Case Study: Katrina

In Environmental Management class we had to read about a specific cyclone and make a summery including important topics such as when and where it happened, category, effects, etc. I choose Katrina. 

TROPICAL CYCLONE: KATRINA

Hurricane Katrina was one of the most destructive and deadliest hurricanes that ever hit United States. It was on 25 August, 2005, over the southeast Louisiana and southern Mississippi. It was category 4, as an extreme and dangerous storm.

 An estimated 1,833 people died during this hurricane and millions of other people were homeless or affected. It also affected the following areas: Bahamas, Florida, New Orleans, Alabama, the east coast of United states.

The hurricane caused $108 billion in damage according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric The administration (NOAA).

Katrina formed 200 miles southwest of Bahamas, as a tropical depression, storm clouds began to wrap around the north side of the storm’s circulation center. Winds, of about 400 kph.

The effects were the following:

·             New Orleans was the most affected as it lies below sea levels and is protected by levees. This protection was not enough.

·             Despite the authorities order to evacuate, many poor people remained in the city

·             People refuged in the Superdome Stadium, the conditions were terrible, unhygienic, shortage of food and water.

·             1 million people were homeless.

·             1,200 people were drowned in the floods.

·             Oil facilities were damages

There was a lot to criticize to the authorities, as many people were evacuated, but it was a slow process and the poorest and most vulnerable were left behind