Hurricane Katrina
Case Study
Background
Hurricane Katrina was a strong category 3 hurricane that hit Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama at the second landfall. The first landfall was on the tip of the peninsula of Florida. In Florida the category of the hurricane was 1. Katrina brought over 15 inches of rain and 125 mph winds. Katrina after landfall brought rains and winds for 14 days to southern states.
Interstate 10 and West End Boulevard
This picture was taken in August 2005, shortly after Hurricane Katrina passed.
Rhonda Braden
August 2005, in Long Beach, Mississippi, Rhonda walks through her childhood neighborhood.
Hurricane Katrina
NOAA satellite image of Hurricane Katrina as it is making landfall.
SuperDome
The Super Dome was were people took refuge during the storm. The officials allowed 15,000 citizens of New Orleans into the building. With a lack of food and water, belongings, and hope, many people lost faith in ever seeing the outside of the dome again. The National Guardsmen got shotguns and sat at the doors, threatening if you tried to leave, you would be shot. The floods outside were four feet tall, threatening to flood the SuperDome if one door opened. The citizens believed that the government approached the situation with no thought process and strategy, which ultimately led to more deaths and problems later on. "There's no way the federal government can maintain on its payroll enough people to immediately respond to every single problem. FEMA will never be large enough to fully deal with a hurricane of this size, and we wouldn't want them to. (Olasky, 2006)" The government knows that they did not handle the situation excellent, but FEMA could not manage the amount of people to respond to a hurricane the size of Katrina.
National Guardsmen
National Guardsmen carrying an unconscious man in the SuperDome.
Military Relief
The first Military Relief with food and water was on September 2, 2005.
Trash After Evacuation
The SuperDome was layered in trash and garbage after evacuation.