Hurricanes are funny. Hurricanes are a joke. I grew up hearing the stories from my mother and grandmother about Betsie and Camila. Each time my mother would speak of the Hurricane a tear would enter her eyes the sound of a lump entering her throat as she spoke about the devastation. I remember it like it was yesterday she said, the hurricanes that would change their lives. She spoke of how the levees broke filling homes and streets with flood water. During the hurricanes homes were destroyed, family displaced and people died. Betsie and Camila where category 5 hurricanes. If New Orleans was ever to experience a hurricane of that magnitude, then New Orleans would be destroyed. Whenever a hurricane would enter the Gulf of Mexico, I would see the look of worry covering her face. I could never …show more content…
I thought as most of my other family and friends lucky us lucky New Orleans never in my lifetime will the Hurricane make landfall and destroy my wonderful home.
I watched the news that morning a caption reads “Hurricane Katrina may enter the Gulf of Mexico by the end of the week”. I thought to myself, maybe I should stop to purchase water and food. When the rain starts, I don’t want to travel with my little one to the store. If you have lived in New Orleans all your life you understand that preparing for a storm is a most. However, most times it become irrelevant as the storm never cause much damage. A bit of water here and there, a small amount of flooding, but never in my lifetime have I experience the destruction that my mother had spoken of.
Later that week I stayed tuned to the weather just in case I need some extra supplies. I will purchase some candles just in case the lights go out. I spoke with my husband about purchasing a few sandbags just in case the water began to rise. We thought no need to get on the road, no need to travel, we will be just fine staying at
On August 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the Gulf Coast of the United States. The storm was measured as a category three hurricane which had reached winds of approximately one hundred and forty miles per hour. The storm had initially measured almost four hundred miles across affecting the areas of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Of these three affected areas, Louisiana contained the largest amount of damage; however, one city in particular suffered the greatest damage and was the primary focus of this disaster. That was the city of New Orleans. The city of New Orleans was at an incredibly high risk for a few reasons. One reason was that New Orleans was surrounded by significant bodies of water. Each of these bodies of water had contained levees that were built in the twentieth century, where some were stronger than others. Those levees that were not built properly held the greatest risk of being breached and causing treacherous flooding as well. Another factor included New Orleans being located below sea level, which had included the “city’s poorest and most vulnerable pe...
On August 29th, 2006 New Orleanians were expecting a total of 12 to 15 inches of rain and extended five or six inches from the upcoming storm later known as the costliest hurricane in U.S history. The Category 3 hurricane devastated most of eastern North America with blustery winds of 170 mph (280 km per hour) and storm surge values ranging from 10 to 20 feet. The storm called ‘’Hurricane Katrina’’ originated in the Bahamas on August 23th, 2005, but only became a devastation the next day. On August 28th, Hurricane Katrina succeeded a Category 3 hurricane(sustained winds of 122 kt) and exceeded the limits of a Category 5 storm (sustained winds of 136 kt). The following day, the cyclone shifted northwest towards Mississippi and Louisiana, where the hurricane hit the hardest. New Orleans was one of the cities where the most damage was caused; leaving a negative environment, residential and economic effects on the Gulf Coast.
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...
From the first nigh the storm took over the city of Houston many people waited out for the storm to just pass by from their homes. Thousands of people refused to evacuate after the warnings of heavy rains and high rise of waters. Unfortunately, many regret not leaving their homes when they were told to do so. “Now they're having to be rescued,” Alston said. “If we had known it would be like this, I think we would've left.” (Malewitz). The situation became difficult once the rescue team
According to Hurricane Katrina At Issue Disasters, economic damages from Hurricane Katrina have been estimated at more than $200 billion… More than a million people were displaced by the storm… An estimated 120,000 homes were abandoned and will probably be destroyed in Louisiana alone (At * Issue). For this perspective, “Hurricane Katrina change the Gulf Coast landscape and face of its culture when it hit in 2005” (Rushton). A disaster like Katrina is something the victims are always going to remember, for the ones the lost everything including their love ones. Katrina became a nightmare for all the people that were surround in the contaminated waters in the city of New Orleans. People were waiting to be rescue for days,
Many residents of New Orleans will never forget the disaster caused by hurricane Katrina. The storm made landfall on August 29, 2005. It was a category three hurricane and has sustained winds of 100 to 140 miles per hour-and stretched some 400 miles across. (Hurricane Katrina, History). The hurricane Katerina did a great deal of damage, and aftermath was catastrophic. So the damaged is done to the city and then it is time for residents to think whether or not to come back and to rebuild or not to rebuild their home. The podcast “Lower 9 + 10” is look at the life after hurricane Katerina at The Lower Ninth Ward. Similarly, the article “Marigny Triangle” shows a different side of the city which people do not want to have.
