Hurricane Katrina Flashcards
When did it start?
9th August 2005 but didn’t hit land until the 28th of August.
What was its path?
It hit Florida on the 26th of August before hitting New Orleans on the 28th of August and then went Northwards to Louisiana and Mississippi till stopping in Tennessee.
Where did it form?
Over the Gulf of Mexico, when the sea temp was 28 degress. The air pressure was 918mB.
What were wind speeds/ storm surge hieght?
Wind speeds reached up to 174 mph and storm surges reached 6+ metres in height.
How many died?
1836 people died
How much of the city was flooded?
80%
How many people were evacuated to the SuperDome?
15,000 people. There was enough food and water for 3 days but electricity was cut off and there was no running water.
Social impacts
Conditions quickly became unsanitary and uncomfortable.
Anyone who couldn’t reach the SupoerDome was simply left in the city, and when the levees broke, they were left in a city with 8+ metres of water.
Crime was so bad it took the police/ army 3 days to regain control.
1 million people were left without electricity.
Environmental issues
Industrial waste, oil spills, household sewage, toxic chemicals and other hazardous pollutants has been swept into neighbouring regions.
Contaminated water caused long term health effects on humans and animals.
It resulted in the pollution of groundwater reserves.
Economic issues
Costed $50 billion to repair all the damage.
Oil price soured as the Gulf contributed to 10% of the nations oil supply.
Shops were looted which meant that shop owners lost money.
Responses
In New Orleans the state evacuation plan leaves it up to individuals to organise their own evacuation plans.
1/4 of the city’s residents don’t own a vehicle.
What was the government accused of doing
Being very classist. They knew about the hurricane for days but didn’t leave enough time to allow individuals to evacuate. If the government had acted faster then the number of deaths could have been reduced.
The future
Millions of dollars have been spend on rebuilding the levees.
Many people have migrated out of the area (as many couldn’t get insurance) so it was simply cheaper to move out of New Orleans.
Th government are revising the evacuation plans, to try and reduce the number of deaths.
