Category: Hurricane Katrina

On August 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina made landfall in New Orleans, Louisiana. With winds reaching more than 125 miles per hour, Hurricane Katrina at one point, reached a category 5 level hurricane. According to Rubin, Hurricane Katrina had a direct loss of $81 billion and was one of the deadliest hurricanes causing approximately 1,870 deaths. Once the hurricane had passed, approximately 80% of New Orleans was flooded, New Orleans was left with no power, many people lost their homes, and more than a million gulf coast residents were displaced. Although this event caused severe damage it brought forward lessons learned. A few lessons include:

1. The Department of Homeland Security should review current laws pertaining to communications to ensure that there is communication with civilians and first responders;
2. The Department of Homeland Security needs to establish policies and procedures for better search and rescue tactics,
3. Ddifferent departments need to assess how the federal government would help state and local government during times of emergencies, and how the government should prepare to provide medical supplies and medicine to people who need treatment.

To say the least, the local government was not prepared for a hurricane of this magnitude and that reflected in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

There were many challenges that states encountered and were left to resolve. One of those challenges included the communication system citizens had with first responders. More than 50,000 utility poles were destroyed in Mississippi alone, indicating that even if telephone call centers were working the connections of the utility users were broken. The destruction of the communication infrastructure resulted in first responders and citizens without reliable network where they could not coordinate help. Although local, state, and federal organizations had some measures, plans, and tools that they had in place, none of those measures and tools were adequate or had been implemented or practiced to withstand a devastation of this magnitude. For example, according to the White House, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Services has the largest civilian cache of radios, despite their resources, there were many radios that were available to the public, but not utilized. This highlighted the ineffectiveness of the government to deliver efficient communication to citizens in times of need. To resolve this problem there must be a strategy that includes integrating existing equipment to a national emergency plan. To specify, the National Department of Homeland Security needs to review current laws, policies, and regulations that pertain to communication and ensure that they are still applicable to today’s society, as well as, work alongside with the Homeland Security Council and the Office of Science and Technology Center to establish a National Emergency Communications Strategy that supports communication.

Another noteworthy lesson that was learned is that there needs to be coordnation when rescuing citizens. After Hurricane Katrina hit there were many people who were stranded on the rooftop of their homes. Some of the agencies that helped coordinate search and rescue plans were: the Coast Guard, FEMA Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) Task Forces, 33 and the U.S. Department of Defense forces. All these agencies worked for one common goal and that was to help as many people as they could and transport them to a safe area. Despite, all these agencies working for a common goal “the overall search and rescue effort demonstrated the need for greater coordination between US&R, the Coast Guard, and military responders who because of their different missions, train and operate in different ways”.

On August 25th, 2005, Hurricane Katrina had torn up communities on the gulf coast of the United States. Katrina hit New Orleans the hardest and left neighborhood streets underwater. Katrina is also one of the damaging tropical storms to have taken place in the united states with the total punitive damages totaling up to over 125 billion dollars from rising floodwaters and destroyed homes. People of color were most affected due to racial inequality and being forced to live in cheaper neighborhoods that are more vulnerable to flooding. The government hadn’t provided a safe evacuation procedure but those affected still sought out for help from the government.

Katrina had destroyed 800,000 housing units leaving thousands homeless and out of the tens of thousands that were rescued ,30000 were forced to take shelter in the Louisianans super dome while 1836 people lost their lives. The aftermath according to the US census only about 32,000 returned which is only 56% of what it was before the Katrina tragedy. Failure of disaster planning and failure to maintain levees and dams led to floodwaters in neighborhoods in the New Orleans area. Failure of the levees affected mostly the African American population. The poverty rate was high in the area which made them live in unsafe areas that were not well-maintained by the government. Mayor Ray Nagin had ordered an evacuation of the city, but many refused to leave or were unable to due to various reasons such as they believed the homes they lived in had significant protection against the disaster or were unable to do so due to the lack of finances or transportation. We watched how residents were abandoned by federal, state and local authorities and over 1800 people mostly of color lost their lives. Katrina is just another example of how minority groups especially those of color are unprotected when it comes to environmental sustainability. The United States must show some accountability for improper planning and letting minorities risk their lives in vulnerable environments.

Rob Nixon, in his book ‘Slow violence, Neoliberalism, and Environmental Picaresque’ (2011), highlights discrimination against minority communities and the government’s failure to maintain infrastructure and to organize evacuation plans leads to a disadvantage for these minority communities during times of human or natural disaster. He also highlighted the destruction of Hurricane Katrina and how racial discrimination played “a role in the safety of those communities affected”. He states that “negligence to prevent potential damages such as creating neighborhoods around poorly maintained levees is due to neoliberal ideals”. He defines the wealth gap that allows upper-class white groups to have better access to safety than those of color.

In my opinion, the minority or colored groups that we’re unable to afford homes in wealthy or well-maintained neighborhoods face a form or both racial and environmental injustice. If proper maintenance of levees and dams as well as proper evacuation procedures, protocols, and policies were in place many people would have still been alive today and wouldn’t have to be displaced from the natural disaster.

‘The Road Home’ was a housing assistance program first led by Governor Kathleen Blanco who delayed the program for 6 months by seeking more money from congress. Only 6 billion dollars was funded through the GOP congress, but this wasn’t enough for Blanco’s recovery program that was supposed to promise grants of up to 150,000 thousand dollars. ICF was supposed to hand out the money but those who filed claims didn’t hear back for months to find out they still need verification, such as fingerprint verification and birth certificates for counter fraud measurements, note that most had lost their entire homes and all documents that they had. There wasn’t any timetable of when the grants were supposed to be handed out by due to loopholes in appraisal methods and award calculations delayed grants for months. Out of 105,000 who applied only 506 had received money Department of Housing and urban development said that the program needed to be redesigned due to the faults in it and gov also declined grants that exceeded the property value so the Road Home program could only pay out the home’s value before the hurricane. Homeowners in black neighborhoods received less in grants than white neighborhoods who had fewer damages or similar damages in better neighborhoods with similar home sizes. A discrimination lawsuit was filed, and 20 million dollars was to be divided amongst 125000 residents and business in checks ranging between 2.50 cents and 3,700 dollars depending on level of flood damage and size of home. The money was still not enough for some survivors to completely rebuild their houses and get back on their feet.

I feel it cost more to clean up the damages and debris than to ensure proper prevention. Levees and flood walls should be kept maintained and emergency response teams should make those who are most vulnerable a priority. The housing rebuilding program has not showed proper policies to protect Human rights and speedy recovery and it took almost a decade for some to recover. According to The Hurricane and Storm Damage Reduction program which was put in place in 2011 to reduce vulnerabilities to flooding caused by natural disaster in New Orleans, plans to reduce flooding consisted of projects such as building higher and more resistant flood walls and levees throughout the region. Emergency pumps and canal closures were also installed at the end of the outfall canals to reduce flood heights for years to come.

Hurricane Katrina killed 1,833 people with 1,577 being from Louisiana. Of those killed 40% were from drowning, 25% were from injury or trauma, and 11% died because of heart conditions. Almost half of the deaths in Louisiana were elderly people over age 74. Ninety thousand square miles of the United States was impacted. More than 1 million people were displaced along the gulf region. The city of New Orleans had a population of 484,674 in April 2000 and fell to 230,172 by July 2006. This is a decrease of 50%. By 2017 the city had grown to 393,292 according to the Census. 70% of New Orleans’ occupied housing, 134,000 units were damaged in the storm. Prior to Katrina 67% of New Orleans were black with 30% living in poverty. Because this population group had no way to relocate Katrina just made their situation worse. Total damage caused by Katrina is estimated to be $125 billion dollars, the costliest storm on record. Private insurance companies paid $41.1 billion for damage to vehicles, homes, and businesses. 63% of the claims occurred in Louisiana with 34% in Mississippi. National Flood Insurance paid $16.3 billion in claims. In June of 2006 a report was released by the Government Accountability Office stating at least $1 billion of the payments made by FEMA were improper and possible fraudulent.

