Hurricane Katrina Essay

August 29th, 2005, a category 5 hurricane made land fall along the United States Gulf Coast. Hurricane Katrina is considered to be one of the most destructive hurricanes the U.S. has ever incurred; displacing hundreds of thousands from their homes throughout Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Consequently the U.S. economy was greatly impacted from the desolation that Hurricane Katrina inflicted.

Katrina stretched over 400 miles across with wind speeds up to 100-140 mph; more than 2,000 lives were lost and over 90,000 square miles of the U.S. were affected. After the storm thousands were left stranded in attics and on roofs for days until rescue missions arrived. Desperation was most concentrated in New Orleans, Louisiana where the Coast Guard

Hurricane Katrina and previous Hurricane Rita, destroyed 113 offshore oil and gas platforms, damaged 457 oil and gas pipelines, and spilled nearly as much oil as the Exxon Valdez oil disaster” (useconomy.about.com). Katrina was said to have knocked out 95% of oil production in the Gulf, which is a key supplier for the U.S. economy. Oil prices at one point jumped to $70 dollars a barrel and gas prices in some areas reached nearly $5 dollars a gallon. In an attempt to alleviate the shortage the U.S. government released 30 million gallons of oil from the county’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), trying to keep up with the high

In 2005, economic growth as measured by GDP went from 3.8% in the third quarter dropping to 1.3% in the fourth quarter; the total economic loss is estimated to be around 250 billion. It wreaked havoc along the gulf coast, destroying businesses and more than 200,000 homes. “FEMA had provided more than $15 billion to the four Gulf states for public works projects such as the repair and rebuilding of roads, schools, and buildings in the 10 years since the storm, and $16.7 billion in recovery aid to more than one million people and households. The majority of all Federal Aid, approximately $75 billoin of the 120.5 billion,