2. Learning goals
Knowledge
To know the causes of Hurricane Katrina and to know
what happened in the aftermath
Understanding
To understand the effects on New Orleans of this
hurricane
Skills
Empathy
Hurricane tracking
3. Hurricane Katrina
In August 2005 the citizens of New Orleans and the surrounding
area were led to believe that Hurricane Katrina, which was
coming their way fast, would be ‘the big one’.
4. Tropical storms and
hurricanes usually begin
as a ‘wave’ on the
African side of the
Atlantic. Katrina
developed as a tropical
depression, approaching
the southern tip of
Florida from the south
east during late August
2005.
Katrina’s development
5. Having enlarged into a
tropical storm it made its first
landfall at 6.30 pm local time
between Hallandale Beach and
Aventura just to the south of
Fort Lauderdale in Florida.
Although it did not experience
a smooth rise in
strength, Katrina moved
through levels 1–5 on the
Saffir-Simpson scale as it
curved across the Gulf of
Mexico towards the Louisiana
coastline around New Orleans.
Katrina’s development
7. After crossing southern Florida - where it left some
100,000 homes without power – it strengthened further
before veering inland towards Louisiana, eventually
making landfall 90km south of New Orleans, at 10am
local time on 29 August 2005.
Animation features in hyperlink
8. It was the sixth-strongest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded
and the third-strongest landfalling U.S. hurricane on record.
The track of
the hurricane
23rd to 29th
August 2005
9. The storm
passed directly
through New
Orleans, destroy
ing many lighter
buildings and
causing
extensive
damage to
others.
At this point, Katrina's sustained wind speed was
approximately 200 km/h.
10. Track and wind
speeds
Hurricane force
winds were
recorded along an
200km stretch of
coastline, with
scenes of similar
destruction and
flooding in
Alabama,
Mississippi and
Louisiana.
11. The intense LOW
PRESSURE and
strong winds
… allows sea level
to rise
… Flooding coastal
areas several
kilometres inland
in some places
Storm Surge
13. Storm Surge:
Sea level about
9metres above
normal
Katrina was a Category 5
storm with sustained
winds of about 160 mph as
it approached the Gulf
Coast.
17. Initially it was hoped that New Orleans had
weathered the worst of Katrina, but within hours of
the storm passing, it emerged that several key levees
had been breached …..
… causing
floodwater to
pour into the
low-lying city.
ANIMATION
18. Much of New Orleans lies below sea level. The city
has a system of canals and levees topped with
concrete floodwalls to keep water out. These are
designed to withstand a category three
hurricane, but when Katrina - a category four storm
- hit, they were quickly overwhelmed.
Within 24 hours, 80% of the city was flooded
19. By August
31, 2005, 80% of
the city was
flooded, with some
parts under 6.1
metres of water.
Four of the city's
protective levees
were
breached, including
the 17th Street
Canal levee, the
Industrial Canal
levee, and the
London Avenue
Mississippi Delta
Levees broken and land
flooded
Especially around New
Orleans city
20. Flooding affected
large parts of the
poor areas of the
city
The situation quickly
deteriorated as it became
apparent that thousands of
people had been unable to
evacuate or chosen to stay
put.
21. Many took refuge in the city's
Superdome, but without
sanitation or proper
supplies, conditions inside the
crowded, overheated stadium ...
...became
increasingly
unbearable
22. … Law and order across the
city broke down, with
reports of widespread
looting and violence.
7,000 active-duty troops were
sent to Louisiana for additional
hurricane relief. Despite hopes all
would be evacuated on Friday,
some New Orleans flood victims
remained at the Superdome.
Security forces struggled to restore
order, and engineers worked tirelessly to
drain the city.
23. On 2 September a
series of huge blasts,
apparently at a chemical
plant near the French
Quarter, rocked the
city.
Large fires also broke out in
several other districts.
24.
25.
26.
27. Although more
than 80% of
residents
evacuated, the
rest remained
There was blistering criticism from the mayor of New Orleans
and others who said the federal (US) government (George
Bush) had bungled the relief effort and let people die in the
streets for lack of food, water or medicine.
28. Enormous social, environmental and economic
effects.
Lowest pressure: 902 mbar
Damages: $81.2 billion (2005 USD) (costliest Atlantic
hurricane in history)
Fatalities: ≥1,723 total
30. By August 2006
–one year
on, the city's
levees and
floodwalls had
been repaired
to a standard
equalling their
prior condition.
Despite this work, critics say not enough has yet been done to
improve the city's storm protection system.
Repairing the levees
31. Helicopters dropped
huge sandbags into
the breach in the
17th street canal.
Earthmovers built a
causeway allowing
trucks to bring in
stones to strengthen
the repairs.
Repairing the breach:
32. A temporary steel
barrier was built
at the mouth of
the canal, sealing
it off from Lake
Pontchartrain.
Steel dam:
33. Once all
breaches are
sealed, pumps
started to drain
floodwater out
into the lake, a
process which
took over 80
days.
Pumping out:
34. One year on and still New Orleans was eerily
empty.
Of a pre-Katrina population of half-a-million fewer
than 200,000 had returned.
35. About $1bn (£542m) in relief meant for
victims of Hurricane Katrina was lost to
fraud, with bogus claimants spending the
money on Hawaiian holidays, football
tickets, diamond jewellery and Girls Gone
Wild porn videos!
Fraud
36. The aftermath
The broken levees were repaired by engineers and the flood water
in the streets of New Orleans took several months to drain away.
The broken levees and consequent flooding were largely responsible
for most of the deaths in New Orleans.
One of the first challenges in the aftermath of the flooding was to
repair the broken levees. Vast quantities of materials, such as
sandbags, were airlifted in by the army and air force and the levees
were eventually repaired and strengthened.
Although the USA is one of the wealthiest developed
countries in the world, it highlighted that when a
disaster is large enough, even very developed
countries struggle to cope.
