Hurricane Katrina Research Paper

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A Town Waiting for Mass Destruction "The water's rising pretty fast. I got a hammer and an ax and a crowbar, but I'm holding off on breaking through the roof until the last minute. Tell someone to come get me please. I want to live," said Chris Robinson during the duration of Hurricane Katrina. The horrendous and catastrophic Hurricane Katrina changed Americans view about how the government is able to respond to emergency situations. With the help of many emergency crew and organizations, New Orleans was able to slowly rebuild. New Orleans was an exceptionally prosperous and unique town before Hurricane Katrina had plummeted through the area. One gentleman named Wynton Marsalis described New Orleans as "a true American melting pot: …show more content…
For instance, the formation of a hurricane would require "very warm surface temperatures, continuous evaporation and condensation cycles, wind patterns of various directions that collide with one another, and a difference in air pressure between the surface and high altitude," ( "Hurricanes, Typhoons, and Cyclones..."). With that being said, all hurricanes are formed between the Tropic of Cancer( 23.5 degrees north latitude) and the Tropic of Capricorn (23.5 degrees south latitude) due to the warm ocean water temperatures provided in those two areas. (Ouellette 11). Furthermore, the formation of hurricanes are separated into four different distinctive stages. Hurricanes start off as a bundle of thunderstorms known as a tropical disturbances( "Hurricanes, Typhoons, and Cyclones..."). Once a tropical disturbance starts to whip into shape and gain wind speed up to twenty-five and thirty-eight miles per hour, the tropical disturbance becomes known as a tropical depression( "Hurricanes, Typhoons, and Cyclones..."). After wind speeds have reached thirty-nine miles per hour, the tropical depression is upgraded to a tropical storm( "Hurricanes, Typhoons, and Cyclones..."). Finally, the tropical storm becomes a hurricane after its wind speeds have exceeded seventy-four miles per hour( "Hurricanes, Typhoons, and Cyclones..."). To sum up, hurricanes, without a doubt, are …show more content…
The formation of Hurricane Katrina started on August 23, 2005, when a cluster of thunderstorms became identified as a tropical depression. Following that day, the "tropical depression was upgraded to Tropical Storm Katrina" by the National Hurricane Center (Ouellette 96). Then on August 25, 2005, "Tropical Storm Katrina was upgraded to Hurricane Katrina and made land fall near Miami, Florida," (Ouellette 96). During the meantime, Hurricane Katrina hampered beneath an upper level anticyclone that overpowered the whole Gulf of Mexico ( " Hurricane Katrina..."). This location was later recognized as the location where Katrina expeditiously gained strength and became atrociously monstrous. Subsequently on August 27, Katrina developed into a category three hurricane (Ouellette 96). Shockingly with a twist of events, Katrina gained winds speeds reaching up to one hundred and seventy five miles per hour putting the hurricane into a category five(" Hurricane Katrina...") . Hence, Ray Nagin announced the first ever mandatory evacuation of New Orleans, while President George Bush spoke with FEMA director Michael Brown, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, Florida Governor Jeb Bush, and Alabama Governor Bob Riley to " order mandatory evaluations for those in threatened zones." (Ouellette 28; Brinkley 25). Finally on August 29, the foreseen atrocious Hurricane Katrina plummeted into

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