Federal, state, and local governments have rebuilt the levees, flood walls, gates and pumps spending more than $20 billion dollars. But even those that created the system say it may not be strong enough. The system was built to protect against a 100-year flood and the city of New Orleans faces more powerful storms. New Orleans has celebrated its 300th birthday but there’s no certainty they will celebrate their 400th. Congressman Garret Graves from Louisiana and former chairman of the state’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority states “all along we knew that 100-year was somewhat voodoo math”. Half of the city lies below sea level and continues to sink. The protective wetlands that buffer the city are also eroding away. Scientists suggest that climate change will make the problem worse as the oceans rising will make storm surges stronger. They also state that it will bring stronger hurricanes. Mayor Mitch Landrieu stated that a 10,000 year flood standard should have been the standard when rebuilding but it came down to the cost. Initially Congress considered a plan that would provide protection for a Category 5 hurricane. Many experts suggested that level or higher. A congressional compromise was reached known as the ‘Devils Bargain’. As long as the new system could be brought up to the 100-year level people would be eligible for flood insurance. The Army Corps produced a 4,000 page report with alternatives but couldn’t offer a recommended course of action. By 2017 the seas were rising so fast that the cost would be $50 billion to build as desired. The corps did build in features that increased the design from a 100 to 500-year flood design. It was just too costly for the State of Louisiana that had to consider more than the city of New Orleans.

That covers the details of Hurricane Katrina, the warning signs prior to the storm, details of the storm, and infrastructure improvements that were made. What about the people affected? Psychologist Jean Rhodes of the University of Massachusetts-Boston and Ailsa Chang, guest host of All Things Considered have spent more than 10 years studying and interviewing Hurricane Katrina survivors. They state that most people do well in the long-term but some continue to struggle. Sixty percent have returned to where they were mentally before Katrina. Approximately 20% have increased anxiety and depression and for some there was actually an improvement from prior to Katrina. Stress can cause changes in our perspective about life and for some there was great appreciation. Also, some people received mental health care that they’d never had before. An interesting note is that the loss of a pet is a huge factor (top 3) in a person’s depression and anxiety levels. In New Orleans shelters were very open to including pets.

According to an article written by Gary Rivlin in August, 2016 there’s a huge difference in recovery between the white and black population. Approximately 96,000 fewer African-Americans are now living in New Orleans; 1 in 3 have not returned after the storm. In the Lower Ninth Ward where people lived on $16,000 before the hurricane you can drive for blocks and not see one home. Mayor Mitch Landrieu declared victory when he gave his state of the city speech just prior to the 10th anniversary of Katrina. He stated that New Orleans was no longer recovering or rebuilding but was America’s greatest comeback story. This was mostly true for white communities that looked better than before the storm because of all the new homes and businesses. But it is a different story in the eastern half of the city where tourists rarely go. Water still covered most of New Orleans when Jimmy Reiss, a prominent businessman and head of the Business Council, stated the city would come back “a completely different way: demographically, geographically, and politically, or he and other white civic leaders would not return”. Affordable housing called the ‘Big Four’ had large sections that had little or no water damage but officials chose to bulldoze the building. Road Home, a housing recovery program, was created after Katrina. Funding was disbursed based upon the value of the home instead of the cost to rebuild. This was discriminatory as most black homeowners appraised at a much lower value. A federal judge sided with black homeowners five years later but by then 98% of the $13 billion was already spent on mainly white homeowners. Most of the efforts to make New Orleans a less poor city the opposite has actually happened. Child poverty is now 4%, higher than before the storm and double the national average. Income difference between the rich and poor is so great that Bloomberg declared New Orleans as the country’s more ‘unequal’ city. The median income of black households after Katrina is $30,000, less than before when adjusted for inflation. The median income for white households is $60,000 an increase of 40%. The answer is a comprehensive urban plan that brings back blue-collar jobs but few in power are talking about anything so ambitious.

My opinion after researching Hurricane Katrina is that there are many factors that impacted and continue to impact New Orleans. The geography of half the city being below sea level is one problem and the city can’t control the weather. But most of the damage was not the hurricane winds but the failing of the levees that government officials knew could happen. There has been some improvement but because of money not the best solution. Then there was poor communication and slow response of emergency supplies and evacuation efforts. New Orleans is being rebuilt but it’s not the same. The culture and customs of a large segment of the population is gone. Maybe the black will return and maybe the levees will hold.

Hurricane Katrina was a tropical hurricane that struck the United States in 2005. It was one of the worst and most remembered natural disasters in the history of the United States. In the video ‘The Storm’, there are many political actors and organizations shown, and they all have similar or different interests. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) wanted to help the people after the storm, so they brought supplies to places that were hit the hardest. However, according to the narrator, former FEMA director, Michael Brown “…misled the public to quell panic” (Frontline, 2005, 11:42). Brown tried to hide the reality of the situation by telling people everything was okay. The Louisiana National Guard was supposedly not on the ground when people needed help. The Chief of the National Guard, Lieutenant General Steven Blum, believed the failure of communication systems lost lives. He states, “If any lives were lost because people were late getting there, it’s because the people couldn’t call 911 and tell them where they were. That’s communications” (Frontline, 2005, 7:03). New Orleans’ Mayor, Ray Nagin, knew people needed help. He was responsible for stocking shelters and providing evacuation vehicles. He also tried to tell people that New Orleans needed help, despite President George Bush suggesting that they were okay.

Based off of what I saw in the video, the inner workings of the government institutions were very scattered. None of the institutions or political figures were in sync at all. They became overwhelmed, so they were unable to keep the public calm. Their unpreparedness caused lives to be lost and made the overall impact of Hurricane Katrina to be worse.

According to Live Science contributor, Kim Ann Zimmerman, “An estimated 1,833 people died in the hurricane and the flooding that followed in late August 2005…” (Zimmerman, 2015). The video also states, “Why didn’t New Orleans evacuate sooner? Why were so many people left behind?…Where was the National Guard? Where was the Army? Where was FEMA?” (Frontline, 2005, 2:28). The video then goes on to say, “Local and state officials failed to plan” (Frontline, 2005, 3:20). The fact that none of these organizations were where they were needed is a good example of their unpreparedness. There were quite obviously some major issues within the government.

According to Georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov, “During the Federal response to Katrina, four critical flaws in our national preparedness became evident: Our processes for unified management of the national response; command and control structures within the Federal government; knowledge of our preparedness plans; and regional planning and coordination” (Chapter Five: Lessons Learned, n.d.). This is a good explanation of how these government institutions were unprepared, as well as flawed.

There are a few aspects of this situation that are representative of U.S. political culture. For example, the textbook, American Government: Power and Purpose, states, “One compelling reason governments do what they do is that they respond to what people want” (Lowi, Ginsberg, Shepsle, Ansolabehere, 2019, p. 7). This is represented through FEMA director, Michael Brown, telling the public that there was no reason to panic when he knew that was not the truth. The textbook also states, “Political outcomes are the products of individual preferences, institutional procedures, and collective action” (Lowi, et al., 2019, p. 7). Since the actions of these political leaders were done poorly and in an untimely manner, the people ended up wanting new leaders. This is similar to people wanting a new president in 2020 because of poor decisions made by Donald Trump.

As far as the community goes, Hurricane Katrina impacted the community in quite a few ways. Of course there were the main impacts, deaths, loss of homes, injuries, and more. According to the book, Environmental Public Health Impacts of Disasters, “Prior to the storm, the city was one of the largest ports in the country” (Goldman and Coussens, 2007, p. 19). This meant that the community was losing money, which had a negative impact on the economy. Hurricane Katrina was a very big disaster with very big impacts. It caused great unrest among the people affected, and changed the community forever. If the government organizations and political leaders had been more prepared, most of the issues that occurred could have possibly been avoided.

References

1. Goldman, L., & Coussens, C. (2007). Environmental public health impacts of disasters: Hurricane Katrina: Workshop summary. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press.
2. Lowi, T., Ginsberg, B., Shepsle, K., Ansolabehere, S. (2019). American Government: Power and Purpose (Core 15th Edition). W. W. Norton & Company.
3. Smith, Martin. Frontline: “The Storm.” PBS. November 22, 2005. Retrieved November 19, 2020, from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/storm/view/.
4. Zimmermann, K. (2015, August 27). Hurricane Katrina: Facts, Damage & Aftermath. Retrieved November 19, 2020, from https://www.livescience.com/22522-hurricane-katrina-facts.html.
5. (n.d.). Retrieved November 19, 2020, from https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/reports/katrina-lessons-learned/chapter5.html

All around the world every year some catastrophes happen to cause deaths, distress, and damages- Alas, New Orleans faced a deadly category 4 hurricane in 2005; Hurricane Katrina will be remembered by everybody in New Orleans and all around the world for its aftermaths, societal response and political manipulations that have been a prime example of how a disaster shouldn’t be handled. It was one of the worst hurricanes that the USA has ever faced in modern history. It was a terrible nightmare and the situation only got even worse when mistakes were perpetually repeated by government and disaster management agencies, whether it’s concerned about rescuing victims from the cyclones or from fellow fraud-doting citizens; they consistently failed.

Tropical cyclones are deadly and devastating storms. Flooding and High winds are the primary causes of hurricane-inflicted loss of life and property damage, Hurricane Katrina hits numerous towns but the New Orleans has been impacted the most and devastated the whole United States. Some consider it to be of category 4 (extreme) and some it to be category 5 (catastrophic) but studies claim it to be a super-typhoon which is equivalent to a category 4 or 5 hurricane. Since it flooded very quickly making places to flood from three feet to about nine feet. People went to their rooftops to find a way of survival. The magnitude of the damage that it has caused is nearly impractical to assess. Only about 10% of the planning was finished evacuation of the estimated 100,000 people who did not have cars or other means of getting out of the city. Once the storm hit and the floodwaters rose, many of the homes were without electricity, food, or water. Some sufferers died while they awaited rescue. Local authorities estimated unspecified hundreds of deaths and hundreds of thousands of refugees. Hundreds died in the Gulf Coast region. After Hurricane Katrina, the economic and human losses from natural disasters continue to escalate, and that 95% of this burden is carried by developing countries mainly South Asian countries.

Perhaps, it is necessary to note that this catastrophe has led to numerous economic and social problems. Victims not only faced environmental challenges but, economic chaos opened the way to the unbelievable circumstances when it comes to the deviance of the funds. Unfortunately, there is always some mercenary human existence that is ready to take advantage of the situation. These people indulged in making false documentation in order to receive funds from the government. Not just violating state and federal laws but also taking the right of the injured party which leads to a significant problem for the officials for deciding who is and who really isn’t a survivor of the hurricane. On the other hand, societal preferential partiality was also working invariably with economic suffrages. According to a 2010 census, roughly 60% of the Orleans population comprises of African-Americans. Perhaps, Americans’ thoughts about black are very clear, for them they’re not more than a historical slave and bad people. Katrina shows how can people be living nearby each other but still be way different from each other. In this regard, the failure of authorities was just one end of the whole aftermath, socioeconomic norms and social hierarchy helps to maintain these ill-fated citizens’ poorer sufferings to the fullest. Part of the society responded generously while others reacted greedily. Looting, violence, and unsanitary conditions were reported. Many of the deaths result from health complications and civil blunt and not from the direct flooding. Thus it’s not difficult to state that, “One’s personal financial circumstances tend to represent a much heavier blow than the blow one suffers from seeing that people in New Orleans and surrounding areas are suffering” (Kimball, 2006).

Katrina divulged the baby efforts government made at combating the aftermaths. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was known for creating ‘national disgrace’ because of its coordination and communication problem with other federal agencies’ relief organizations. Investigators have concluded that the federal government, even when it saw this alarming warning from the National Weather Service, didn’t take it seriously maybe knowing that local officials too won’t be able to hold the things together. When Hurricane Katrina swept the coast and destroyed New Orleans, many of these Americans suffered from the lack of intervention of the U. S. government. Criticism of trembled and downhearted residents who remained in New Orleans without water, food, or shelter, and the deaths of several citizens by thirst, exhaustion, and violence days are still valid. Although in some cities, the evacuation was done effectively, so there were not many casualties but in others, the authorities failed. “The fact that all the parties involved in the analysis and conclusion phase of levee analysis prior to hurricane placed blame on one another for either not communicating the necessary information or failing to act on the information communicated” (Haubert, 2015).

It is clear that if more effective plans were made for the most affected and vulnerable minorities’ of New Orleans things could’ve been different. Nonetheless, despite of accepting the mistakes done, “Some government officials still claim it to be an unavoidable tragedy and the aftermaths were inevitable no matter what are the government actions” (Haubert, 2015). Even though, many plans were made for shelter and transportation; yet, it will likely be insufficient for improving disaster plans for communities who faced the loss of friends, strong ties to extended family, and community groups influenced other factors affecting evacuation. Certainly, authorizes were not prepared logistically. Preparedness failed; and management couldn’t put up with. Ultimately, victims had to go through the repercussions of the hurricane. Only if weather forecast were taken a little more seriously. Anyway, after everything US can never be the way (at least economically) like the way it was 15 years from on.

Me: Hurricane Katrina was a large Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 deaths and $125 billion in damage in August of 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and the cities surrounding it. It was at the time the costliest tropical cyclone on record and is now tied with 2017’s Hurricane Harvey. The storm was the twelfth cyclone, fifth hurricane, and the third major hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, as well as the 4th most intense Atlantic hurricane on record to make landfall in the United States. However, due to large storms like Katrina, cities like New Orleans are sinking at a rate of 2 inches a year. My name is Blake Kubin and today I will be discussing what causes New Orleans to sink at the at which it is at as well as how Hurricane Katrina and many other storms have created a more prominent place for flooding and sinkholes.

Katrina originated on August 23rd, 2005, as a tropical depression from the merger of a tropical wave and the remnants of Tropical Depression 10. Early the following day, the depression intensified into a tropical storm as it headed generally westward towards Florida, strengthening to a hurricane two hours before making landfall at Hallandale Beach on August 25th. After briefly weakening to tropical storm strength over southern Florida, Katrina emerged into the Gulf on August 26 and began to rapidly intensify. On August 27, the storm reached Category 3 intensity on the Saffir- Simpson hurricane wind scale, becoming the third major hurricane of the season. An eyewall replacement cycle disrupted the intensification but caused the storm to nearly double in size. Thereafter, Katrina intensified over the “unusually warm” waters of the Loop Current from a Category 3 hurricane to a Category 5 hurricane in just nine hours. The storm turned into a category 5 over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico before weakening to a category 3 strength at its 2nd landfall on August 29th over southeast Louisiana and Mississippi. The storm weakened over land, but it regained hurricane status about one hour after entering the Gulf of Mexico, and it continued strengthening over open water. On August 27, the storm reached Category 3 intensity on the Saffir- Simpson hurricane wind scale, becoming the third major hurricane of the season. An eyewall replacement cycle disrupted the intensification but caused the storm to nearly double in size. Thereafter, Katrina intensified over the “unusually warm” waters of the Loop Current from a Category 3 hurricane to a Category 5 hurricane in just nine hours. With all of this rainfall and nowhere for it to go, flooding occurred in many of the cities that faced its path.

Flooding, caused largely as a result of fatal engineering flaws in the flood protection system known as levees surrounding New Orleans, participated in most of the loss of lives. Eventually, 80% of the city, as well as large tracts of neighboring parishes were inundated for weeks. The flooding also destroyed most of New Orlean’s transportation and communication facilities, leaving tens of thousands of people who had not evacuated the city before landfall stranded with little access to food, shelter, or other basic necessities. The emergency response from federal, state, and local governments was widely criticized for these actions, resulting in the resignations of Federal Emergency Management Agency director Michael D. Brown and New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Eddie Compass. Many other government officials were criticized for their responses, especially New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, and President George W. Bush. The scale of the disaster in New Orleans provoked massive natural and international response efforts; federal, local, and private rescue operations evacuated displaced persons out of the city over the following weeks. Multiple Investigations in the aftermath of the storm concluded that the U.S Army Corps of Engineers, which had designed and built the region’s levees decades earlier, was responsible for the failure of the flood-control systems, though federal courts later ruled that the Corps could not be held financially liable because of sovereign immunity in the Flood Control Act of 1928.

Dave Harris: It was crazy, the water started to pour in from the roof, then it made its way through the doors. The streets became flooded and soon after my house was flooded with it, leaving us on the roof stranded. Everyone was on their roofs just trying to stay alive.

Me: That was Dave Harris a now Baton Rouge native and a survivor of Hurricane Katrina. Dave lived in New Orleans for 23 years before Hurricane Katrina took his home. He was rescued by boat crews from the Cajun Navy that helped him and his family back to safety.

Aircrews from the Aviation Training Center, in Mobile, staged rescue aircraft from Texas to Florida. [insert interview with a survivor of Hurricane Katrina who had to be life-flighted out of his house] All aircraft were returning towards the Gulf of Mexico by the afternoon of August 29th. Aircrews and boat crews, many of whom lost their homes during the hurricane, began a round-the-clock rescue effort in New Orleans, and along the Mississippi and Alabama coastlines. President of the United States George W. Bush declared a state of emergency in selected regions of Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi on August 27th.

On August 26th, the possibility of unprecedented cataclysm was already being considered. Many of the computer models had shifted the potential path of Katrina westward from the Florida panhandle, putting the city of New Orleans directly in the center of their track probabilities; the chances of a direct hit were forecast at 17%, with strike probability rising to 29% by August 28th. The National Weather Service’s New Orlean/ Baton Rouge office issued a vividly worded bulletin on August 28th predicting that the area would be “uninhabitable for weeks” after “devastating damage” caused by Katrina, which at that time rivaled the intensity of Hurricane Camille. During video conferences involving the president later that day and on August 29, NHC director Max Mayfield expressed concern that Katrina might push its storm surge over the city’s levees and floodwalls. In one conference, he stated, “Additionally, the National Hurricane Center issued many tropical cyclone warnings and watches throughout Katrina”.This scenario was considered a potential catastrophe because some parts of New Orleans and the metro area are below sea level. Since the storm surge produced by the hurricane’s right-front quadrant was forecast to be horrendous, while the levees offered protection to people, emergency management officials in New Orleans feared that the storm surge could go over the tops of levees protecting the city, causing major flooding.

At a news conference at 10 a.m. EDT on August 28, shortly after Katrina was upgraded to a Category 5 storm, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered the first-ever mandatory evacuation of the city, calling Katrina “a storm that most of us have long feared.” The city government also established several “refuges of last resort” for citizens who could not leave the city, including the massive Louisiana Superdome, which sheltered approximately 26,000 people and provided them with food and water for several days as the storm came ashore. People were evacuated to the Superdome to expect shelter and food, however to the 26,000 refugees’ surprise they would enter a “hellhole” where they were forced to pee on walls as well as see feces all over walls just to survive the nights ahead. Worse things happened in the Superdome at night as there were accounts of rape and attempted suicides due to the lack of resources from the storm. During the day however it wasn’t much better due to the lack of electricity in New Orleans leaving people without power in the middle of the humid heat from the storm. Some estimates claimed that 8 percent of the 1.3 million of the greater New Orleans metropolitan area evacuated, leaving behind substantially fewer people than remained in the city during the Hurricane Ivan Evacuation.

The storm surge and waves from Katrina severely damaged the Chandeleur Islands, which had been affected by Hurricane Ivan the previous year. The US Geological Survey has estimated land was transformed to water by the hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Before the storm, subsidence and erosion caused the loss of land in the Louisiana wetlands and bayous. This subsidence was due to years of abusing the wetlands from oil and natural gas companies with pipelines, causing the land to sink at an alarming rate. The levees also failed due to bad engineering from The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which ultimately was the cause of 80 percent of New Orleans being submerged in water. Hurricane Katrina will forever be in the minds of New Orleanians as it has made a lasting impact that almost 20 years later we are still talking about it.

At the end of August of 2005, Hurricane Katrina, a category 5 hurricane, hit the Gulf Coast and caused phenomenal damage to Florida and Louisiana- destroying a large amount of the city of New Orleans. By September of 2005, the Department of Justice established the Hurricane Katrina Task Force. The purpose of this Task Force was to detect and prosecute individuals who were trying to take advantage of disaster relief. Hurricane Katrina was not only the deadliest, but the most expensive natural disaster in US history. Nevertheless, due to the tireless work of the FBI Task Force, millions of dollars were saved from potential frauds and the perpetrators continue to be brought to justice.

To this day, the full extent of the fraud that was committed in respect to Hurricane Katrina still remains vastly unknown, but over 1,300 individuals have been indicted for Katrina-related crimes across 43 federal judicial districts across the country. The task force received over 36,000 complaints since 2005, close to 22,500 of those complaints were referred to law enforcement for possible investigation, and 4,800 of those complaints were forwarded onto the FBI. (FBI, 2009)

The array of crimes that have been committed have ranged from emergency-benefit fraud, identity theft, procurement fraud, and public corruption. Politicians and business owners alike took advantage of poorly crafted contracts, skimming off the top and receiving kickbacks from mismanaged projects- taking millions of dollars meant for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Frauds discovered by the Task Force include examples such as two brothers claiming to raise money for the Salvation Army for hurricane victims, but instead were funneling the money through Paypal into their private bank account. They stole over $48,000 before their accounts were frozen. In 2007, they both were sent to prison for nine years. In 2014, the former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was sentenced to 10 years in prison “for corruption and bribery — some of which occurred during the hurricane response — he became the 17th local politician sentenced since the storm, according to the New Orleans Advocate.” (Westwood, 2015) In 2008, the longest prison sentence for Hurricane Katrina related fraud was handed down to a woman who was sentenced to 43 years in prison for “filing of false claims for Hurricane Katrina disaster assistance, theft of funds intended for victims of Hurricane Katrina, threatening a witness from another Hurricane Katrina case, conspiracy, drug distribution, weapons charges, and making false statements to federal authorities”, in addition to successfully stealing $80,000 from FEMA, with the intent of stealing over $500,000. (Govtech.com, 2008)

These cases were all solved with the joint cooperation of local police and the FBI Task Force. They would work together in order to initiate the investigation and then hand it off to the U.S. Attorney’s office, which would efficiently and effectively prosecute the fraudsters. This allowed the Task Force to “act quickly and aggressively to bring to justice those who would further harm the victims of these natural disasters.” (Govtech.com, 2008) The Task Force was chaired by Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich of the Criminal Division and included a wide range of government department including but not limited to: the FBI, the IRS, the US Postal Service, the SEC, the President’s Council on Integrity and Efficiency, and numerous Inspectors General. (U.S. Department of Justice, 2007)

For all these cases of fraud, it was essential to have accountants and auditors involved- their expertise in identifying red flags was imperative for sorting through all the complaints. Public corruption and government fraud cased increased by 243% between 2006 and 2008, according to Special Agent David Welker, who was in charge of the New Orleans office, and being able to catch the perpetrators early “prevented an economic loss estimated at more than $55 million.” (FBI, 2009) According to the New York Times in early 2006, Hurricane Katrina ‘produced one of the most extraordinary displays of scams, schemes and stupefying bureaucratic bungles in modern history.’ (Westwood, 2015)

Following the aftermath of Katrina, there was a lot of government criticism. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was in such a rush to create disaster relief agreements that more than 80% of the $1.5 billion contracts awarded out were incomplete and included open-ended or vague terms. (H. Rpt. 109-377- “A Failure of Initiative: Final Report”) These failures of attention to detail and moving forward with hasty, sloppy work allowed people to take advantage of all the money flooding in and for people to game the system put in place by FEMA.

