Hurricanes are not uncommon among the coastal regions. Atmospheric and sea-surface conditions were conducted to cyclone’s rapid transformation and resulted in what is known as Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina was tearing apart the Gulf of Mexico. It was a Category 5 hurricane and was predicted to create several landfalls within the affected area. The wind was moving in a pattern causing a storm surge toward the city like a high tide. Due to poor construction, the floodwall broke the flood wall and levee and like a tsunami, the water flooded New Orleans. The second and third flood walls also collapsed and result in more than eighty percent of the city in water and thousands of people were banished. The levees and flood water failure led
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Hurricanes originate from warm sea water and since shallow coastal waters tend to lack cold water, it can diffuse storm power. The evaporation of water from the ocean creates condensation and thus releases latent heat from evaporation, resulting in a storm and further to a hurricane. Also Louisiana has several wetland areas, and due to the construction of levees and flood walls, these back-swamps no longer receive sediments. This resulted in much of New Orleans is below sea level prior to the catastrophic event. Furthermore, New Orleans is located between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain making the ground level even lower than its surrounding area, like a valley. For the levee component, the soils at its base are delta soil, which has clay like composition. The soil was too weak to withhold much movement and it can cause a sinking problem because the soil keeps absorbing the water. Also the levee, six inches thick walls on each side and 15 feet high, was only constructed to withstand a Category 3 hurricane and since Hurricane Katrina was a Category 5, some damages were predicted. The event caused the water to overflow over the floodwater and enters the city. The steel sheets were also not deep enough into the soil for these levees to withstand the storm of water. However, even if the levees were stronger, thicker and higher, there are still possibilities of
Hurricanes originate from warm sea water and since shallow coastal waters tend to lack cold water, it can diffuse storm power. The evaporation of water from the ocean creates condensation and thus releases latent heat from evaporation, resulting in a storm and further to a hurricane. Also Louisiana has several wetland areas, and due to the construction of levees and flood walls, these back-swamps no longer receive sediments. This resulted in much of New Orleans is below sea level prior to the catastrophic event. Furthermore, New Orleans is located between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain making the ground level even lower than its surrounding area, like a valley. For the levee component, the soils at its base are delta soil, which has clay like composition. The soil was too weak to withhold much movement and it can cause a sinking problem because the soil keeps absorbing the water. Also the levee, six inches thick walls on each side and 15 feet high, was only constructed to withstand a Category 3 hurricane and since Hurricane Katrina was a Category 5, some damages were predicted. The event caused the water to overflow over the floodwater and enters the city. The steel sheets were also not deep enough into the soil for these levees to withstand the storm of water. However, even if the levees were stronger, thicker and higher, there are still possibilities of