Essay On Hurricane Katrina

On August 23, 2001 katrina, one of the most deadliest hurricanes, was forming right over the bahamas at a category 5 giving time to warn the people on the gulf coast states. Over the warm water of the gulf of mexico it made the hurricane a category 5 but weakened before making its second landfall as category 3 on august 29 in Louisiana. New orleans was already at risk by being above sea level, before the storm, officials worried they sure would overtop some levels and cause short-term flooding, but no one predicted levees would collapse below design height. The day before the hurricane hit mayor ray nagin issues the city's first mandatory evacuation order, more than 80% of the city population had evacuated while tens of thousands others chose

When the hurricane hit it caused severe flooding in mississippi, new orleans, louisiana and area between causing levees to overtop in New Orleans, and there was extensive damage to the superdome roof, where more than 10,00 people sought shelter from the storm. The storm surge also devastated the coasts of mississippi and alabama making katrina the most destructive and costliest natural disaster in the history of the united states, and the deadliest since the 1928 okeechobee hurricane. The total damage from katrina is estimated at 108 billion. FEMA and provide more than 15 billion to the four gulf states for public work projects such as the repair and rebuilding homes. A follow up study by the louisiana department of health & hospitals determined that the storm was directly responsible for 1,710 fatalities in louisiana. 40% of the deaths in louisiana were caused by injury and trauma and 11% were caused by heart conditions. More than one million people in the gulf region were displaced by the storm. At their peak hurricane relief shelters housed 273,000 people later approximately 114,000 households were housed in FEMA