Katrina Final
Katrina Final
Katrina Final
KATRINA ANALYSIS
2
Analysis
Hurricane Katrina was formed about 200 miles away from the Bahamas on August 23,
2005. It started out as a mild tropical depression, then slowly gained strength and turned into
tropical storm Katrina. August 25, 2005, at 6:30 EDT, tropical storm Katrina touched land and
steadily increased its strength to a category 1 hurricane. Wind gusts rose above 90 mph in
strength, with regular wind speeds of about 80 mph. The hurricanes strength diminished little as
it moved across the Florida peninsula, but as the hurricane made contact with the Gulf of Mexico
it steadily increased in strength. The Gulfs warm water interacted with the building hurricane,
by August 27, Katrina became a category 3 hurricane with 115 miles per hour winds. By August
28, hurricane Katrina became a category 5 storm with peak winds at 172 mile per hour. Katrina
made land fall in Buras, Louisiana at about 4 am local time, as time went on Katrina gradually
became weaker and met land fall as a category 3 storm. As Katrina became in contact with Pearl
River, it diminished rapidly becoming a category 1 hurricane by 1 pm local time. The most
damaging thing about Katrina were the storm surges that accompanied it that reached up to 28
feet above sea level and extended up 20 miles of the coast line across Mississippi and Louisiana.
Hurricane Katrina revealed the recurring problems of miscommunication against local,
state, and federal government. It did not create any new problems but shed light on them, when
the levees broke thousands of gallons of water flooded New Orleans. A political storm brewed in
the wake of Hurricane Katrina, one that would put focus on who was to blame for the total
destruction of the governmental system that was supposed to protect us all. Some say the federal
government should be blamed for not keeping an eye on the governments below it. Others say
that the state government should be blamed for not issuing a mandatory evacuation of all coastal
KATRINA ANALYSIS
cities in the path of hurricane Katrina. The rest of the population believe that the local
government should be blamed for not publicizing the importance of evacuating the area.
After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and other cities, FEMA (Federal
Emergency Management Aid) was sent out to help the people affected by it. Many different
organizations wanted to help out as best they could too, but FEMA would not allow it, they were
all sent away. FEMA called in firefighters all over the state to help in search and rescue, but
some were not able to help in that field and instead handed fliers to people about FEMA. They
bought 25,000 mobile houses that cost $900 million that they couldnt even use because of their
own rules of not putting temporary housing in a flood plain, which was where all the damage
was centralized. FEMA also bought $100 million worth of ice, only to send the truck drivers on a
wild goose chase across the southern states and for it to be thrown out unused. FEMA also
managed to block any and all private release efforts, like when they repeatedly blocked the
delivery of emergency medical supplies from Methodist hospital in New Orleans; or when they
refused the services of Amtrak to evacuate the victims; or even when they refused American Red
Cross access to deliver emergency supplies to the Superdome.
KATRINA ANALYSIS
Bibliography
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