What Went Wrong?

     In 2005, Hurricane Katrina affected Louisiana and the many people residing in New Orleans. Hurricane Katrina, started in Florida as a category one hurricane. The meterologists then realized it was gonna be horrible when it hit the Gulf.The hurricane also affected Mississippi, but I'm focusing on Louisiana. There are a few meteorological terms that define Hurricane Katrina. The first term that relates to Hurricane Katrina is “hurricane”. The definition of a hurricane, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is:

A name given primarily to the violent wind-storms of the West Indies, which are cyclones of diameter of from 50 to 1000 miles, wherein the air moves with a velocity of from 80 to 130 miles an hour round a central calm space, which with the whole system advances in a straight or curved track; hence, any storm or tempest in which the wind blows with terrific violence. (“Hurricane”)

     

      Additionally, the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Damage Intensity Scale measures the strength of hurricanes. They are measured based on categories ranging from one to five. Hurricane Katrina is recognized as a Category 5 hurricane on the scale. Meteorologists determine what the hurricane’s category is by how rough the wind speed is. For example, a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale is measured at a wind speed of ninety-six miles per hour. On the scale, a Category 5 hurricane is measured at a wind speed of 156 miles per hour. If a hurricane is recognized as a Category 3 or higher, it is named a “super tycoon.” 

 

      The next thing that was terrible was the levee couldn't hold the massive storm. While the levee is now fixed, at the time when the original levee broke, engineers knew it was going to be inevitable and tragic. Researcher and Founder of Levees.org, Sandy Rosentha stated, "It's the worst civil engineering disaster in U.S. history" (qtd. in McGill 1). Well-constructed levees would have helped tremendously, but there just was not enough time to do something about it. Regarding the damage, the US Army Corps of Engineers released statistics that stated, “The levee and flood wall failures caused flooding in 80% of New Orleans and all of St. Bernard Parish. Tens of billions of gallons of water spilled into vast areas of New Orleans, flooding over 100,000 homes and businesses” (qtd. in Santato 21). Analyses have proven that the hurricane damage would not have been as bad if the levee had not been weakly constructed and maintained before the disaster. If it weren’t weakened it would have stopped the amount of water flowing into Louisiana.

 

      In this disaster, 82 million people were affected in total. There were nearly two million in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. That is a vast amount of people. There have also been numerous crazy theories on why the levees in Louisiana broke. Some people have theorized, “The levees were deliberately destroyed in an act of profiteering or ethnic cleansing; others claim that the hurricane was conjured up by the Bush government using secret military weather manipulation technology” (Brotherton 1). This is important because the levees were a huge reason Hurricane Katrina was horrible.

   

     Many of the people left in Louisiana, had to go to the superdome, to get shelter. The conditions in the Superdome were horrible. The Seattle Times said "A 2-year-old girl slept in a pool of urine. Crack vials littered the restroom. Blood stains the walls next to vending machines smashed by teenagers." (Gold 1). The Superdome was very unsanitary, and it was overcrowded. There were 20,000 people taking shelter within the Superdome. The smell of everything  was horrid. People were walking around in plastic bags so the poop and urine wouldn't get all over their feet. There were also people who wore masks, that were afraid of disease. The Superdome had a lot of bad events occur within it as well. Two people were raped, and a child was as well. There were three people that had died. One of the people that died had killed himself, saying he had no reason to live. The Superdome served it purpose, but was a horrific living experience for those people.

   

      There were people waiting for weeks to be evacuated from the Superdome. There were 20,000 people evacuated on buses to the Reliant Astrodome in Houston, Texas. Many of the people were very sick because of the conditions they had lived in. Many of the people were still starving when they arrived in Texas.