Preview

Cause Of Hurricane Katrina

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
388 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Cause Of Hurricane Katrina
August 29, 2005, a hurricane hit land in Louisiana. The next 6 days would be billions of dollars in damages to one of the worst hurricanes in history, Hurricane Katrina. Hurricanes are one of most powerful disasters created by nature. Hurricanes have been recorded of hitting the Gulf Coast since settlers came to the coast. These forces of nature have caused large amounts of destruction and loss of people due to the power each hurricane has.
Hurricanes are remarkably powerful events that can demolish cities. One percent of the hurricanes power could supply the U.S. for an entire year. The energy released by a hurricane in one day is equivalent to the power of four hundred twenty megaton hydrogen bombs (“Hurricane”). Hurricanes that hit highly populated areas tend to be more destructive and kill more people. The death toll of each hurricane has gone done since warnings
…show more content…

People tend to think that the high winds of the hurricane are the main factor of the damage caused by the hurricane. The main factor of the damage caused is the floodwaters, high rainfall, and storm surge that the hurricane creates. This destroys homes and businesses because if enough rain collects to have multiple feet of water on the land, then the buildings get flooded and have to be repaired. The flooding also results in 90 percent of the deaths caused by hurricanes.
Storm surges are walls of water created by the hurricane when the eye of a hurricane(center) hit land. Storm surges do the most damage to coastal areas since coastal areas are the first areas to be hit by a hurricane. It can destroy most buildings that it is headed towards and causes floods and the loss of lives. The storm surge is powerful because the water is being pressurized into buildings and the water tends to destroy the buildings. A storm surge can range from 3 feet to 16 feet depending on the category of the hurricane that caused the storm


You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Hurricanes can cause a lot of damage. My hurricane is Hurricane Andrew of 1992. Hurricanes can pop up at any time. They can cause massive amounts of damage.…

    • 360 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Galveston Hurricane 1900

    • 598 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Natural Disasters have powerful forces , they affect the environment and the people because they destroy the areas where they hit .“The Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900 was the deadliest hurricane to ever hit the United States and caused between 8000 and 12000 deaths. The storm reached the Texas coast south of Galveston on September 8 as a Category 4 hurricane with a storm surge of 8 to 15 feet.” All Natural Disasters can be formed in different ways but one of the examples are that hurricanes can be formed by the warm and moist air…

    • 598 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Through storm surge, high winds, floods, and tornadoes is how hurricanes have killed thousands of people.…

    • 192 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Danny Glover once stated, “When Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf and the floodwaters rose and tore through New Orleans, it did not turn the region into a Third World country…it revealed one” (Glover). As the winds reached speeds of 100 to 140 miles per hour, water crashed against the levees, breaking them, and flooding 80% of Louisiana. Hurricane Katrina’s peaked at a category five, but disintegrated into a category three. The third deadliest hurricane is what Hurricane Katrina achieved. In the wake of a dark time, Hurricane Katrina proved to America how crucial preparedness is and three reasons Hurricane Katrina proved unpreparedness include; The New Orleans poorly built levee system, the prolonged displacement of hundreds of thousands…

    • 896 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Storm surges from the sea caused flooding several kilometres inland in some places such as New Orleans. Hurricane Katrina tracked over the Gulf of Mexico and hit New Orleans, a coastal city with huge areas below sea-level which were protected by defence walls, called levees. The hurricane 's storm surge, combined with huge waves generated by the wind, pushed up water levels around the city.The levees were overwhelmed by the extra water, with many collapsing completely. This allowed water to flood into New Orleans, and up to 80% of the city was flooded to depths of up to six metres.…

    • 1318 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    On August 29, 2005, the United States witnessed a catastrophic natural disaster that demolished not only homes and roads, but lives. Hurricanes Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in Louisiana ranking at a category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, maintaining winds of 100-140 miles per hour and stretching 400 miles across. What experts can agree on is that there was over an estimated $100 billion in damage, but what they cannot agree on is if some of the damage and lives lost were avoidable (History.com Staff, 2009).…

    • 1063 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The 1965 Flood Act

    • 2506 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Why New Orleans is Vulnerable to Hurricanes? Since its founding in 1718, the city of New Orleans and its surrounding areas have been subject to numerous floods from the Mississippi River and hurricanes and other reasons are, its Location near Gulf of Mexico, Low elevation (below sea-level) Subsidence caused by compaction of river deposited sediments, erosion of inactive delta lobe, sea-level rise due to global warming . A series of levees and other flood control structures built over the years were expected to greatly reduce that threat. The greatest natural threat posed to the New Orleans and south Louisiana area continues to be from hurricane induced storm surges, which is caused by human with Coastal Erosion accelerated by the changes made to the river system. The coastline of Louisiana is eroding at an incredible rate, estimated at 25 square miles per year. (1 football field of area every 45 minutes)…

