Hurricane Katrina vs. Hurricane Harvey A natural disaster is defined as any event or force of nature that has catastrophic consequences. It destroys everything in its path and has no mercy for anything. It kills anything in its way and does not care about what people think. Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Harvey were both devastating storms giving some people the ultimate consequence. It made people value what they had when they had it. Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Harvey were not only devastating storms but they were also life changers to every living thing in the areas it effected. It both started out as late summer days in the Gulf of Mexico and the Texas Coast. Everyone on their normal commutes not knowing what was coming barreling after them! Before the storm, people had prepared for the storm but brushed it off their shoulders. In New Orleans, the city called for a mandatory evacuation which means it was very important to leave. In Houston, however, did not call for residents to evacuate. More people stayed in New Orleans at one-hundred thousand while …show more content…
It made landfall as a category three storm. Around six A.M., 127 mph winds hit the gulf areas and caused major flooding. Most notoriously slamming New Orleans! In New Orleans, the levees that held the water broke leaving millions of gallons of water spewing right towards the city. It left thousands homeless and forced people to leave their home and flee to the superdome - which inhabited over 14,000 people. In Biloxi, debris was washed up on beaches, and was really a scary sight to see! Fatalities for Hurricane Katrina reached to 1,833 deaths and some bodies were even untouched for days. The storm was the costliest natural disaster weighing in at about 160 billion dollars. After the Hurricane, the population never grew the same as it was with most people fearing another Hurricane would strike again leaving them homeless for a second
There were a lot of items lost in the flood. Even trucks, cars, and even airplanes. This hurricane has been up to 50 inches of rain. The resulting floods inundated hundreds of thousands of homes, displaced more than 30,000 people, and caused more than 17,000 deaths. Losses are estimated between 70 and 190 billion dollars.
Early in the morning on August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast of the United States. When the storm made landfall, it had a Category 3 rating on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale–it brought sustained winds of 100–140 miles per hour–and stretched some 400 miles across. The storm itself did a great deal of damage, but its aftermath was catastrophic. Levee breaches led to massive flooding, and many people charged that the federal government was slow
With the winds and waters sweeping away taking away people’s lives and property the storm made it to be one of the costliest in the history of America. According to FEMA:
This may be a common trend in every large city if more hurricanes strike. Urban development in almost all cities in America has made flooding worse than it should be. The creation of buildings, asphalt, concrete, and other things have eliminated much of the grass in the cities, which will cause less rainwater to be absorbed into the ground. Although most major cities have rain drainage channels, Houston may not have had enough of them, which caused them to fill up with water. The water had nowhere to go except on the streets. The city of Houston avoided floodplains. The floodplains that were present in Houston were often ignored by construction companies. These companies chose to build houses on the floodplains. This is discussed in this quote by Sean Breslin, “In the months following Hurricane Harvey, Houstonians face an important decision: respect the floodplain and stop building homes wherever, or continue to ignore the lessons taught by countless flood events and build more homes in the most vulnerable areas of town” (Breslin n. pag). I feel that if the civilians and building companies in Houston would have respected the floodplains years earlier, fewer lives would have been lost in this hurricane. Coral reefs provide excellent coastline protection which slows the hurricane just before landfall. The death of coral reefs also could have played a large role in why the hurricane was so
(Spring, Texas) A Category 4 storm, Hurricane Harvey did extensive damage to the state of Texas, causing $180 billion dollars in damage. Approximately 13 million individuals in five states were impacted. Sadly, 82 of these individuals lost their life. What made this storm so challenging was it made landfall three separate times over a six day period, and 1/3 of Houston was underwater at one point. As a result, numerous families are now contending with high moisture levels and other issues in the home, and Air National remains on call to help these individuals.
The category 3 storm changed the lives of the residence who lived there forever. The storm in combination with the fault of the man-made flood protection walls (levee’s) resulted in the death of at least 1,300 people (1). With nearly half the victims over the age of 74, deaths were caused by; drowning, injury/ trauma and heart conditions (2). Hurricane Katrina was one of the most costliest storms to land on American soil, costing around US$135 billion in damages (3). Although the number of deaths caused by Hurricane Katrina are not as high as other natural disasters, Katrina displaced a massive amount of people from their homes, around 85% of the population were displaced directly after the storm hit (6). Being one of the most devastating natural disasters to hit the United States, Hurricane Katrina impacted not only the residence of New Orleans by also many of the surrounding
Hurricane Katrina roared through Louisiana demolishing everything in its path. It obliterated the city of New Orleans, inside and out leaving almost nothing untouched and intact. Homes, schools, office buildings, and almost all infrastructures were ravaged by the mighty storm. Thousands of people ...
