General Overview Of Hurricane Katrina: Personal Report

24 August 2005

In the Bahamas, a storm starts to form. Early that day the tropical depression picked up moisture, heat, and speed. As the speed of the vicious winds incline it turns into a tropical storm. It is then named Katrina. On the coast of Florida, the warning is announced.

25 August 2005

By four o’clock Katrina grows into a category one hurricane. It goes through Florida. By midnight about a million homes lost power. Eleven lives had already been taken by this hurricane.

26 August 2005

The hurricane curves north as it drives into the Gulf of Mexico and swiftly picks up moisture and speed. The governors of Lewisian and Mississippi declared states of emergency as the locals try to safeguard their homes.

27 August 2005

Katrina is now stated as a category three hurricane. It keeps moving with New Orleans in its sight. City officials tell the locals to evacuate New Orleans. In doing so there are many traffic jams.

28 August 2005

The hurricane grows into a category four hurricane continuing to pick up speed. Not many hours after it becomes a category five hurricane. By now anyone still in New Orleans is ordered to evacuate. Many people still decided to bunker down in their homes and prepare for the hurricane.

29 August 2005

Overnight the storm slows back to a category four hurricane. It makes landfall at six o’clock in the morning Not far off New Orleans. It starts to destroy the cost. New Orleans sits below sea level surrounded by a large lake and the Mississippi River. But luckily there has been levies designed to stop New Orleans from flooding. By eight in the morning, there had been reports that a levy had been broken. Waters soon rush in. More levies are reported broken and soon enough eighty per cent of the city had been flooded. As night comes the hurricane slows to a tropical storm and goes into Kentucky.

30 August 2005

By now the hurricane had crushed almost all of New Orleans. Many people were feared dead. New Orleans lies underwater without power or drinking water. Most survivors are stranded on rooftops awaiting their rescue. Bodies were left floating on the water and looting breaks out thousands make their way to the super dome to stay there.

31 August 2005

The waters stopped rising but the city was still in chaos. Violence and looting became so common that the police were forced to stop the rescue mission and combat the crime.

1 September 2005

The super dome becomes more unsafe every time more people show up. People lack basic things like food, water, and sanitation. There begin to be reports of violent assaults. Over fifty thousand people are waiting to be evacuated by bus. But for most people, their bus doesn’t even show up.

2 September 2005

The national guard arrives in force and restores order into the city. They bring food and water. All evacuations finally begin.

What led to the Hurricane?

Hurricane Katrina was one of the largest hurricanes to hit the United States coast within the last 100 years. It destroyed New Orleans and was the cause of many health issues for the public. The storm left little clean water to use, buildings completely knocked down, and the public at a loss for words. The storm formed from the combination of a tropical wave and the left-overs of another tropical depression. August 23rd Tropical Depression Twelve formed. The depression became Katrina August 24th when it was located over the Bahamas. Katrina was the 11th tropical storm of the 2005 hurricane season.

Trop. Depression Trop. Storm Cat. 1 Cat. 2 Cat. 3 Cat. 4 Cat. 5

How was the environment was affected?

Hurricane Katrina affected over 15 million people in many different ways varying from having to leave their homes, rising gas prices, and the economy suffering. An estimated 80% of New Orleans was underwater, up to 20 ft deep in places. Katrina came with a flood. 1,833 people died from Katrina and everyone in New Orleans was affected one way or another. Hurricane Katrina devastated the natural environment of coastal regions of Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana. The sustained winds that topped 193 km/h, driving rain, and storm surge caused erosion and flood-related damage. Many houses had fully collapsed due to the terrible disaster.

Over 1,800 people died because of the hurricane

What were the responses to the hurricane?

Everyone was ordered to make their way to the Superdome and await buses to take them out. But many people didn’t have ways to leave or didn’t have working cars or enough peroral to get out of the city. So almost everyone was stranded at the Superdome for many days. People had nothing left in their homes to come back to. Many people FEMA (federal emergency management agency) was giving trailers for people to live in but many were not being used in other places and lots of people were unable to get basic accommodation. It was a big struggle for the government to keep everyone safe. There were few people who would go around to different houses and try to help people gather their belongings and loved one. There were also some people who helped the disabled get to the Superdome. Some organizations help get people off of rooftops by helicopter and some by boat.

How effective were those responses?

The responses were inefficient because the government wasn’t prepared well for a category five hurricane. The evacuation was very difficult. Which left many families at the Superdome with no way of finding any way to leave the city or anywhere to stay. It was a big struggle for the stranded people. The government was trying to get food, water, and sanitation to all of the 20,000 people at the Superdome. The state of the Superdome was terrible due to a lack of being prepared and a lack of supplies. The levee system did not hold up and that was one of the reasons for the flood being worse than it could have been.

Five days was too many to be stuck inside the super dome with that many people. On top of the already desperate state, 850 of those people were in need of medical attention. Most were unable to get medical care for more than five whole days or even more. The whole response could have been a lot better if the city was better prepared with levees, rescue calls, evacuation, and accommodation for the people who have lost their homes.