    • 2506 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Considered as one of the top five deadliest storms in America, Hurricane Katrina was a tropical cyclone that engulfed the United States and killed close to 2000 people. It also destroyed property and goods worth billions of dollars. Though it began far in the Bahamas, the storm left a trail of devastation along the Gulf Coast, Florida, and Texas, but most of the damage occurred in Louisiana (Hartman and Gregory 24). Katrina traveled along the coastal region of Mississippi leading to massive flooding as a result of levee failures. Buildings collapsed and cars were carried away as the storm waters rushed towards the mainland.…

    • 272 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hurricane Katrina

    • 769 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Hurricane Katrina left in its wake an estimated 300,00 homes either destroyed or made uninhabitable, and somewhere between $96 - $125 billion dollars in damages (Kimberly Armadeo). New Orleans is surrounded by water and in many cases, below sea level. Although there are many protective levees and barriers in place to protect residents from storms, a powerful storm surge like the one brought in from Hurricane Katrina, can easily top the walls and leave the city trapped in a flood for weeks. Emergency officials agree that many of the buildings in these areas would not survive the winds of a high category storm in this situation (McQuaid and Schleifstein, 2002). Billions of dollars have been invested in levees, sea walls, pumping systems and satellite hurricane tracking that has saved thousands over the years (McQuaid and Schleifstein, 2002). Despite these new tools, Hurricane Katrina still managed to catch New Orleans off guard with the magnitude of destruction it brought leaving a death toll of more than 1,200 and putting tens of thousands out of their homes (Michael L. Dolfman, Solidelle Fortier, and Bruce Bergman, 2007).…

    • 769 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Hurricane Katrina was a horrific category five hurricane that stretched from Florida to New Orleans. However, the Hurricane didn’t start as an enormous hurricane that killed thousands of people originally, it was formed about 200 miles south-east of the Bahamas on August 23rd, 2005. On August 25th the hurricane hit Florida it was a small category 1 hurricane that was so small that after weakening slightly on land it was re-classified as only tropical storm; it had two victims in this period.…

    • 274 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hurricane Katrina made landfall in the Gulf Coast on August 29, but first touched down in Florida a few days earlier. In Florida the storm was only a Category 1 and caused minimal damage to people and the environment. However, the well documented damage caused in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana was one of the greatest natural disasters to ever strike the United States. While much of the Gulf Coast was adversely affected by the hurricane, the majority of damage to human life and the environment was in and around New Orleans. While the hurricane was only a Category 3 when it touched down it caused the destruction of levees in New Orleans. When the levees broke water rushed into the city causing unprecedented amounts of damage. The initial flooding destroyed residential neighborhoods as well as businesses. The debris caused from this destruction, as well as the stagnant water in the city, would pose tremendous health risks in the coming days and weeks.…

    • 590 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Hurricane Katrina was one of the deadliest hurricanes ever to hit to hit the United States. (Zimmerman, 2015). About 1,800 people died in the hurricane and the flooding that took place afterwards in late August 2005, and many people were left without a place…

    • 215 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hurricane Katrina

    • 378 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Hurricane Katrina is in category five of the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale. This is the most catastrophic category because of its heavy damage to an area. In 2005, the city of New Orleans experienced this tropical storm and collapsed to its mercy. Although the destruction of New Orleans was horrific to the culture and history, rebuilding this city to its former ways should be put off until this devastation is sure to not occur again.…

    • 378 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hurricane Katrina

    • 615 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Hurricane Katrina formed over the Bahamas on August 23, 2005 and crossed southern Florida, causing some deaths and flooding there before moving rapidly in the Gulf of Mexico even stronger. The storm weakened before making its second landfall on the morning of Monday, August 29 in southeast Louisiana. It caused severe destruction along the Gulf coast from central Florida to Texas, much of it due to the storm surge. The most significant number of deaths occurred in New Orleans, Louisiana, which flooded completely due to surge protection failures. Eventually 80% of the city and large tracts of neighboring parishes became flooded, and the floodwaters lingered for weeks.…

    • 615 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Even though Hurricane Sandy was challenging to forecast, lack of proper and useful information confused the public along with a false sense of confidence, eventually leaving 70% of the population behind after evacuation orders. The National Hurricane Center could not label the storm a hurricane and because of NOAA rules, they could not even set out warnings for it. Between the absence of hurricane warnings, late evacuation orders, and citizen’s previous experience one year earlier with Hurricane Irene, many people felt they did not need to evacuate. This false confidence that nothing “huge” will happen to them, contributes to a decrease of preparation. Being the most destructive and deadliest storm of the 2012 Atlantic Hurricane season, Hurricane Sandy traveled through the Caribbean and up the Eastern Coast of the United States in late October 2012. The storm caused $50 billion in damage and killed 71 people in the United States alone.…

    • 747 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays