Hurricane Katrina: Review of After-Action

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Natural disasters that occur due to seasonal meteorological processes can become a real challenge for the affected region residents if the state does not have a clear response plan. Hurricane Katrina, a major Atlantic hurricane, killed 1,800 people when it hit New Orleans and the surrounding area in 2005, causing $ 125 billion in losses (Carafano & Keith, 2006). Hurricane Katrina is ranked more closely with Hurricane Harvey 2017 and Hurricane Kyle 2020. The lessons learned from the response to Hurricane Katrina will be useful in managing disasters in the future.

One of the main factors that complicated the emergency services situation and caused most of the deaths was flooding associated with deficiencies in the dam around New Orleans. As a result, 80% of the urban area was flooded, transport infrastructure and communications were destroyed. Tens of thousands of people became hostages of the elements and needed immediate evacuation. The evacuation involved federal, local, and private rescue operations. Despite criticism of the federal, state, and local government actions, which led to several resignations, the actions of some agencies were extremely effective. In particular, the United States Coast Guard (USCG), the National Hurricane Center (NHC), and the National Weather Service (NWS) performed best.

Hurricane Katrina created several significant challenges that have become the subject of further analysis. First, a remarkable piece of infrastructure across the Gulf Coast was destroyed, depriving 3 million customers of telephone communications (Chapter five: Lessons learned, 2005). Radio broadcast facilities were also affected, including half of local television and radio stations. In Mississippi, 50,000 power poles were demolished, according to government reports. As a result, rescue services were deprived of a network of reliable sources of information (Chapter five: Lessons learned, 2005). Besides, due to inadequate coordination with federal and local agencies, the available communication facilities were not fully utilized.

Other challenges were logistics and evacuation, search and rescue of victims, and the extensive use of military potential. According to the White House report findings, the need for the Ministry of Security to establish a regional emergency response structure was recognized. White House has also ordered to transform the National Guard to include training to prepare rescue missions (Carafano & Keith, 2006). The report also called on the Ministry of Health and Human Services to create plans for responding to natural disasters.