Unfortunately for FEMA, their own workers were not immune to the temptation of endless fraud possibilities. One former FEMA manager was faced with an ethical dilemma in which he discovered he could: embezzled a 39 foot travel trailer, meant to be used as emergency housing, as well as his own government vehicle by means of his exploiting position. Moreover, when he discovered that he was under surveillance, he attempted to corrupt the investigation. He was indicted for embezzlement as well as obstruction of justice.

‘Whenever a natural disaster strikes, there will always be unscrupulous people willing to take advantage of victim assistance and rebuilding efforts,’ said Matthew Friedrich. ‘Those who would try to profit from the misfortunes of disaster victims should know that the Department of Justice, federal investigative agencies, and inspectors general will continue their aggressive pursuit of disaster fraud.’ (Govtech.com, 2008) Furthermore, “there have also been many cases of public corruption associated with Katrina,” said David Welker. “When it comes to criminal activity and public officials trying to siphon off funds meant for projects to rebuild the area,” he said, “we maintain a zero tolerance policy. We won’t stop pursuing these cases no matter how much time passes.” (FBI, 2009)

Three important skills that the fraud examiners used to solve these cases were being a good listener and communicator, being objective in all cases, and having a keen analytical ability. It would be important to be a good communicator and listener in order to hear the complaints come in, and get all the relevant facts in case of an investigation in the future. Objectivity is important for auditors to weed out the good tips from the less substantial tips, as well as being objective about the possible players. In many instances there were higher level politicians and even government workers who were caught stealing, not just civilians taking advantage of mismanaged process. And lastly, being able to analyze transactions and identify red flags in their early stages was crucial to uncovering fraud. The auditors and fraud examiners were able to zero in on wire fraud, misappropriation, kick backs and identity theft via stolen social security numbers.

In conclusion, Hurricane Katrina not only physically devastated areas surround the Gulf Coast, economically and financially devastated the people of Louisiana and Florida. People of all types of questionable integrity swarmed the area, hoping to make their fortune of the misfortune of others. And while it was true that the government’s response to the disaster was a failure on many counts, the proactive strategies of the FBI Task Force, along with the cooperation of the local law enforcement, were able to limit and stop many fraudulent activities in addition to bringing the criminals to justice.

Description of Event

One of the deadliest and costliest hurricanes in the history of the United States is Hurricane Katrina. In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall in the Gulf Coast of the United States (Brunkard et al., 2013). According to the Saffir-Simpson Scale, the storm was a category 5 hurricane, as it resulted in extensive destruction in New Orleans and the coasts of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Hurricane Katrina brought in strong waves, storm surges, excessive rainfall, and highly intense winds (Labib and Read, 2015). It contributed to high mortality rates and greatly affected the Gulf Coast’s environmental, economic, and social landscape (Zottarelli, 2008).

Causes

Hurricanes, also called strong tropical cyclones, form over the ocean, at a water temperature of at least 26C. Relatively close to the equator, tropical cyclones have high winds, storm surges, and heavy rains. A hurricane is made of three essential components: the eye, eye wall, and spiral rain bands. The eye is the centre region of the hurricane and consists of transparent to partly cloudy skies, and light winds. The eye wall is the most devasting component of hurricanes, which contains a ring of intense thunderstorms that rapidly whirl around the skies of the eye. The spiral rain bands are made up of heavy rain and rings of tall clouds throughout the hurricane (Moscicki, 2019).

Hurricanes often begin as a tropical disturbance— a large area of low pressure and unsettled water— where clouds form a group of thunderstorms. As the thunderstorms begin to intensify, an unorganized area containing many thunderstorms, called a tropical depression, is developed (CNN Library, 2019). Once the storms form an organized area at wind speeds between 65-119 km/h, a tropical storm is created, where it takes a circular shape. A hurricane is (1) then formed when the storm continues to intensify in an area of low pressure, where wind speeds are no less than 120km/h. Subsequent to the development of a hurricane, the Saffir-Simpson scale is used to categorize the hurricane from Category 1 to Category 5, based on the height of the storm surge – the most devasting effect of hurricanes— sustained wind speeds, and potential damages to property and infrastructure (CNN Library, 2019).

A tropical wave from Africa, travelling westward across the Atlantic Ocean initiated the formation of Hurricane Katrina (Figure 1). A tropical depression developed on August 23rd, 2005, as a cluster of thunderstorms came together. On August 24th, Katrina formed into a tropical storm, and continued to move through the Bahamas towards Florida (Marshall, 2005). Katrina made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane on August 25th near Miami, Florida (Jonkman et al., 2009). As the hurricane progressed, it was classified as a Category 3 on August 27th and upgraded to Category 4 a day later. On the morning of August 28th, Katrina crossed an area of warm water with low pressure, resulting in a fast escalation in hurricane intensity, allowing it to reach Category 5 classification. Later that day, the west side of the cloud mass started to erode, and the eye’s barometric pressure began to increase, because the dry air from Texas and

Louisiana entered the storm’s west side (Jonkman et al., 2009). This indicated that the storm had then weakened to a Category 4, prior to its second landfall in Louisiana on August 29th. Katrina continued to travel north, and the eye passed east of downtown New Orleans, slowly after which the storm reduced to a Category 3, as the south eyewall eroded, and wind field became weaker. Katrina made its third landfall on the same day, on the border of Louisiana and Mississippi, at the mouth of Pearl River. As illustrated in Figure 2, Katrina was a large, long-lasting hurricane, with a storm surge of 31ft, which was recorded as the highest storm surge in Mississippi in the history of the United States (Jonkman et al., 2009).

Figure 1: Colour-coded path of Hurricane Katrina described by its category on the Saffir- Simpson Scale (reproduced from Marshall, 2005).

Figure 2: Heights of the Storm Surge along the Gulf Coast (reproduced from Marshall, 2005). Impacts

The impacts of Hurricane Katrina were greatly experienced by the city of New Orleans.

A large portion of New Orleans was protected by earthen and concrete levees to prevent flooding, because it was below sea level. The levees were constructed to protect the city from a slow Category 2, or fast Category 3, hurricane. A few levees were weak and had collapsed after being hit by a strong Category 5 hurricane, which they were unable to withstand (Marshall,

2005). The failure of levees led to flooding in many parts of New Orleans, as large volumes of water from Lake Borgne, Lake Pontchartrain, and the Gulf of Mexico flowed into the city (Labib and Read, 2015). Due to surge flooding, the coastline of Mississippi also experienced tremendous destruction (Jonkman et al., 2009).

Hurricane Katrina is one of the most disastrous events in American history. Katrina is America’s first disaster to cause property damage worth $96 billion. Hurricane Katrina and the New Orleans flood made extensive damage, as many buildings, forests, green spaces, and approximately 300,000 homes were destroyed, resulting in a considerable amount of debris being left behind. Unemployment rates and power infrastructure were also affected by Katrina. In areas of extensive damage in Louisiana and Mississippi, the unemployment rate increased from 6% to 12%, negatively impacting the economy. There were 2.5 million power outages reported by customers in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi (The White House and Executive Office of the President, 2006). Katrina also caused at least 10 oil spills in Louisiana, a total of more than 28,000,000 L, which poured into the water bodies of the Gulf Coast. Environmental and health hazards caused by the destruction include, oil pollution, standing water, household and industrial chemical leakages, and sewage contamination. The storm surge hit 466 chemical facilities and waste sites and destroyed 170 drinking water and wastewater treatment facilities. Overall, Hurricane Katrina resulted in 1,833 fatalities, and caused catastrophic damage, especially in the city of New Orleans (The White House and Executive Office of the President, 2006).

