Rough Draft For Compare and Contrast Essay

Tommy Chalk

Dr.  Kerr

English 101 #5

Oct. 27, 2010

The Effects of Hurricane Katrina

            The most memorable storms are always hurricanes.  They are massive storm systems that last for days.  On August 23, 2005, Hurricane Katrina formed and went on a war path.  Katrina caused a devastating amount of destruction, costing the United States 90.3 billion dollars (Blake).  This makes Katrina the costliest hurricane in history.  Katrina swept the area of the United States around the Gulf of Mexico, effecting Southern Florida, The Florida Panhandle, Mississippi, Alabama, and most notably Louisiana.  The category five storm effected levees and structures, our economics, and human life in general.

            About eighty percent of New Orleans was flooded during the storm (Spotts).  This was mainly due to the destruction of the federally built levee system.  The city of New Orleans is actually below sea level, meaning water could easily flood in if it is available.  The Federal government decided to build a massive levee system, nearly 350 miles of protection, which could only withstand about a category 3 hurricane (Handwerk).  The levees were doomed from the very beginning of this storm.  As the storm swept through the city, many small buildings were flattened to the ground, and larger buildings sustained heavy damage, most notably the Hyatt Regency New Orleans building and the Superdome.  On August 29, it was reported that the Hyatt Regency building had its front windows completely blown out, and high rises in the surrounding area had received structural damage as well (Lathom).  The Superdome was used to hold evacuees during the storm, and took significant damage to the roof.  The roof overall received damage, and the waterproof cover of the dome was essentially peeled off, as which caused leaking (Gibson).  The Superdome also lost electricity and didn’t have a functioning toilet (Gibson).

            Hurricane Katrina was the most costly natural disasters in U.S. history.  Katrina was responsible for damaging or completely destroying thirty oil platforms, which caused nine different oil refineries to shut down (US Department of Commerce).  This shut down reduced the annual money intake by 24%  and 18% for gas production (MMS Press Release).  In Mississippi, 1.3 million acres of forest were destroyed, costing the forest industry roughly 5 billion dollars (Sheikh).  Thousands of jobs were lost, and it is estimated that Katrina will ultimately cost Louisiana and Mississippi 150 billion dollars (Burton).  Thousands of people became unemployed, which ultimately effects the government and the entire nation due to the fact that those thousands of unemployed people are no longer paying taxes.

            Hurricane Katrina drastically changed the lives of everyone involved.  Roughly 1,500 people were killed by the hurricane (“Fast Facts about the Aftermath:  Personal Impact”).  A massive exodus of people was a result of Katrina.  Over one million people left the Gulf Coast area to find another way of life.  By 2006, about 220,000 people were living in New Orleans, less than half of the pre-Katrina population (Stone).  The state of Louisiana declined by 4.87 % in population (Les).  Residents that remained in Louisiana began to loot.  Thousands of National Guard members were sent to try to maintain order.  About 300,000 were evacuated to the state of Texas, and the number of homicides in Houston increased by 243%, and 29 of the 170 murders involved evacuees both as victims and suspects (Kennet).  Homelessness greatly increased, over 204,000 homes in New Orleans alone were destroyed (“Fast Facts about the Aftermath:  Personal Impact”).

            Relief efforts for Katrina are still being carried out.  Families still no longer have been able to build a home, even after all these years.  This was a biblical hurricane that caused so much damage mainly due to human error.  Due to the extreme devastation and loss of life, the name “Katrina” was officially retired.  Katrina had a major impact on our national society, and ultimately effected structures within the hurricane path to fail, caused major impact on the effected states economy, as well as the national economy, and changed many of the populations way of life.

Works Cited

Blake, Eric S., Edward N. Rappaport, and Christopher W. Landsea. "The Deadliest, Costliest, and Most Intense United States Tropical Cyclones From 1851 To 2006 (And Other Frequently Requested Hurricane Facts)." NOAA Technical Memorandum NWS TPC-5. NHC Miami, Apr. 2007. Web. 22 Oct. 2010. <http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pdf/NWS-TPC-5.pdf>.

Burton, Mark L., and Michael J. Hicks. "Hurricane Katrina: Preliminary Estimates of Commercial and Public Sector Damages." Marshall University Center For Business and Economic Research. Sept. 2005. Web. 22 Oct. 2010. <http://www.marshall.edu/cber/research/katrina/Katrina-Estimates.pd

Christie, Les. "Fast-growing States: Arizona Overtakes Nevada - Dec. 22, 2006." Business, Financial, Personal Finance News - CNNMoney.com. CNN, 22 Dec. 2006. Web. 22 Oct. 2010. <http://money.cnn.com/2006/12/22/real_estate/fastest_growing_states/index.htm?postversion=2006122209>.

"Fast Facts about the Aftermath: Personal Impact." Women of the Storm. Web. 23 Oct. 2010. <http://www.womenofthestorm.net/facts.php>.       

Gibson, Christine. "Our 10 Greatest Natural Disasters." American Heritage. Aug.-Sept. 2006. Web. 22 Oct. 2010. <http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/2006/4/2006_4_26.shtml>.

Handwerk, Brian. "New Orleans Levees Not Built for Worst Case Events." Daily Nature and Science News and Headlines | National Geographic News. National Geographic, 2 Sept. 2005. Web. 23 Oct. 2010. <http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/09/0902_050902_katrina_levees_2.html>.

Kennett, Jim. "Louisiana Gangs That Fled Katrina Heighten Houston Murder Rate - Bloomberg." Bloomberg - Business & Financial News, Breaking News Headlines. 3 Mar. 2006. Web. 23 Oct. 2010. <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=az6n8C6gsqf0>.  

Lathom, Robert. "Online News Hour: Hurricane Katrina Sweeps Across Gulf Coast -- August 29, 2005." Interview by Jim Lehrer, Jeffery Brown, and Peter Whoriskey. PBS. PBS, 29 Aug. 2005. Web. 23 Oct. 2010. <http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/weather/july-dec05/katrina_8-29.html>.

"MMS Press Release." Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement HomePage. 22 Feb. 2006. Web. 23 Oct. 2010. <http://www.boemre.gov/ooc/press/2006/press0222.htm>.        

Spotts, Peter N. "Why New Orleans Levees Failed / The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com." The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com. 3 Nov. 2005. Web. 23 Oct. 2010. <http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1103/p02s02-ussc.html>.

Stone, Greg, Tim Grant, and Nathaniel Weaver. Rapid Population Estimate Project. City Of New Orleans. 28-29 Jan. 2006. Web. 22 Oct. 2010. <http://katrina.lsu.edu/downloads/research/NOLAPopEstimate.pdf>.

United States. Department Of Commerce. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). By David L. Johnson. June 2006. Web. 22 Oct. 2010. <http://www.weather.gov/om/assessments/pdfs/Katrina.pdf>.