Introduction
Hurricane Katrina was one of the most extremely destructive hurricanes to hit the United States, as it caused massive destruction of property as well as a significant loss of life. Notably, this Hurricane hit Louisiana and Florida on the 29th of August and 2005 and impacted 93,000 square miles particularly the New Orleans (Palser, 2007). Undoubtedly the Katrina was massive way before it made landfall as its winds reached 138km to the east from the center. In general, the hurricane was responsible for at least $108 billion in damage as well as 1833 fatalities according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. As such, this hurricane is noted to be the fourth most intense hurricane to hit the United States behind the Hurricane Michael in 2018, Hurricane Camille in 1969 and Labour Day Hurricane in 1935. Thus, this paper aims at describing the Katrina Hurricane to understand it’s strength, and the extent of damages and losses it caused, in order to come up with ways of preventing a repeat wind of the tragedy of New Orleans and other coastal cities in the wake of this event.
Strength of Katrina Hurricane according to "Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale
The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale measures the speed of the wind caused by hurricanes to determine the category of the storm, with the categories ranging from 1-5. The scale is also used to estimate potential property damages as well as the coastal flooding which are caused by the storm surge. Notably, winds which are recorded to be higher than 157mph place a hurricane at category 5 (National Weather Service, 2019). The storm surge is considered to be over 8 feet above the set normal. This type of hurricane is categorized with a complete roof failure on homes and in an industrial building. Some building which was small may be partially or completely blown away. It is estimated to cause catastrophic damages to property and it can be fatal. According to this scale, Katrina was classified as a Category 3 hurricane as it made landfall. During this period the winds of Katrina reached 170mph before they made landfall. This then went to categorize Katrina as a category 5 when it made landfall. As noted by National Weather Service, (2019), the storm surged crested at approximately 27 feet.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Damages
When Katrina hurricane was making landfall, its front-right quadrant slammed into Mississippi and Biloxi causing significant devastation to these cities (Palser, 2007). At the Mississippi beachfront towns, boats and casino barges rammed into the nearby buildings and pushing vehicles and houses inland with water reaching 10 to 19 kilometers from the beach. In addition to the above, the storm surge caused 58 breached to different flood protected structures in New Orleans areas, thus resulting in 80% of the entire city being submerged in water.
Of the 1836 fatalities caused by the storm brought about by the Katrina Hurricane, Louisiana had 1577 fatalities, Mississippi recorded 238, Florida 14, 2 in Alabama, another 2 in Ohio, 1 in Kentucky and 2 in Georgia (Palser, 2007). Furthermore, this Hurricane resulted in over 1 million people being displaced from the Central Gulf to other regions across the United States. Generally, the Federal disaster declaration of the United States covered 90,000 square miles. In addition to the above, the storm left over 3 million people in the affected regions without electricity. Most of the roads in the city were destroyed which left many people isolated as they could not move around. Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport was foreclosed before the storm hit and become severe. Moreover, many high rise buildings had extensive damages of the windows with the Hyatt Hotel in New Orleans being severely affected. Other buildings had their roof blown off. In addition, 30 oil platforms were destroyed and 9 refineries were closed. The forestry industry in Mississippi was also significantly affected with 1.3 acres of forest land being destroyed. In total the forest industry lost at least $ 5 billion due to Katrina hurricane. Consequently, the United States government spent at least $105 on repairs as well as reconstruction in the damaged cities.
Recommendation to prevent a repeat of this Tragedy
As noted by, Rogers, Kemp, Bosworth & Seed, (2015), the damages caused by the Katrina hurricanes were partly propagated by human error. To prevent this in future the US government should modernize the Army Corps of Engineers. This is because the Army Corp’s project planning process has been found to be flawed and out of date thus leading to poor planning. Secondly, there should be natural flood protection to help in preventing some degree of floods resulting from the storm surge of hurricanes. In the case of Katrina, had the coastal wetland in the Gulf been intact with the destruction of the levees, channels, and Canals, this would have given adequate natural protection from the storm surge. Thirdly, there should be less emphasis on building structural protections such as flood walls and levees. For instance, when the levees are constructed a majority of people take refuge behind them as they consider themselves to be safe. Thus in the case where they fail, this can cause tremendous effects such as a significant loss of life.
Conclusion
The Katrina Hurricanes are considered to be a category 5 hurricane owing to the massive destruction of property and loss of life that it caused. Many cities including New Orleans were hit by the hurricane resulting in many people being displaced and industries closed. The Oil Company and forest industries were some of the most affected ventures as a result of the hurricane. Nonetheless, as noted above, there are several measures which can be put in place to prevent such tragedy as those caused by the hurricane in the future.
References
National Weather Service. (2019). Hurricane Katrina - August 2005. Retrieved from https://www.weather.gov/mob/katrina
Palser, B. (2007). Hurricane Katrina Minneapolis, Minn.: Compass Point Books.
Rogers, J., Kemp, G., Bosworth, H., & Seed, R. (2015). Interaction between the US Army Corps of Engineers and the Orleans Levee Board preceding the drainage canal wall failures and catastrophic flooding of New Orleans in 2005 Water Policy, 17(4), 707-723. doi: 10.2166/wp.2015.077
