Essay on The Case for, or Against, New Orleans

The Washington Times opens with a statement describing the path of Hurricane Katrina and also shares the known death toll. This article gives the audience more of a general overview of the first known effects of the hurricane, without having too many newly revealed facts. The article has quotes from the governors of Mississippi, which gives the reader a feeling that

One pitfall for the federal government to rebuild the city is that spending that huge amount of money might not make sense if the residents do not want to stay. This would imply that the new city would become obsolete despite the billions spent to rebuild. To avert this risk, the government will need to assess whether the people want to stay and whether New Orleans needs a big city (Glaeser, 2005).

Economic Impact Industries were forced to move to Houston (“Martinez”). This caused a loss on huge sources of money for Galveston that otherwise would have been able to give Galveston a little bit of recovery. Individual losses plus public property losses such as paving, water works, schools, hospitals, and churches totaled to around, if not over, 30 million (“Resources”). Most of these losses would have had to been rebuilt immediately to keep the future of the younger people in the correct road to success. Because of all of the losses in the hurricane, Galveston never recovered economically (“Martinez”). Galveston is still at a large loss of money that it will probably never recover in our lifetimes. “The Texas Legislature agreed to a tax and sale of bonds to pay for raising the elevation of the city” (“Martinez”). Using the money raised from this tax, a 3 mile long seawall was built to protect the city from future floods

Following the staggering desolation of Gulf Coast hurricanes and levee failures, 2005, Louisiana started undertaking its infrastructure issues, which includes some very poorly maintained roads and bridges in the state. Louisiana has a backlog of more than $12 billion in needed road repairs, highway upgrades and bridge work.1 The congestion is just getting so bad in some areas that people are revolting about and it threatens the economic development of the state. Also, several communities have mega-project needs and desires that push the political candidates and leaders to plan their developmental plans accordingly.1

First, Bush had created the Gulf Opportunity Zone- a government enterprise that he said would provide help on taxes, housing, education, and training for the victims of the hurricane. Secondly, Bush noted the he would ask Congress to pass the Urban Homesteading act to provide building sites on federal land through a lottery to low-income citizens, free of charge ( pg, 250). Lastly, a $10.5 billion given to FEMA for recovery efforts including shelter, food, and medical care. However, reconstruction and resettlement would cost around two to three times. (pg, 250). If Bush had executed a better plan for Hurricane Katrina, billions of government dollars would not have been spent

New Orleans took precautions to keep the city safe in the event of a future hurricane. The new buildings reconstructed after the destruction of the hurricane were built to be flood resistant (“After the Disaster”). Many of the new houses were being renovated to be higher off of the ground than previous homes in a like manner (“After the Disaster”). This was to prevent equivalent damage from flooding to occur in the future. Another effect of the levee problems that made Hurricane Katrina much worse was that the city installed more and stronger flood barriers to keep the city free of flood waters (“After the Disaster”). The Department of Health and Human Services sent multiple medical supplies to health professionals so they are prepared for the future as well (“Bush”). The city of New Orleans learned so much more about their city after the hurricane hit. They learned how close of a community they lived in. The amount of people that stepped in to help the city in its time of need was enormous. New Orleanian people received help from many organizations, including: The Social Security Administration, The Department of Labor, the Postal Service, and many others (“Bush”). In a like manner, the president at the time, George W. Bush, intervened and cared for the city of New Orleans when they needed it. He gave the city hope and motivation to get back onto its feet. President

On the morning of August Twenty-ninth, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana and the Gulf Coast region. The storm brought the water to about twenty feet high, swallowing eighty percent of the New Orleans city immediately. The flood and torrential rainstorm wreaked havoc and forced millions of people evacuate from the city. According to the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration, Katrina caused approximately one hundred and eight billion dollars in damage. Hurricane Katrina was one of the most destructive disasters have ever occurred in the United States, but it also revealed a catastrophic government at all levels’ failure in responding to the contingency.

As the Gulf States begin the massive task of reconstruction after Hurricane Katrina, the nation is actively engaged in a dialogue concerning the lessons learned from this catastrophe, and the best options moving forward. Many are asking whether the aid package and policies proposed by President Bush are the right approach to rebuilding and restoring the region. While the hurricane shines a much needed spotlight on a number of societal issues, it is crucial that programs initiated in the storm¡¦s aftermath have the desired effect¡Xnot just regionally, but on a national scale. The devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina has raised other, more general public policy issues about emergency

After reviewing the problems caused, what type of assistance should the citizens of New Orleans have expected from the federal government?

The issue with the re-developing of New Orleans is an area that has been debated between governors, investors, urban planners, residents and other professionals since hurricane Katrina, the costliest “natural” disaster in 2005. This wonderful place, is a Louisiana city near the Gulf of Mexico. Its strategic position, becomes the exit of the great Mississippi-Missouri river system, which drains the interior North of America. New Orleans is one of the lowest spots in the United States, it is already as much as 17 feet below sea level in some places, and it continues to sink more than an inch a year. Re-developing New Orleans will be a difficult aspect because of its location, topography and weather conditions. However, New Orleans is one of the most culturally rich urban

Katrina hit New Orleans, Louisiana on August 29th, 2005, but the failure of the local government started before this day “by allowing building and growing in areas in low flood lands.” The local government did not regulate these land areas that have always

The failure to adequately prepare for the storm led to increased and more widespread devastation, which in many cases harmed those living in the affected areas. An independent analysis of the reason for such massive chaos was performed and determined that “Most of the damage was due to the failure of the levee system that surrounds the city to protect it from flooding” (Ubilla). Had these levees been properly built, and had there been more of them protecting the city of New Orleans, major flooding could have potentially been lessened. A simple feature of the levee structure which engineers neglected to include is the concrete

In the integration of FEMA into the DHS, FEMA had to contribute to the start-up costs of the new department, but unfortunately evidence suggests that the agency may have been made to pay a disproportionately higher amount than larger agencies. FEMA officials say this directly affected their levels of service in 2004 and 2005 (14). In the integration, FEMA lost some programs, but lost major ones as well (14). In 2005, plans continued to reduce FEMA. Director at the time, Michael Brown, wrote a memo in June expressing his concern about the agency’s future if the cuts continued (13). Perhaps the most ironic cut was the disaster planning exercise “Hurricane Pam.” This exercise, in which outlines a scenario where a disastrous hurricane hits New Orleans, leaving more than 100,000 people in the city, began a year before Katrina. The exercise was never finished because the Bush Administration cut funding (13).

Hurricane Katrina resulted in massive loss of life and billions of dollars in property damage. There are many lessons worth learning from this event. Finger pointing started before the event was over. Most of the focus on Hurricane Katrina was on its impact on New Orleans; however, the storm ravaged a much wider area than that. This paper will briefly summarize the event, the impact on the city of New Orleans and the lessons learned to ensure preparedness today.

Hurricane Katrina was a major economical issue, especially during recovery. In the insurance alone the government and its residents faced trouble.Out of the $41.1 billion paid by the insurances for the claims to the damage done to the vehicles homes and businesses, about 97% of the losses came from Louisiana and Mississippi. This ghastly expense that came directly from the pockets of the affected leaving them to liquidate their assets and sometimes make that biggest sacrifice as to drop everything and move to a different state in order to survive. New Orleans was already one of the poorest metropolitan areas in the United States in 2005, with the eighth-lowest median income ($30,771). At 24.5 percent, Orleans Parish had the sixth-highest