Here is some knowledge on one of the most destructive hurricane to hit the U.S. For New Orleans and many people around the world this will be one hurricane that won’t be forgotten.
As the center of Katrina passed South-east of New Orleans on August 29, 2005, winds downtown were in the Category 3 range with frequent intense gusts and tidal surge. Hurricane-force winds were experienced throughout the city, although the most severe portion of Katrina missed the city, hitting nearby St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes. Hurricane Katrina made its final landfall in eastern St. Tammany Parish. The western eye wall passed directly over St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana.In the City of New Orleans, the storm surge caused more than 50 breaches in drainage canal levees and also in navigational canal levees and precipitated the worst engineering disaster in the history of the United States. By August 31, 2005, 80% of New Orleans was flooded, with some parts under 15 feet (4.6 m) of water. The famous French Quarter dodged the massive flooding experienced in other levee areas.
Between 80-90 percent of the residents of New Orleans were evacuated safely in time before the hurricane struck. Despite this, many remained in the city, mainly those who did not have access to personal vehicles or who were isolated from the dissemination of news from the local governments. The Louisiana Superdome was used to house and support some of those who were unable to evacuate. Television shots frequently focused on the Superdome as a symbol of the flooding occurring in New Orleans. The disaster had major implications for a large segment of the population, economy, and politics of the entire United States.
As the eye of Hurricane Katrina swept to the northeast, it subjected the city to hurricane conditions for hours. Although power failures prevented accurate measurement of wind speeds in New Orleans, there were a few measurements of hurricane-force winds. From this the NHC concluded that it is likely that much of the city experienced sustained winds of Category 1 or Category 2 strength.
Katrina's storm surge led to 53 levee breaches in the federally built levee system protecting metro New Orleans and the failure of the 40 Arpent Canal levee. Nearly every levee in metro New Orleans was breached as Hurricane Katrina passed just east of the city limits. Failures occurred in New Orleans and surrounding communities, especially St. Bernard Parish. The Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MR-GO) breached its levees in approximately 20 places, flooding much of east New Orleans, most of Saint Bernard Parish and the East Bank of Plaquemines Parish. The major levee breaches in the city included breaches at the 17th Street Canal levee, the London Avenue Canal, and the wide, navigable Industrial Canal, which left approximately 80% of the city flooded.
Most of the major roads traveling into and out of the city were damaged. The only routes out of the city were the westbound Crescent City Connection and the Huey P. Long Bridge, as large portions of the I-10 Twin Span Bridge traveling eastbound towards Slidell, Louisiana had collapsed. Both the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway and the Crescent City Connection only carried emergency traffic.
Levee breaches in New Orleans also caused a significant amount of deaths, with over 700 bodies recovered in New Orleans by October 23, 2005. Some survivors and evacuees reported seeing dead bodies lying in city streets and floating in still-flooded sections, especially in the east of the city. The advanced state of decomposition of many corpses, some of which were left in the water or sun for days before being collected, hindered efforts by coroners to identify many of the dead.
References
The summer of 2005 I came home for summer break from college. I can remember clearly one week after I left New Orleans Hurricane Katrina hit. It amazed me that the Sunday before when I left to return back to Grambling State is was such a beautiful day. Some of my younger cousins were also stuck here. I can remember two of them telling me about their experience being air lifted off their roofs or swimming on bed mattress. These things just broke my heart because I could not help them at the time. When I heard on the news what was happening to the city and not being able to contact my family was the hardest thing for me. I was blessed that my phones were still working and I could remember 2 months after the hurricane hearing my mothers voice for the first time. That was the first time in years being that happy to hear the sound of her voice. She seemed not to have a care in the world. Even though I knew that was because she did not want me to worry. But unfortunately I knew so much more. The happiness in her voice could never cover the things I saw on the news. It just hurt to hear that she could not take my uncle with her. He was left at a hospital because she could not travel with him. I was glad that she did leave but it would be several months that anyone would see my uncle and that hurt the most. From that moment on my world turned upside down. I had to plan a trip to see her and it would have been my first trip out of Louisiana but I was going to Texas just to see her. Everyone was affected by this hurricane but children suffered the most.
