Samantha Slota
Geography- Hurricane Katrina
February 10, 2016
1
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina hit hard as a category five hurricane. Katrina is a hurricane that
devastated the United States in 2005. It was especially devastating to the people of New Orleans
(class notes). People were devastated, but mostly because of what happened after the hurricane.
The government including F.E.M.A. barley helped and there was chaos, all around. Some people
thought it was a natural disaster, but others like me think it was a man-made disaster. The
government and F.E.M.A. didn’t do much to help and they are mostly to blame for this disaster.
It is surprising to me how much went wrong after the hurricane. Hurricane Katrina was a manmade disaster, the levees broke, we were not prepared and the wet lands were destroyed.
Reason one, that it was a man-made disaster was, because the levees broke. The levees
are the wall that keeps water from the Mississippi River and Lake Pantchartrain, out of New
Orleans. The levees were not correctly built and the government and the engineers all knew that
the wall would not hold if there was a category five hurricane (class notes). For example, in the
article The Threatening Storm by Michael Grunwald it stated that the levees sank as much as 5ft
(1.5m) then their design because the corps miscalculated sea level and failed to fix it. It also said
that it was built in soils with the stability of oatmeal. “These were inexcusable, lethal mistakes”
said the University of California, Berkeley, engineering Professor Robert Bea. That is the first
reason why it was a man-made disaster. If the levees were built correctly there would have been
not broke and flooded New Orleans.
Samantha Slota
Geography- Hurricane Katrina
February 10, 2016
2
Reason two; we were not prepared for hurricane Katrina. People that stayed in New
Orleans went to the Super Dome (football stadium) for shelter (class notes). The Super Dome
was supposed to withstand strong winds. During the storm a top part of the Super Dome was
ripped off and that let water in. So the people moved closer together at the entrance of the dome.
The Super Dome was over packed and it became very hot, very quickly. The Super Dome was
already hot from the weather outside. So you can probably imagine what they were going
through. The Super Dome was also not prepared because they didn’t have enough food or drinks
for everyone (class notes). People then resorted to looting (stealing) from stores for food, drinks,
clothes and other supplies. Then when the government acted they told the cops to shot the
looters. So people that were just trying to get necessary items were shot well the people that
needed real help and were dying on the streets were ignored.
F.E.M.A stands for federal, emergency, management, agency. F.E.M.A. is the agency
that was responsible for getting help down in New Orleans. That includes food, water, and other
supplies. They were also paying for the hurricane survivors to have a place to live. Hey put
people in hotels and after a week or two they stopped paying for peoples rooms. F.E.M.A. had
hundreds of trailers for people and it took people months and months to get a trailer (class
movie). The director of F.E.M.A. Michael Brown was doing a terrible job helping New Orleans
and he was complemented by President Bus; as he did nothing to help. One example is, Bush
was seen looking over New Orleans instead of flying straight there and helping.
Reason three, the wet lands were destroyed. In the article The Threatening Storm by
Michael Grunwald he talked about in 1718 the French didn’t have to build levees because there
Samantha Slota
Geography- Hurricane Katrina
February 10, 2016
3
were natural walls. Also, the wet lands protected them from hurricanes because the hurricanes
would never reached land, because of all the water surrounding the land. If the French were
smart enough to leave the land alone and not build narrow channels, then why can’t we do the
same? So, if we never destroyed the wet land and made narrow channels that forced the water to
raise Katrina would have been less damaging to New Orleans. As a result of global warming the
water level rose and that made the water level rise twice as much, from global warming and the
channels.
Hurricane Katrina was a man-made disaster, the levees broke, we were not prepared and
the wet lands were destroyed. If the levees were built correctly, if we were prepared, and if we
didn’t destroy the wet lands we would have most likely have not been hit or have been hit very
lightly. Also, category five hurricanes would be no problem for New Orleans if all the problems
were fixed and prepared for the next hurricane. But, we did get hit and we need to fix it before
the next hurricanes, because it will be worse than hurricane Katrina. We should learn from our
mistakes and work as a country to get these levees fixed and ready as quick as possible. Also, we
should be telling people ahead of time, not like a few days before the next hurricane but more
like a week before. People need time to get prepared for a hurricane like Katrina. Finally, we
need to get the wet lands back. It is protection from hurricanes and it is also helping the Earth if
we save the wet lands. This problem is man-made and that’s why nit was so bad for New
Orleans. But, man can help instead of hurting New Orleans and the people in it. If we fix the
levees, be better prepared and save the wet lands.
Samantha Slota
Geography- Hurricane Katrina
February 10, 2016
4
Grunwald, Michael. "The Threatening Storm." Thusday, Aug. 02,2007: n. page. Print.
"Hurricane katrina relief ." (2005): n. page. Web. 4 Nov. 2011.
<http://www.hurricanekatrinarelief.com/faqs.html>.