kilometers from the place where Katrina first hit. This is the strongest hurricane since 2005; Louisiana Governor John Bell Edwards considers it one of the strongest hurricanes since the 1850s (MD161, 2012). It did not surpass Katrina in destructiveness only because the experience of the last hurricane was not forgotten and helped prepare for a new natural disaster.
The most severe damage from Katrina was received by New Orleans, where about 80% of the city’s area was underwater, and about 700 thousand people lost their homes. The natural disaster was accompanied by technogenic catastrophes, oil spills, and an increase in crime. Their total consequences killed 1,836 residents, and economic losses reached $125 billion (MD161, 2012). Ida also passed through most of the oil production sites, which again posed a danger to the refineries in New Orleans. Floods and power outages could hamper large oil pipelines that supply fuel to the east of the country. Based on the experience gained during Katrina, mining companies closed wells in advance that provided about 91% of oil production in the Gulf of Mexico. The companies have mobilized more than 10,000 workers across the state to eliminate power outages. These timely measures helped to avoid such damage that Katrina brought.
The destructive power of Ida was reduced by more than 400 kilometers of dams, pumps, and gates; about $14.5 billion was spent on the construction (MD161, 2012). They were built as additional flood protection after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Also, based on the experience with Katrina, hospitals were prepared: generators were checked in them, supplies of drinking water, oxygen, and personal protective equipment were replenished before the storm. The wind caused the Mississippi River to flow in the opposite direction at a speed of about one and a half meters per second. However, the city’s massive flood protection system did an excellent job dealing with the Mississippi flood, making the consequences less devastating. Thanks to the protective structures, the maximum water rise resulting from the storm surge were one and a half times less than it was during Katrina. Citizens living outside the dam were evacuated beforehand; that saved many lives. In addition, the National Guard has prepared personnel and equipment in advance, including cars and inflatable boats, to help in the aftermath of the storm.
Ida had every chance of becoming more destructive than Katrina: the hurricane uprooted trees, tore roofs from houses, and even managed to turn back the Mississippi. However, despite the frightening power of the storm, the measures taken against the force of nature based on the experience of Katrina proved to be effective. Careful preliminary preparation of hospitals and rescuers, timely evacuation of residents, and the construction of protective structures significantly reduced the number of victims. Government representatives who have survived through Hurricane Katrina have compiled a checklist of actions to reduce Ida’s destructiveness. This became possible due to previous experience, which exposed the most vulnerable places when facing the hurricane.
Reference
MD161. (2012). Hurricane Katrina: The storm that drowned a city [Video file]. Web.