Galveston, Texas was hit with a Category 4 hurricane on September 8, 1900 in which resulted in the worst weather related disaster in United States history in terms of lives lost. The hurricane killed an estimate of 6,000-8,000 people as many vacationeers still remained even after warnings to evacuate to higher ground by the U.S. Weather Bureau. In Galveston, a 15 foot storm surge completely flooded the city, which at the time, was less than 9 feet above sea level. The hurricane decimated many homes and buildings. The aftermath of the hurricane prompted the citizens of Galveston, Texas to build a enormous sea wall to protect Galveston against future natural disasters such as the hurricane. Galveston was battered by more powerful hurricanes in …show more content…
The average elevation of New Orleans is about six feet below sea level and is completely surrounded by water. As the 20th century progressed, the Army Corps of Engineers built a complex system of seawalls and levees to keep the city from flooding. Two significant event management failures of both the Galveston hurricane and Hurricane Katrina was how late mandatory evacuations were announced and the misjudgement of the how powerful each hurricane would be. Citizens of both cities were both told the day before to leave which is far too late for many. Coupled with late evacuation announcements, both events were mismanaged as both did not stress the potential impact of each hurricane. Contradictory forecasts led both these cities to doom as officials did not like to produce panic in its …show more content…
Both cities received federal help to rebuild and both cities had courageous citizens who did not let the destruction turn their cities into ghost towns. A difference between Hurricane Katrina and the Galveston hurricane was the response time. The federal government has constantly been criticized for its response towards Hurricane Katrina, the American Red Cross did not even appear until September. The day after the Galveston Hurricane, citizens organized a committee to direct all recovery efforts and to quickly meet the needs of survivors. In New Orleans, response time was too slow in regards to all the people stranded. 105 years passed, response time should have been quicker because of better resources, technology, and more relief aids groups readily available to help. Also, the response was further hindered in New Orleans because of command issues that resulted from the amount of different groups that arrived to help in the weeks after Hurricane
New Orleans is a city that is rich in culture as well as history. The city is in effect, an island – Lake Pontchartrain surrounds the city to the north, the Mississippi River to the west and south, and a bevy of lakes – including Lake Borne to the east. Surrounding the city is a series of levees to keep these bodies of water at bay. In addition to these levees, the only defense the city has is a series of canals and a very antiquated pumping system. However, the same levees that protect the city, makes it a death trap should a major hurricane make a direct hit to the metropolitan area. The risk of intense flooding brought forth by storm surges of 20+ feet would wipe the city out.
In the late summer of 2005, a terrible tragedy occurred that changed the lives of many in the south-east region of the United States. A Category 3, named storm, named Hurricane Katrina, hit the Gulf Coast on the 29th of August and led to the death of 1,836 and millions of dollars’ worth of damage (Waple 2005). The majority of the damage occurred in New Orleans, Louisiana. Waple writes in her article that winds “gusted over 100 mph in New Orleans, just west of the eye” (Waple 2005). Not only was the majority of the damage due to the direct catastrophes of the storm but also city’s levees could no longer hold thus breaking and releasing great masses of water. Approximately, 80% of the city was submerged at sea level. Despite the vast amount of damage and danger all throughout the city, officials claimed that there was work being done to restore the city of New Orleans as a whole but many parts, and even the people, of the city were overlooked while areas of the city with higher economic value, and more tourist traffic, were prioritized along with those individuals.
Once there was, as never before, a hurricane of great might and strength. As never before, there once was a hurricane of many names: storm, cyclone, tempest, typhoon, and flood. Yet it has lived on in history as the Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900. Humanity has glorified and immortalized the hurricane. The Great Galveston Hurricane has been the subject of numerous articles, novels, plays, and poems, as well as four major nonfiction studies (Longshore). It is truly one of hurricane lore’s greatest of storms.