Response

As a proactive response to Hurricane Katrina, warnings were spread rapidly across the Gulf Coast and were issued well before Katrina made landfall. The National Hurricane Center issued hurricane advisories, specifying information regarding storm surge, impact area, projected

path, and the potential consequences, including the overtopping of levees and extensive flooding in New Orleans (Cutter and Gall, 2006). On the morning of August 27th, the first evacuation orders were issued for the coastal regions. Immediately after Katrina turned into a Category 5 hurricane, a mandatory evacuation order was issued, and 430,000 vehicles were able to evacuate from the metropolitan area of New Orleans before the storm reached there. Approximately 1.1 million people of those at risk were also able to move out of south-east Louisiana. The local authorities set up multiple shelters across the city, including the Superdome in Orleans parish, for the population that remained behind (Jonkman et al., 2009).

Many federal, state, local, and private organizations reactively responded to the massive flooding in New Orleans. After Hurricane Katrina, rescue workers were able to rescue nearly 62,000 individuals from the roofs, attics, and water, within 5 days using helicopters or boats. With the assistance of the search and rescue teams, nearly 78,000 displaced individuals were relocated to shelters by September 4th (Jonkman et al., 2009). The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), a part of the American Department of Homeland Security, was in charge of managing the federal government’s response to Hurricane Katrina. The American government sanctioned $62 billion in hurricane relief aid, and FEMA distributed over $5 billion to more than 1.7 million households (Cutter and Gall, 2006).

Recovery

Recovery after Hurricane Katrina was a difficult, yet continuous process in New Orleans. The emergency period lasted very long in duration, providing evidence for failures in the initial response and the evacuation protocol conducted. Based on the 6-week emergency period, New Orleans should have spent approximately 60 weeks in the restoration period; however, there was only a 40-week restoration period. The dedication of gathering resources, funding, and

rebuilding the levees is a potential explanation for the lower restoration time. While important planning systems were implemented 10 weeks after Hurricane Katrina during restoration, plans for reconstruction began to spread within the emergency period (Colten et al., 2006). The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) set new building codes for new constructions in New Orleans’ flood zones. The city continued to rebuild in an adaptive way to ensure that it returns to the condition it was in prior to Katrina. New Orleans showcased a faster rate of recovery in comparison to other disasters; however, the extensive destruction caused by Katrina is decades away from normalcy. New Orleans is a resilient city, but it will take time for everything to return to the way it was prior to Katrina. (Cutter and Gall, 2006).

Suggestions

Further work has been suggested for the rebuilding of property and infrastructure to make it safer and resistant to hurricanes in the future. The NFIP suggested the U.S. government to implement building codes and land-use planning to strengthen infrastructure (Cutter and Gall, 2006). Rebuilding stronger levees around New Orleans can help prevent major flooding in the city for a similar event in the future. Providing an adequate emergency response, with prepared state emergency response teams and a mandatory evacuation order can also reduce catastrophic damage in the future. Implementing a more effective hurricane protection management policy, including strong risk management, proper maintenance of levees, and coordinated construction, can prevent extensive damage in the future (Labib and Read, 2015). It is essential that the American government learns from the mistakes made during Hurricane Katrina and strive to implement a system to prevent issues for future catastrophic events.

References

1. Brunkard, J., Namulanda, G., & Ratard, R. (2008). Hurricane Katrina Deaths, Louisiana, 2005.
2. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, 2(4), 215-223. Retrieved from https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/disaster-medicine-and-public-health- preparedness/article/hurricane-katrina-deaths-louisiana- 2005/8A4BA6D478C4EB4C3308D7DD48DEB9AB
3. CNN Library. (2019, May 30). Hurricane Season Fast Facts. Retrieved November 12, 2019, from https://www.cnn.com/2013/05/30/us/hurricane-season-fast-facts/index.html
4. Colten, C. E., Kates, R. W., Laska, S., & Leatherman, S. P. (2006). Reconstruction of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina: A research perspective. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 103(40), 14653–14660. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1595407/
5. Cutter, S. L., & Gall, M. (2006). Hurricane Katrina: A failure of planning or a planned failure?
6. Naturrisiken und Sozialkatastrophen. Retrieved from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.565.3352&rep=rep1&type=pdf
7. Jonkman, S. N., Maaskant, B., Boyd, E., & Levitan, M. L. (2009). Loss of Life Caused by the Flooding of New Orleans After Hurricane Katrina: Analysis of the Relationship Between Flood Characteristics and Mortality. Risk Analysis, 29(5), 676-698. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1539- 6924.2008.01190.x?casa_token=8h3- l26NrNEAAAAA:zt626g0B99G7qHGYLu50KFKsZcI988DwcMgskZFFwTLPfmOpsD BBEzEAYKx-EGdSOlzNxzOYvrr51Ak
8. Labib, A., & Read, M. (2015). A hybrid model for learning from failures: The Hurricane Katrina disaster. Expert Systems with Applications, 42(21), 7869-7881. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0957417415004224
9. Marshall, T. (2005). Hurricane Katrina Damage Survey. Haag Engineering Co.. Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/37230594/Hurricane_Katrina_Damage_Survey
10. Moscicki, M. (2019). Lecture 5: Severe Weather [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from University of Western Ontario Geography 2152F OWL site.
11. The White House, & Executive Office of the President. (2006). Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned, February 2006. Retrieved from https://tools.niehs.nih.gov/wetp/public/hasl_get_blob.cfm?ID=4628
12. Zottarelli, L. K. (2008). Post-Hurricane Katrina Employment Recovery: The Interaction of Race and Place. Social Science Quarterly, 89(3), 592-607. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1540- 6237.2008.00550.x?casa_token=MR4BW643LcAAAAAA:5-bT-
13. XJPjihyZAtjdWgVpcqduYOoAE3S2SJs3I7Pu6oDluED3DXzoyXE5wSIjk4H3UnZagiF- NPucsE

Abstract

This paper goes over the different articles provided in HSEM 456 class on how poorly or well-prepared leadership was during Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Sandy, what they failed to learn from previous incidents from Hurricane Katrina and Sandy. This will go over whether or not we have improved our ability to respond and recover from disasters as so and what is to be learned from the leadership during that period. As well as what changes have been done to better prepare for similar disasters in the future. The way the leadership will be evaluated is by their personal courage and self-confidence before, during, and after a disaster has struck.

What Happen During Hurricane Katrina?

29 August 2005 was when Hurricane Katrina had struck the Gulf Coast. The levees and floodwalls that were supposed to protect New Orleans had failed and left the city to be underwater, but they were not the only ones to be suffering from Hurricane Katrina; there was severe damage to throughout the towns along the Gulf Coast. Many people were not given time to evacuate and head to shelters. Any critical element of the National Response Plan had been executed in a timely matter nor correctly if so this would have prevented further life loss and damages to all the areas that had been affected by Katrina. Communication was lacking from the state, local, and federal when trying to respond to what was needed and what the current state was for each area affected by Katrina.

Overview of What Went Wrong

Even though numerous things went wrong during Hurricane Katrina, there were some things that well. Unfortunately, what went well does not out weight all the events that should have gone much smoother than they did during Hurricane Katrina. Communication was a huge key factor when a disaster struck, and many local, state, and federal were not prepared and ability to address the issue at hand, creating a delay in relief supplies, this was especially affected when coordinating with DOD, military, FEMA, and the state.

There was also a lack of training from the DHS and FEMA staff, and not enough people with experience were handling the response teams for Katrina. There was also a lack of situational awareness from the FEMA management of the requirements and resources for the supply chain. This was causing the logistic system to become overwhelmed, and getting any supplies, equipment, or personnel was a challenge in putting them where needed the most. This also made it hard for any charitable organization to assist because of the lack of organization, inadequate logistics capacity, disorganized shelter process.

