Hurricane Katrina Case Study

The year was 2005, it seems like it wasn’t that long ago , but it has been nearly 11 years since the natural disaster named Hurricane Katrina came through and devastated the city of New Orleans. The Hurricane Katrina aftermath left 80% of the city underwater and 25,000 thousands of people displaced, stranded and in despair seeking refuge inside the Louisiana Super Dome. More than 1500 people died after the levees broke letting water from the Mississippi River flood most of the city. Nearly seventy-one billion dollars in funds has been spent to help the people of New Orleans with the recovery process. My stance is in opposition of the process of these recovery efforts that have taken place. There is the question of was it a strong hurricane …show more content…
They were supposed to conduct annual surveys of the canal bottom to make sure that erosion did not occur causing the levee system structural damage post construction. Clearly, not enough was done to plug the gap of the 17th street canal as it was considered to be of low priority. The debris removal process uses virtually any and all means as well as resources to remove the various types of debris. Primarily small scoopers, trucks, and other types of construction equipment are used in the process and all the debris is taken to temporary storage sites. The debris collected can range anywhere from 20 to 30 feet high piled up and are acres and acres wide. The debris is hauled away in many forms of transit. Some of the most common ways it is distributed to landfills and other approved collection facilities are via dump trucks, barges, freight trucks and cargo ships. The process is a long and daunting one and very emotional for those who were affected by the disaster. One thing in particular that makes the debris removal process even harder is the waste water and the toxic sludge left behind. The hurricane generated more than 100 million cubic yards of disaster debris. The other issue that slows down the removal process is separating the hazardous debris from the non-hazardous debris. One last thing that slows down the debris removal …show more content…
The storm impact caused the spill of over seven million gallons of oil into Gulf Coast waterways. Additionally, it flooded three Superfund81 sites in the New Orleans area, and destroyed or compromised numerous drinking water facilities and wastewater treatment plants along the Gulf Coast.82 The storm’s collective environmental damage, while not creating the “toxic soup” portrayed in the media, nonetheless did create a potentially hazardous environment for emergency responders and the general public.83 In response, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Coast Guard jointly led an interagency environmental assessment and recovery effort, cleaning up the seven million gallons of oil and resolving over 2,300 reported cases of