Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina was one of the most destructive storms ever to strike the United States. Hurricane Katrina formed as a tropical storm, but soon became a category five hurricane. There was an estimated 100 billion dollars of property damage alone. The homeless rate in New Orleans rose to 1 in 25 residents. Hurricane Katrina defined America by showing the spirit of victims, the hope of evacuees, and the love of volunteers.

One hundred thousand people were left in New Orleans when hurricane Katrina struck. This was twenty percent of the population. Most of these people were too weak, too poor, or too old to find a way out of town. These people headed for shelters and hoped for the best. After the hurricane hit, people were stranded on rooftops of houses and buildings. The sick and elderly in a number of hospitals and nursing homes were left in the city. They were stuck for days without any food or water. There was even possible exposure to toxic chemicals and the constant threat of violence. A lot of these people died. The residents of southeast Louisiana were evacuated in the most successful evacuation of a major urban area in the nation’s history. Shortly after, the hurricane moved away on August 30, 2005, some residents of New Orleans who remained in the city began looting stores. These people were in search of food and water as well as other non essential items. Reports of carjacking, murders, thefts and rapes in New Orleans flooded the news. The majority of these were based on unfound rumors.

It hit the Louisiana-Mississippi border on August 25, 2005. The hurricane brought high winds, huge waves and flooding. Hurricane Katrina was also one of the costliest storms to hit the United States. Some of the cost included rescue and shelter operations, financial aid for victims, and rebuilding property. Other costs were more difficult to measure. The number of people that died might never be known. 75% of the deaths were elderly people. Bodies were found everywhere. Countless animals lost their lives as well. Some were rescued but the rest starved of drowned.

Hurricane Katrina caused damage in Florida and wide spread destruction in parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Rapidly increasing water levels brought the most damage. About 80% of New Orleans was flooded. This damaged homes and buildings and doubled the homeless population from 6,000 to 12,000. Many were self sufficient before the hurricane, but because of almost no aid and without any affordable housing, people ended up living in abandoned houses and outside. They were hopelessly in credit card debt and could not file for bankruptcy.

FEMA has provided housing assistance to more than 700,000 applicants, families and individuals. However only one-fifth of the trailers requested have been supplied. FEMA has also paid for the hotel costs of 12,000 individuals and families and about 100,000 people living in 37,745 FEMA provided trailers. Two weeks after the storm, more than half of the United States was involved in providing shelter for evacuees. By four weeks after the storm, evacuees had been registered in all 50 states.

People criticized the government for what they saw as a failure to heed warnings of what a hurricane could do to New Orleans, and for failing to take the steps to repair an aging levee system. Much of Louisiana and Mississippi still remain in ruin. A CNN/USA/ poll showed that respondents disagreed widely on who was to blame for the problems in the city following the hurricane. Many of the problems that arose developed from inadequate planning and back-up communications systems at various levels. The president however has the power to quickly unite federal forces during a crisis. 13% said Bush, 18% said federal agencies, 25% blamed state or local officials and 38% said no one was to blame. Kanye West blamed George Bush and said “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” and that was the reason they were not getting any aid.

Hurricane Katrina defined America by showing the spirit of victims, the hope of evacuees, and the love of volunteers. After the storm Louisiana is being rebuilt. Congress authorized a total of 62.3 billion in aid for victims. Because of the help of volunteers all the vital signs of New Orleans are steadily rising.