9/11 Impact On America

Have you used your cell phone today? How about the internet? Without the years of 1970-present we would not have these everyday items. In the past 45 years, Americans have experienced hardship as well as prosperity. For example, Americans experienced 9/11 which made Americans question their own security. In addition, Americans also faced the Watergate scandal, which caused them to question corruptibility of the government (“new voices, new Frontiers…."1277-1289). An important group of people living during this era was The Magnificent Seven, they became the 1st American gymnastics team to when the gold medal. Furthermore, an event that had a major impact at this time on Americans was Hurricane Katrina, it left millions of people homeless and
Between August 23rd and August 31st, 2005 the most destructive storm, Hurricane Katrina hit the United States. About 200 miles southeast of the Bahamas is where Katrina initially started and it was classified as a tropical depression by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on August 23rd 2005. By August 25th the storm had traveled to Florida and became a moderate Category 1 hurricane.("Hurricane Katrina" 2). Katrina seemed to be just another hurricane in an active hurricane season. Katrina weakened and was reclassified as a tropical storm. Katrina began to rapidly gain strength, and re-intensified into a hurricane on August 26th,and became a Category five storm on August 28th, with winds blowing at about 175 mph (3). As Katrina hit land it slammed into Gulfport and Biloxi, Mississippi, causing destruction to both cities. A large storm surge ranging from 10 to 28 feet devastating costal areas across southeastern Louisiana and Mississippi. The surge exposed engineering mistakes in the floodwalls and levees that were built by the U.S. Army Corps
Approximately 1,800 people died, and millions were left homeless (2). In the Superdome and the New Orleans convention Center, thousands of people sought refuge. Hurricane Katrina caused the largest displacement of a population since the Great Depression with more than a million people being displaces (4). Causing $108 billion in damage, Katrina is the most costly storm in United States history (2). Ten years later, the region was still recovering from Katrina. The New Orleans metro population ended up dropping significantly from 1.386 million in 2005 to 1.04 million in 2006 (6). Government officials have had to learn from the tragedy and implement better environmental, communication and evacuation policies. The Army Corps of Engineers has rebuilt the levee, making the barriers higher and supporting them with steel beams (5). The affects of Hurricane Katrine truly changed the lives of millions of people