Hurricane Katrina

On August 23^rd of 2005, a tropical depression formed over the Bahamas, developing into a tropical storm by the 24^th as it moved West, crossing over Southeast Florida and into the Gulf of Mexico, where it greatly increased int intensity. On the morning of August 29^th, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall on Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana as a Category-4 hurricane.

A mandatory evacuation had been ordered by the mayor the day before landfall. State police reversed the lanes on three different Interstates, allowing about 1 million people to evacuate the greater New Orleans area faster. But despite these efforts, about 150,000 people remained in the city, and were not evacuated until September 2^nd.

Those that did not evacuate in time used the Superdome as a shelter (slate.com).

Although areas of the city received as much as 15 inches of rain from August 28^th-30^th, the main source of the flooding was storm surge, which was not helped by the canals built throughout the city. Surge was estimated to have reached heights of 18 feet along the coast of St. Bernard Parish, and 26 feet along a portion of the Mississippi coast and Bay St. Louis

Almost a month later, Rita struck the Southwestern side of Louisiana (along with Eastern Texas) as a Category-3 Hurricane with a storm surge of up to 16 feet, causing an additional $4.7 billion in damage.

The national government(specifically FEMA) was not particularly quick to respond and did not do a great job of handling the aftermath of the disaster. FEMA denied, blocked, or turned away help from volunteering medical professionals, Amtrak’s offers to help evacuate victims, trucks full of water from Walmart, diesel fuel from the Coast Guard, and emergency supplies from The Red Cross and numerous other efforts to help the city.

A search code left on a house in Metairie. These crosses were sprayed onto approximately 80% of the city by rescue teams, showing that the building had already been searched, and providing an easily readable description of who/what was found inside. The left identifies the rescue group that searched the building, the top provides the date searched, the right has shorthand for any hazards found inside, and the bottom quadrant marks the number of people found inside, alive or dead. This house, for example, was searched on September 12^th, and held one survivor and two dead bodies (The Washington Post).

Sources:

Kent, Joshua D. “2005 Louisiana Hurricane Impact Atlas: Volume 1” Louisiana Geographic Information Center, 2005.

Ross, Janell. “The Art -and Controversy- of Hurricane Katrina ‘X-Codes’.” The Washington Post, 2015.
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/08/29/the-hurricane-katrina-x-codes-art-politics-controversy-and-now-reform/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.26ea1507de1b>

“Extremely Powerful Hurricane Katrina Leaves a Historic Mark on the Northern Gulf Coast.” National Weather Service, 2016. <https://www.weather.gov/mob/katrina>

Edwards, Chris. “Hurricane Katrina : Remembering the Federal Failures.” Cato Institute, 2015. <https://www.cato.org/blog/hurricane-katrina-remembering-federal-failures>