HURRICANE KATRINA casestudy - tropical storm example

Question 1

when did Hurricane Katrina happen ?

Answer 1

23rd to 31st August - 2005

- made landfall at 10am in New Orleans

Question 2

where did Hurricane Katrina take place?

Answer 2

• 25th August it crossed southern Florida (leaving 100,000 homes without power)
• then veered towards Louisiana, making landfall at Grand Isle (approx 90km south of New Orleans)
• storm passed directly through New Orleans with a wind speed of approx 200km/h

Question 3

KEY FACTS about USA

GDP
People living in poverty
Access to clean water
Life expectancy

Answer 3

$52,800
15% of population
99.4% of population
79 years

Question 4

why did Hurricane Katrina occur ?

Answer 4

• originated over the Bahamas on Aug 23rd from interaction between a tropical wave and the remnants of Tropical Depression Ten
• the new depression intensified into tropical storm Katrina and then the cyclone headed generally westward towards Florida and strengthened into a hurricane only two hours before making landfall at Hallandale Beach

Question 5

social impacts of Hurricane Katrina

Answer 5

• 1 million people were made homeless and about 1,200 drowned in the floods
• sought refuge in the Superdome stadium (conditions unhygienic and there was shortage of food/water)
• many of poorest remained in city
• 70% of all occupied buildings suffered damage
• 1800 deaths approx
• people trapped in their homes/on their roofs because of rising water

Question 6

ECONOMIC impacts of Hurricane Katrina

Answer 6

• oil facilities damaged and as a result petrol prices rose in US and UK
• total damage cost of $135 billion
• 1.3 million acres of forest land damaged costing about $5 billion
• caused closure of 9 refineries as 30 oil rigs were damage
• some insurance companies were Mable to insure homeowners in the area because of the high costs

Question 7

Environmental damage of Hurricane Katrina

Answer 7

• New Orleans is protected by leeches from Mississippi River and Lake Ponchartrain - defences broke as they were unable to cope so water flooded the city
• more than 50 breaches of the levee system lead to 80% of New Orleans to be under 15ft of water
• causes beach erosion and in some areas such as Dauphin Island
• caused oil spills from 44 facilities through the south-eastern Louisiana (7 million US gallons of oil was leaked)

Question 8

Political impacts of Hurricane Katrina

Answer 8

• gov was criticised for its response; very slow and management lacked coordination
• use of emergency centres also criticised because they were deemed by many as inadequate — however, Louisiana Superdome was designed up handle 800, yet 30,000 arrived and New Orleans Civic Centre was not designed as an evacuation centre, yet 25,000 arrived
• race and class were also stipulated as issues (most of the people stranded were African American)

Question 9

responses to Hurricane Katrina

Answer 9

• slow process but many were evacuated
• $50 billion given in internal aid
• UK gov sent food aid during early stages of recovery process
• National Guard was mobilised to restore and maintain law and order
• flood waters that covered New Orleans were pumped into Lake Pontchartrain; it took 43 days to complete; residual waters contained mixed of raw sewage/toxic chemicals/oil
• Coast Guard rescued more than 33,500
• approx 58,000 National Guard personnel were activated