Katrina in detail Flashcards
What was the path of the Katrina?
Made land fall at 6:10am and hit the east coast of New Orleans
Hit land again at 10am
Short term impacts of Katrina
- 1300 killed
- 100 000+ homeless
- Pump system not designed to cope with rainfall
- Transport disrupted
- Welfare money paid at start of the month and the storm hit at the end of the month meaning many didn’t have the money to evacuate
- 28ft storm surge at 8am
- Electricity cut off
- 80% of New Orleans flooded
Long term impacts of Katrina
- $108 billion in damage
- 1.3 million acres of forestry destroyed in Mississippi
- Coastal erosion
- 7 million US gallons leaked from 44 facilities in Southern Louisiana
- Petrol prices increased in UK and USA
- Unemployment –> less taxes payed
- Homes factories and offices destroyed
- Toxic water –> dead fish
Short term responses to Katrina
- Evacuation order from Mayor
Only 68.7% could evacuate - Army evacuates to keep personnel safe
They left a small team to monitor the levees - Opened up super dome stadium to the public as it was built to withstand a category 5 hurricane
Bus services from poor areas to the super dome
A lot of criminals in one place –> rape, murder, petit crime
No security, flooding around the stadium trapped 20 000 in the stadium for a week
Long term responses to Katrina
- 220 miles of flood walls and levees strengthened or replaced
- Congress provided $16.7 billion to rebuild damaged housing and infrastructure
- FEMA arranged over 10 000 homes for displaced families
- Emergency aid getting more efficient
- Electricity rates reduced for 30 000 consumers affected by storms
- $1.3 million in improving hurricane related broad casting stations
- NOAA upgraded hurricane forecasting and tracking model to be more accurate
By adding 8 new observation buoys
Other Katrina facts
1/3 of the population evacuated unnecessarily for hurricane Ivan
6 days before, Katrina was a tropical depression
Socioeconomic divide between white and black people, afro-carribean were poorer so had the most vulnerable homes. Maybe if there were more whites more would be done to help. Racism in US affected impacts
Natural wetlands built over so the storm surge was more dangerous as the wetlands were a natural sponge.
Levees stopped water flowing back to the river and kept the water in the city for longer.
What was the impact of lake Pontchartrain?
When its volume gets too much, it over flows into some runoff channels to the river. But the storm surge was pushing up the river and into the channels between lake and river. This caused the poorly maintained levees to breach and cause flooding throughout the city.