Most of the destructions from the events of August 29th 2005, when Katrina Hit the City Of New Orleans, were not only caused by the storm itself; but also, by failure of the engineering of the levee system protecting the entire infrastructure of the city. The years of poor decision making and avoidance of the levee system led to one of the most catastrophic events in the history of the United States. Throughout our research, we have identified three key players in charge of the levee system design, construction and maintenance. These three organizations are the Unites States Corps of Engineers, the New Orleans Levee District and the Louisiana Department of Transportation. The consequences of the hurricane showed the organizations negligence in the design, construction and maintenance of the protective walls. Later independent sresearch showed that more than 50 levees and food walls failed during the passage of the hurricane. This failure caused the flooding of most of New Orleans and all of ST. Bernard Parish. The Unites States Corps of Engineers had been in charge of the of the levee system and flood walls construction since the 1936 flood act. According to the law, the Louisiana Department of Transportation is in charge to inspect the overall design and engineering practices implemented in the construction of the system. Once the levee systems were finished, they were handed over to the New Orleans Levee District for regular maintenance and periodically inspections. The uncoordinated actions of these three agencies resulted in the complete failure of a system that was supposed to protect the people of New Orleans. The evidence is clear that this catastrophic event did not happened by chance. The uncoordinated response of these...
By August 28, evacuations were underway across the region. That day, the National Weather Service predicted that after the storm hit, “most of the [Gulf Coast] area will be uninhabitable for weeks…perhaps longer.” New Orleans was at particular risk. Though about half the city actually lies above sea level, its average elevation is about six feet below sea level–and it is completely surrounded by water. Over the course of the 20th century, the Army Corps of Engineers had built a system of levees and seawalls to keep the city from flooding. The levees along the Mississippi River were strong and sturdy, but the ones built to hold back Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Borgne and the waterlogged swamps and marshes to the city’s east and west were much less reliable. Even before the storm, officials worried that those levees, jerry-built atop sandy, porous, erodible soil, might not withstand a massive storm surge. Neighborhoods that sat below sea level, many of which housed the city’s poorest and most vulnerable people, were at great risk of
Katrina is the costliest U.S hurricane, with estimated damage over $81 billion and costs over $160 billion.” The people that were affected the most was the poor people, children, the sick, and the elderly. Most of New Orleans was underwater; it was going to take a long time for the city to come back from this. “The The rescue and recovery efforts following Katrina became highly politicized, with federal, state and local officials pointing fingers at one another.” People didn’t get the proper warnings to evacuate. After the hurricane “Government officials have sought to learn from the tragedy and implement better environmental, communications and evacuation policies.” Ten years after the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina the city is still dealing with still trying to recover. The have lost a lot when the hurricane hit and it affected them financially, because of the popular areas that are in New Orleans. In all, almost everyone that evacuate from New Orleans fled to Houston which led to the population to grow, but also those that came to Houston had a different feeling about things. Houston has also had its fair shares has had 27 disasters- eight hurricanes, eight floods, six severe storms, three
This may be a common trend in every large city if more hurricanes strike. Urban development in almost all cities in America has made flooding worse than it should be. The creation of buildings, asphalt, concrete, and other things have eliminated much of the grass in the cities, which will cause less rainwater to be absorbed into the ground. Although most major cities have rain drainage channels, Houston may not have had enough of them, which caused them to fill up with water. The water had nowhere to go except on the streets. The city of Houston avoided floodplains. The floodplains that were present in Houston were often ignored by construction companies. These companies chose to build houses on the floodplains. This is discussed in this quote by Sean Breslin, “In the months following Hurricane Harvey, Houstonians face an important decision: respect the floodplain and stop building homes wherever, or continue to ignore the lessons taught by countless flood events and build more homes in the most vulnerable areas of town” (Breslin n. pag). I feel that if the civilians and building companies in Houston would have respected the floodplains years earlier, fewer lives would have been lost in this hurricane. Coral reefs provide excellent coastline protection which slows the hurricane just before landfall. The death of coral reefs also could have played a large role in why the hurricane was so