Action Taken Before Katrina

Hurricane Pam was a full-scale exercise to be better prepare for Hurricane Katrina; this took place in July 2004. FEMA funded Hurricane Pam. This was supposed to simulate a hurricane of a category three with the qualities of a category four that hit the New Orleans area. This was a five-day exercise with 50 parishes, state, federal, and volunteer organizations took part in this scenario, which was held in Louisiana State Emergency Operation Center in Baton Rouge.

The reason for conducting this exercise was for officials to have a better understanding of what was to be expected when Hurricane Katrina hit as well as to develop a joint response plan for such events. This exercise was helpfully in many ways; it highlighted all the good and bad during the exercise. Not all lessons from the exercise were implemented into improving the emergency plan for their area.

Lesson Learned

Not all officials had done what they were initially planned to do. For example, the need to shelter anyone with special needs such as patients in hospitals or residents in nursing homes needed to move further north to be away from the Gulf Coast in order to be safe. These steps were not taken, and the selection for shelters was not thought through clearly, such as having the Superdome as a shelter; it received a lot damaged due to the hurricane, and all victims were ordered to relocate to another shelter. This leading to the issue of command and control during Katrina. A lot of the lessons learned from Hurricane Pam were not implemented, and some of the events during Katrina were not anticipated. Leaving many people to worry about why actions were not taken and who failed on their part to make sure all these lessons would be implemented into the new plan.

Leadership During Katrina

Leadership will be evaluated on personal courage and self-confidence. As well as what actions they took during, before, and after Hurricane Katrina. The following personnel will be discussed, Michael D Brown and Kathleen Blanco.

Personal courage is described as the ability to put your fear aside and do what is necessary. This comes in two forms physical and moral. A leader can demonstrate both. The moral part is being able to stand up for what you believe is right, no matter what the consequence will be. It is taking responsibility for their decision and actions. Physical courage is not worrying about what is going to happen to yourself but doing your duty. (Army Leadership Be, Know, Do, 1999)

Self-confidence is knowing that what you have done was the correct thing to do during the situation, even when you do not have all the information. (Army Leadership Be, Know, Do, 1999)

Michael D. Brown was the undersecretary of DHS, and the director of FEMA had mentioned he was unaware that people had been stranded in the New Orleans Convention Center and what the condition people were in. He failed to deliver aid to victims who were waiting for food, medicine, and other items in a reasonable timeframe. He acknowledged that they had failed to plan accordingly to Hurricane Katrina and when FEMA had shown up somewhere emptied handed, causing the residents of the area to become even more frustrated with the situation at hand. He is constantly saying he is not to blame for the events that happened in Katrina. He was heavily criticized for not having certain supplies available in the area impacted and told congress that they needed to be realistic that he did not find it to be reasonable and that they made trailers available in other areas. (A Failure of Initiative, 2006)

This demonstrates that Michael D Brown should not have been in the leadership. He did not take responsibility for his actions and was looking for excuses on why things did not go well. A leader needs to take responsibility for what they have done good or bad. He did admit that FEMA was not fully prepared for Hurricane Katrina had to offer, but that was the only part he admitted to failing to nothing else.

Lt Gen Russel Honore was the commander of the joint task force that lead the recovery during Hurricane Katrina. His job was to evacuate all residents in the Superdome football stadium due to the building being compromised. He had said that the shelter was overcrowded and that there were not enough supplies for the number of people that were there. He demonstrated self courage and self-confidence when telling police that they would not be taking the truck because there was only a handful, and the water was at chest level now. He figured it would be best if they would walk it would only be for a block. Police try questioning him and saying that they were unsure if they had the authority to evacuate the residents. Lt Gen Russel Honore told them that they needed to move and that he had the authority to do he did not want to waste any time. (Lartey, 2019)

How Changes Were Made During Hurricane Sandy

FEMA had taken the lesson learned from Hurricane Katrina and made sure to implement them when planning for Hurricane Sandy. FEMA made sure to have all personnel that was properly trained and with enough experience to be posted on the scene before the storm hit, not during it. This prevented chaos and made it easier to set up shelters for people and get any other resources needed for them instead of having the people wait for hours or even days. What made this experience different from other times was the president being able to declare a disaster before having all the details this sped up the process of receiving federal aid. Communication was a lot better, as well. There was not any confusion about what needed to be done and where they needed help the most.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we have discussed some of the areas that had negatively impacted people’s lives during Hurricane Katrina and what some of the lessons were learned from those incidents. Even though officials had done a large-scale exercise to prepare themselves for Hurricane Katrina better, many failed to implement some of the critical takeaways from the exercise, and results showed when Hurricane Katrina hit. Certain leadership had been heavily criticized for lack of actions taken, such as Michael D Brown and other leaders were praised, such as Lt Gen Russel Honore, for his quick thinking and confidence in what he was doing.

Resources :

1. A Failure of Initiative. (2006). Retrieved 9 December 2019, from https://classes.alaska.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-6836044-dt-content-rid-74467389_1/courses/HSEM_F456_ST1_201903/HSEM_F456_ST1_201903_ImportedContent_20190813015852/HSEM_F456_ST1_201901_ImportedContent_20190103052417/HSEM_F456_ST1_201801_ImportedContent_20180112032943/HSEM_F456_ST1_201703_ImportedContent_20170821063559/HSEM_F456_ST1_201603_ImportedContent_20160816112915/A%20Failure%20of%20Initiative.pdf
2. Army Leadership Be, Know, Do. (1999, August). Retrieved 9 December 2019, from https://www.armyheritage.org/images/Education/FMs/FM 22-100 Aug99.pdf.
3. Lartey, J. (2019). He is a Gulf war vet who stepped up during Katrina. Now he is an environmental crusader. Retrieved 10 December 2019, from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jul/17/hes-a-gulf-war-vet-who-stepped-up-during-katrina-now-hes-an-environmental-crusader
4. Naylor, B. (2012). NPR Choice page. Retrieved 10 December 2019, from https://www.npr.org/2012/11/03/164224394/lessons-from-katrina-boost-femas-sandy-response

The power or ability to begin or follow through energetically with a plan or task; enterprise and determination.

Hurricane Katrina has left us with many questions and lessons. To start with:

• Why situational awareness was so foggy, for so long.
• Why all residents, especially the most helpless, were not evacuated more quickly.
• Why supplies and equipment and support were so slow in arriving.
• Why so much taxpayer money aimed at better preparing and protecting the Gulf coast was left on the table, unspent or, in some cases, misspent.
• Why the adequacy of preparation and response seemed to vary significantly from state to state, county to county, town to town.
• Why unsubstantiated rumors and uncritically repeated press reports – at times fueled by top officials – were able to delay, disrupt, and diminish the response.
• And why government at all levels failed to react more effectively to a storm that was predicted with unprecedented timeliness and accuracy (Select Bipartisan Committee, 2016).

“Emergency” means any occasion or instance for which, in the determination of the President, Federal assistance is needed to supplement state and local efforts and capabilities to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in any part of the United States. (STAFFORD ACT > TITLE I > § 102; Sec. 102. Definitions (42 U.S.C. 5122)*2)

“The Five Phase of Emergency Management;” Prevention, Preparedness, Response, Recovery, and Mitigation. The main purpose of following through with each phase is to properly provide guidance and an effective system which would essentially reduce loss of life, injury, and property damage and loss resulting from natural or man-made emergencies; prepare us for prompt and efficient response and recovery activities to protect lives and property impacted by emergencies; better our response to emergencies with the effective use of all relevant plans and resources deemed appropriate; allow us to recover from emergencies by providing for the rapid and orderly implementation of restoration and rehabilitation programs for persons and properties affected by emergencies; and finally it allows us to educate our communities on awareness, recognition, prevention and mitigation of emergencies that may be caused or aggravated by inadequate planning for, and regulation of, public and private facilities and land use.