It also affect there economic because it losses are preliminarily estimated at between $70 to $200 billion with a large portion of the losses sustained by uninsured homeowners. The residents were warned of "catastrophic and life- threatening flooding" to come, after Hurricane Harvey made landfall late on Friday night with 130mph winds battering buildings, knocking down trees and electricity cables, and leaving up to 300,000 without power. After the hurricane Harvey there was like an after shock, it pours a lots and heavy rain and cause flood and it hit many homes and
Even though I wasn’t expecting a very severe hurricane, my parents still prepared for the worst. They requested me to come home and stay even though many of my friends were still on campus. I figured being with my family during this difficult time would make the most sense. When the hurricane hit initially we did not lose any electricity even though many families around us did. My sister and I decided to end our boredom by watching random television shows, and just as we found something that interested us, the power went out. We were hoping it was just a quick power shortage, and that the power would be back within the hour. We were in for a big surprise. We did not have warm water or power for five days.
When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans eighty percent of New Orleans was under water. (Staff, 2009) The Hurricane’s strong winds caused New Orleans to be under water since that the city is so close to the Atlantic Ocean. The Hurricane’s wind was gusting up to 127 miles per hour. The people who decided to not leave the city or go to the Superdome and decided to stay at their house were in danger. No one had electricity in New Orleans due to the Hurricane’s weather so they couldn’t communicate with anyone for help. New Orleans did not get the worst part of the storm but the other cities on the Gulf Coast did. The damage would of have been more devastating if New Orleans had got the worst part of the storm. The worst part of what Hurricane Katrina did was causing large oil spills killing thousands of fish on the coast of New Orleans. The gas prices went up significantly due to the large oil
We drove for what felt like forever; Traffic was backed up for hours and it took us twice as long to get to a safe place than normal. We finally ended up in Arkansas and found a safe hotel. On August 29, 2005 the category 5 hurricane hit my hometown. I remember sitting on the hotel bed helplessly watching the news as the hurricane was taking place; all I could think about was if my dad and grandpa were ok. I was finally able to talk to my dad on the phone for a little while, and I can remember hearing the howling of the wind, and the claps of thunder and lightning in the background. I was terrified of what was going to happen; thinking back now I wish I would have never known. A couple of days passed and on August 31, 2005 we decided it was time to come home, and prepare ourselves for the damage done and the long road to
This is not a test. For everyone thinking they can ride this storm out, I have news for you: that will be one of the biggest mistakes you can make in your life” (Nossiter, Dewan). By the morning of August 25, 2005 many people had already evacuated, taken shelter in their homes or in the Superdome. When Katrina hit New Orleans, many of the levees were weakened, and many started to fail. This resulted in a storm surge that was 20 feet high. This surge engulfed much of the metropolitan area of New Orleans. The most flooded areas were those with excessive poverty. These areas had the highest concentration of residents who did not evacuate. Residents who stayed were forced to the highest parts of their homes in order to escape the rising water. Jesmyn Ward described her experience in New Orleans during the storm, “My family and I survived Hurricane
Hurricanes are powerful and destructive storms that involve great rain and wind. The United States of America has dealt with many hurricanes that have cost a great amount of damage. However, there is one hurricane that happened in 2005 that stands out among the others, Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina was one of the worst hurricanes to hit the United States, a category 5 on the Saffir/Simpson Hurricane Scale. An estimated 1836 people died because of the hurricane and the floodings that happened after (Zimmermann 1). Katrina initially beg...
Hurricanes are one of the deadliest and most expensive natural disasters around. They are more common in areas of humid yet moist weather so they are very foreign to certain places. But to the places were hurricanes are the norm, the people take them extremely seriously because they kill people and ruin countless amounts of property. Hurricanes can attack and harm people in so many ways they can kill people, leave them homeless, it leaves children orphaned and disable them. On the west coast of the United States and other places hurricanes aren’t taken as seriously as other more common disasters, such as, earthquakes and volcanoes yet the hurricane can be a lot more damaging that both of those. Hurricanes are cyclones that develop over warm oceans and breed winds that blow yup to 74 miles per hour.
...e roads and highways will be jammed with frantic people trying to reach safety. You should always listen and follow any given directions immediately. If you don’t have to leave, put all the outside things that might blow away in a safe place such as lawn furniture, bicycles, and toys. Water mains can also break, so filling containers with drinking water is a good idea. Put enough to last several days.
Hurricanes occur all over the world, at different times, but commonly through June first and late November. However in late August 2005 a catastrophic hurricane struck. This was Hurricane Katrina. With winds traveling over one hundred miles per hour making it a category five on the Saffir- Simpson Hurricane Scale it was said to have cause billions of dollars’ worth of damage. Hurricane Katrina flooded nearly forty thousand homes, and killed at least two thousand people (“Hurricane”). An average category five hurricane has enough energy to power street lamps for more than twenty seven thousand hours (Williams 58). Knowing about Hurricane Katrina, and the devastation of the city in New Orleans would be beneficial. Also, general information on hurricanes can help civilians and people of higher authority better understand and prepare for damage that could once hit their town and community. Because experts know the general information on these storms they can help explain to the public why and how Hurricane Katrina and other hurricanes occur. Hopefully, in the future civilians will know and use this information to their advantage against hurricanes.