New Orleans by far felt the biggest effect of Hurricane Katrina. Many people were rescued but had nowhere to go and the government was not prepared for the disaster. There was no plan for recovery. Communication failures were one of the major problems which included power failures and broken telephone lines. Homes were destroyed and many were left stuck on the roof of their broken homes. Most of the city’s major roads and buildings suffered extensive damage. Countless people were left unemployed and homeless. Above all, the worst effect caused by Hurricane Katrina was the final death toll of 1,836 people with 705 still reported
Hurricane Katrina left a devastating scar on the citizens of the southern coast of the U.S., especially New Orleans, Louisiana. The category 5 hurricane was the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the most deadly. Katrina hit New Orleans on August 29th, 2005 and after that day, 66,000 people were displaced from their homes. Of those who decided to ride out the storm with hopes of success and survival as they had experienced with other storms, they were found on their rooftops, in their attics, hoping for boat or helicopter rescue, relying on others for help to survive. The storm had reached 28,000 square feet inward to Louisiana, which was 60 percent of the state. 1,100 Louisianans lost their lives, and 200,000 were displaced and/or lost their homes (Davis 8). It was a devastating time of despair and suffering. People were put through experiences that would scar them for a long time. While preparing for evacuation, people left most of their belongings at home to flee to a safer city or to find shelter in the Superdome and Convention Center. Some even decided to remain in their boarded up homes. After the hurricane had past, a few hours went by and a levee located near the Mississippi River canal broke leaving New Orleans flooded (Delisi). After the disaster, the state and federal governments were pointing fingers at each other as to who was to blame for the poorly planned evacuation and rescue efforts for the victims. The state government promised to help evacuate those who could not transport themselves. Citizens were told to go to the Superdome and convention center for evacuation, but the supplies needed for survi...
In short, it was a huge and deadly hurricane, that hit Galveston on September 8th 1900. It flooded the city and together with horrible winds destroyed most of the city. Many people have stories about their experiences.A lot of them are very emotional. Then the citizens who had survived had to clean it all up, and then work harder by building a seawall and raising the city for future hurricanes. The Galveston Hurricane of 1900 was the biggest natural disaster in American
The strong winds and rain began on August 29th and quickly flooded the city and ripped apart buildings. The rain was so intense that it is predicted that within the first 24 hours 14 inches of rain had fallen. The levees and major flood walls all failed as water surged into approximately 80 percent of the city. When the storm was over it was predicted that up to five meters of rain had fallen. Just days after Hurricane Katrina was over rains from Hurricane Rita floods the city even worse. Hurricane Katrina was one of the worst natural disasters in history and it left the city of New Orleans utterly destroyed as well as its inhabitants homeless and
Definition of disaster- Disaster can be defined as a state of extreme ruin and misfortune.
Hurricanes are formed over tropical waters. These intense storms consist of winds over 74 miles per hour (Ahrens & Sampson, 2011). The storms addressed here are Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Sandy. This paper will explore the contrasts and comparisons between these two horrific storms.
What started out as a tropical storm in the Bahamas, soon turned into one of the deadliest hurricanes to ever hit the United States. Hurricane Katrina hit land in Louisiana on August 29, 2005 causing a devastating and long-lasting effect on southeast Louisiana. Most people evacuated coastal Mississippi and Louisiana, including some of my family members and me. I was only in the second grade when the hurricane hit, however I still remember the tragic event like it was yesterday. I was affected by Hurricane Katrina in many ways, some ways I still cannot forget no matter how hard I try.
Every year many natural disasters happen around the world. In New Orleans, and several other states, a devastating hurricane struck. High speed winds and major flooding caused many people to lose their homes and even their lives. Many people have heard of hurricane Katrina, but not everybody knows what caused it and the affect it had on the United States.