Prevention ensures that all human hazards, primarily from potential natural disasters or terrorist attacks are assessed. Taking preventive measures will provide the community protection from disasters; even those that arise from the element of surprise. The risk of loss of life and injury can be limited with good evacuation plans, environmental planning and design standards.

Emergency Managers are constantly receiving alerts from systems such as (WEA) Wireless Emergency Alerts, (EAS) Emergency Alert Systems or (NWR) NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards for example; that bring you and your immediate emergency responders to your feet. Understanding what the situation at hand is and how you will be approaching is important.

Preparedness includes planning, organizing, training, equipping, exercising, evaluating, and taking corrective action. Training and exercising plans are key to obtain max levels of readiness.

Response is consists of the logistics management and resources (including personnel, equipment, and supplies) utilizing the Incident Command System in an all-hazards approach; and measures taken for life/property/environmental safety. Recovery consists of all the steps a community must take together to restore all functions at full efforts. The goal of the recovery phase is to bring the affected area back to some degree of normalcy.

Mitigation will always reduce the numbers of casualties and property loss. Mitigation involves structural and non-structural measures taken to limit the impact of disasters and emergencies. Structural mitigation actions change the characteristics of buildings or the environment; examples include flood control projects, raising building elevations, and clearing areas around structures. Non-structural mitigation most often entails adopting or changing building codes.

Receiving and distributing communications before, throughout and after the disaster is vital but isn’t always a big hit. It must be done in a timely and effective manner. Social media, web interfaces, radio communications and satellites’ have minimized the amounts of labor and upkeep that it was to stay up to date with most recent facts. During Hurricane Katrina, one of the biggest issues became the lack of communication. Massive inoperability had the biggest effect on communications, limiting command and control, situational awareness, and federal, state, and local officials’ ability to address unsubstantiated media reports. They were not prepared for the communication loss. The National Communication System met many of the challenges posed by Hurricane Katrina, enabling critical communication during the response, but delayed responses remained along with the fact that there was a lot of misinformation being fed to the communities. Failure to order timely mandatory evacuations, Mayor Nagin’s decision to shelter but not evacuate the remaining population, and decisions of individuals led to the many deaths that took place during the flooding (Select Bipartisan Committee, 2016).

Disaster responders are constantly receiving alerts from systems such as (WEA) Wireless Emergency Alerts, (EAS) Emergency Alert Systems or (NWR) NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards, and web interfaces like HURREVAC for example; to stay on track. Situational awareness has saved many lives and understanding the situation so that it is intelligently approached has save many more. Technology is quite the advantage when it is functional. During Hurricane Katrina they faced issues with the warning systems due to lack of repairs.

An EOC must be properly staffed with both alternate and support staff because they are up 24/7 and it can’t just be anybody. All personnel must have the knowledge, skills, and abilities required for the duties assigned. Being prepared also means having the proper equipment to keep up to date and able to communicate with all those associated. When a disaster breaks out there should be teams consisting of Federal, State, Local, and Private Sectors, and community affairs all working together to properly respond and mitigate risks at hand. There are five major management functions need to be properly staffed. The Command, Operations, Planning, Logistics, and Finance/Administration are all very important to keep communities with their heads above the water. The response time and effectiveness will vary depending on how prepared a community was at the time the disaster struck.

Commands have a play intact, there is an objective, providing the staff with strategy and outline the priorities and responsibilities each team takes on. Operations provide the operational tactics and direct how we approach the scenario. Planning supports the incident; tracking, collecting, analyzing, and providing up to date information to all available staff. Logistics arranges for resources and supports achievement to incident objectives. Where would we be without Finance and Administration? Nothing is free in life and we have to find a way to monitor costs and provide up to date expenses, time recordings, and cost analysis.

According to researchers, there are eight fundamental principles of community emergency planning that can be used to increase a community’s level of preparedness, regardless of the amount of funding available: anticipate both active and passive resistance to the planning process, and develop strategies to manage these obstacles, address all hazards to which the community is exposed, include all response organizations, seeking their participation, commitment and clearly defined agreement, identify the types of emergency response actions that are most likely to be appropriate, address the linkage of emergency response to disaster recovery, provide for training and evaluation of the emergency response organization at all levels – individual, team, department and community, and to recognize that emergency planning is a continuing process. (M. K. Lindell, R. W. Perry. 2008)

Negligence of government officials and the lack of attention that is given to the infrastructure of a community has become one of the biggest downfalls for many countries currently getting hit with natural disasters and this was the very case scenario for Hurricane Katrina. Building codes were not up to par with the living situation of these water front communities. The buildings need to meet the codes and standards set and they should have the ability to withstand hurricane force winds. Height standards need to be reevaluated and the communities been protected by the levees’ there would not have been so much damage.

What we saw unfold in the days after the hurricane was the most naked manifestation of social policy towards the poor, where the message for decades has been: “You are on your own.” Well, they really were on their own for five days in that Superdome, and it was Darwinism in action—the survival of the fittest. People said: “It looks like something out of the Third World.” Well, New Orleans was Third World long before the hurricane.

– CORNELWEST, “Exiles from a City and from a Nation,” Observer, September 11, 2005

To add on to the chaos, DHS and the states were not prepared when they did show up. This was a time when most of the focus had shifted towards terrorism attacks due to the attacks of September 11th. Hurricane education and response was on the back burner for many. DHS and FEMA lacked adequate trained and experienced staff for the Katrina response which reduced their effectiveness. At least 1,100 Louisianans died as a result of Katrina, this was also due to the fact that 56 hours prior to Katrina coming ashore the public was notified. Where is one supposed to go with such little notice?

There was talk that FEMA had been under-funded and under-staffed, that it had become “emaciated,” and that Congress had undermined FEMA’s effectiveness when the agency was folded into DHS. This just goes back to unit readiness. Officials need to make sure they are properly staffed during and for oncoming shifts as well as having all the resources necessary. Throwing uneducated responders is not only adding onto the risks but it is always creating quite the setback in response time. We need to take initiative, we need to train together on a local and state level at the very least, and drills make for practice, prepare for the worst and hope for the best. It is always better to be safe than sorry.

References

1. (2016), The Five Phases of Emergency Management, Emergency Education, Office of Emergency Management, Bexar County Emergency Management. Retrieved from, https://www.bexar.org/694/Five-Phases.
2. (2016), IS-775: EOC Management and Operations, Independent Study, FEMA; Emergency Management Institute. Retrieved from, http://www.training.fema.gov/is/courseoverview.aspx?code=IS-775.
3. (2019). Mississippi Coastal Mapping Project. Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ). Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA). Retrieved from, https://geology.deq.ms.gov/floodmaps/coastal.htm.
4. Godfrey, N. P. (2009). Hurricane Katrina : Impact, Recovery and Lessons Learned. New York, NY: Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
5. Levitt, J. I., & Whitaker, M. C. (2009). Hurricane Katrina : America’s Unnatural Disaster. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
6. Davis, L. E. (2007). Hurricane Katrina : Lessons for Army Planning and Operations. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation.
7. Select Bipartisan Committee. (February 15, 2006). A Failure of Initiative. Final Report of the Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina. Union Calendar No. 205. 109th Congress, 2nd Session. Report 109-377. Retrieved from, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-109hrpt377/pdf/CRPT- 109hrpt377.pdf.
8. Stafford, R. (2013), Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, as Amended; The Stafford Act. Retrieved from, http://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/1383153669955- 21f970b19e8eaa67087b7da9f4af706e/stafford_act_booklet_042213_508e.pdf.
9. Vulnerability to hurricane damage on the U. S. Gulf Coast since 1950. Geogr Rev. 2015 Apr; 105(2): 133–155. Published online 2015 Mar 20. doi: 10.1111/j.1931-0846.2014.12064.x. Retrieved from, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4410365/.