Tropical Storms and Tornadoes: Hurricane Katrina, 2005 Flashcards
1
Q
What happened?
A
- Temperatures off coast of Bahamas was 29 degrees, so warm moist air was rising, leading to thunderstorms.
- Cycle moving heat from water to atmosphere, gaining storm heat.
- In gulf of Mexico, temps increased, causing it to become more intense - category 5.
- 105mph, 120ft high, category 5 hit land in Lousianna and Mississippi.
- Made landfall in New Orleans - category 4.
- Hurricane spawned 33 tornadoes.
2
Q
What were the SOCIAL impacts? (5)
A
- 1,500 deaths in Florida, Mississippi, Lousianna.
- Main cause of death was strong winds creating storm surge.
- Over a million people evacuated to different states, many displaced and homeless.
- Most major roads into and out of the city damaged as bridges collapsed.
- Worst hit groups were those with no personal transport who did not evacuate by car - the old, the sick and those in the lower socio-economic groups. Worst hit were also in black neighbourhoods and the Lower Ninth Ward.
3
Q
What were the ECONOMIC impacts? (5)
A
- Approx cost of damage was $300 billion.
- 30 offshore oil platforms damaged or destroyed and 9 oil refineries shut down. This reduced oil production by 25% for 6 months.
- All trade through the port of New Orleans badly affected.
- Hundreds of thousands left unemployed. Trickle down effect as fewer taxes being paid.
- Overhead power lines bought down by strong winds.
4
Q
What were the ENVIRONMENTAL impacts? (4)
A
- 80% of New Orleans flooded, depths up to 6 metres, due to levees collapsing from overwhelming amount of water.
- 5,300km squared of forest and woodland destroyed.
- Floodwaters containing sewage, heavy metals, pesticides, and 24.6 million litres of oil pumped into Lake Pontchartrain.
- 20% of wetland lost, affecting breeding of pelicans, turtles and fish. 16 National wildlife refuges damaged.
5
Q
What was the management strategy in New Orleans? Why did it fail?
A
- The superdome acted as an evacuation centre but was then cut off by road due to flooding! - 3,000 people trapped inside with no food or water supplies.
- Only those with cars who were fast enough made it to the dome, with some on public buses.
- The taxi rank car park was flooded, so no one could escape by taxi.
6
Q
What were the long term impacts on people living in the Lower Ninth Ward?
A
- Mostly black population, poor area.
- These people lived there perhaps because when black people started to settle in America, they lived in cheaper more affordable areas.
- Prejudice against giving black people good, well paid jobs, therefore they have poor incomes.
- Vulnerable in this area because it is low-lying land. Cheap poorly built housing, wanted to live near city centre for jobs.
- Couldn’t escape, had nowhere to go, didn’t have relatives in safer areas. Buses and taxis weren’t operating as their car parks were flooded.
- People didn’t have insurance so stayed to save what they could.
- Shows Katrina was a socially selective disaster, because those that had cars could escape to stay with relatives elsewhere. However, poorer people didn’t have cars, would have travelled by bus, but this wasn’t an option. Therefore they were worse affected.
- Even one year after, migrants are still spread far and wide, causing culture clashes.
7
Q
What were the long term impacts on the suffering of medical services?
A
- Only 57% of the city’s medical facilities have reopened.
- Tens of thousands of records have been lost.
- Thousands are left chronically sick due to the lack of hospitals now.
- Charity Hospital, the main refuge for the poor and uninsured for more than 250 years, is now shuttered and surrounded by wire fencing.
- Even in hospitals that are functioning again, medical staff are in short supply and treatment has become riskier. Medics complain of having to treat desperately ill patients simultaneously.
- Led to fear of mistakes being made, so many doctors who live in the city, commute to work in hospitals outside now instead.
- Even before Katrina, Louisianna was the least healthy state in America.
- Now levels of sickness have risen sharply. 2/3/ of NO citizens report chronic health problems, a 45% rise since 2006.
- Mental health problems have increased, with depression tripling since Katrina and the suicide rate has doubled since.
- Respiratory and skin problems are rife due to thousands of people having to live in temporary trailers which were poorly ventilated. In the houses that were left habitable, mould and spores grew in the humid weeks after the storm.
- An estimated 12,000 people are still homeless and almost a fifth of NO households are under the poverty line.
8
Q
What have New Orleans done in terms of storm management now? (4)
A
- Nearly 7 years after the floods put in place $14.5 billion worth of civil works designed to block such surges.
Including… - A 133 mile chain of levees, flood walls, gates and pumps.
- A $165 million barrier across the shipping canal.
- Two ‘lift gates’, 50 feet across, can be lowered to block the waters of Lake Pontchartrain - should then protect the Lower Ninth Ward.
9
Q
What category was it when it landed in New Orleans?
A
Category 4
10
Q
How many deaths?
A
1,500
11
Q
Approx cost of damage?
A
$300 billion
12
Q
How many oil platforms damaged? How much did this reduce oil by?
A
30 destroyed. Reduced oil production by 25% for 6 months.
13
Q
How much of New Orleans was flooded?
A
80%, depths up to 6 metres.
14
Q
How much wetland was lost?
A
20%
15
Q
How many people were trapped in the superdome?
A
3,000