Hurricane Katrina was one of the most devastating natural disasters to happen in the United States. The storm resulted in more then US$100 billion in damage when the cities flood protection broke and 80% of the city was flooded (1). The protection failure was not the only cause for the massive flooding, the hurricanes clockwise rotation pulled water from north of New Orleans into the city. 330,000 homes were destroyed and 400,000 people from New Orleans were displaced, along with 13,00 killed (1). Although the population quickly recovered, the rate of recovery slowed down as the years went on leading us to believe not everyone
According to “weatherwizkids.com”, “A hurricane is an enormous storm! It can be up to 600 miles across and have strong winds spiraling inward and upward at speeds of 75 to 200 mph. Each hurricane usually lasts for over a week, moving 10-20 miles per hour over the open ocean Hurricanes gather heat and energy through contact with warm ocean waters” (Weather Wiz). Scientists can usually predict a hurricane 's path 3-5 days in advance. Why didn’t President Bush warn the citizens of New Orleans about the disaster that was heading in their direction? Hurricane Katrina was the fifth hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. It was the costliest natural disaster, and the deadliest hurricane in the history of the United States. The final death toll was at 1,833, primarily from Louisiana (1,577) and Mississippi (266). More than half of these victims were senior citizens. Millions of citizens were left homeless along the Gulf Coast and in New Orleans. Katrina was the most catastrophic storm to strike the United States and the costliest storm in U.S. history, causing $108 billion in damage. Who is to blame for the mass destruction of the city of New
Some of the damage done by Hurricane Katrina could have potentially been avoided if protection systems were installed to the proper extents. In Louisiana, “some parts of the metro area continue to lack hurricane protection built to federal standards” (Webster). Had the greater Louisiana area been better protected, it is very likely that more people would have survived and the total cost of the storm been less. Even in areas where levees...
When Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, it caused immediate and significant damage not only to that regions economy but to the countrys as well.
Having investigated the case studies of two natural disasters, Hurricane Katrina & Typhoon Haiyan, I have noticed that MEDCs and LEDCs respond much differently to a certain situation. Katrina and Haiyan both happened in countries with contrasting levels of economic development, therefore reacting much differently to the circumstances. In this essay, I will be discussing the various reasons to why LEDCs and MEDCs behave in such a contradictory manner.
Crime rates went up, no one had a place to stay and water was polluted. The damage done by Katrina affected New Orleans and the other areas hit years after it struck. Restoration for the areas hit would need support from all across America and support groups across the country. No one was ready for this tragedy, or could ever predict the horrible outcome. Hurricanes are powerful and destructive storms that involve great rain and wind.
The book, Hurricane Katrina, states that Katrina was, “the most destructive natural disaster to ever hit the United States”(Rodger 4). Hurricane Katrina began as a tropical depression in the southeastern Bahamas on the twenty-third of August. The next day, Katrina strengthened into a Tropical Storm. As it moved through the Bahamas, the storm strengthened, and when it hit Florida on the 25th of August, the Tropical Storm had become a category 1 hurricane. The storm weakened as it went through Florida, but regained its strength when it went through the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane Katrina became a category three storm on the 27th of August, and on the 28th it had strengthened to a category five with windspeeds over 170 mph. The storm landed in Plaquemines Parish, La. as a category 4 hurricane. As the storm moved northeast, New Orleans officials thought that they were in the clear. Little did they know, the levees holding both Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne were not strong enough to withstand the amount of water and storm surge from Hurricane Katrina. These levees broke and nearly 20 p...
...he government of Louisiana soon came up with new criteria on how future structure should be built to withstand more natural disasters like these. Not only knowing basic information, knowing how to prepare, and seeing how Hurricane Katrina was so destructive should help the forty five million citizens that live on hurricane prone coastlines prepare for anything like this in the future.