Photo Hurricane Katrina, 2005. By The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Department of Commerce
| Hurricane Katrina will undoubtedly go down in history as one of the worst disasters, but its most infamous reputation will be that “it was predictable and ultimately preventable”. On the morning of August 29th, 2005 a downgraded Hurricane Katrina (Cat. 3) made landfall in southeast Louisiana. The wind and rough seas were the first to make landfall as boats, docks, and virtually anything not tied down were jarred loose and flung about. The winds in themselves were significant but storms up to Cat. 4 have hit the area in the last 100 years. In fact this familiarity with storms of the past, “they come and they go” was a contributing factor to the erroneous decisions not to evacuate ahead of time. |
For the first couple of hours Hurricane Katrina seemed similar to storms past, but the downgraded storm, from Cat. 5 to a Cat. 3 had brought with it an enormous storm surge. In some areas beach waters moved inland almost 12 miles. As the swollen waters pushed beach houses, boats, whole docks, oil rigs, river casinos, and everything off the beach and further inland, the levees of Lake Pontchartrain began to fail and flood waters a dozen feet high began to fill parishes throughout New Orleans. Eventually up to 80% of the city of New Orleans and neighboring parishes were flooded, which lasted for several weeks.
The entire region looked as if it had been in the middle of World War III. By the time the levees had been patched and the city and surrounding parishes had been pumped out, over 1800 people had died and an estimated $81 billion in damage. Everybody was looking for answers!
What are the answers? Why did so many people die? Why did the levees fail? Why didn’t people evacuate?
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina people sought answers to these questions and many more, but in reality inquiry began as live news broadcasts showed hundreds of thousands of people standing along highways, at the Superdome, and a city completely under siege by mother nature. Modern technology and media brought images if endless lines of people standing along the highways leading out of town or any area above the flood line. Even the images of dead bodies on roof tops, highways, and floating about began to fill our television and internet. The pictures were gruesome but the circumstances of all this destruction were worse.
Why the levees failed!
The storm surge is the main culprit of the disaster. Before the storm made landfall three things provided it with all the intensity it needed; (1) Prior to landfall the storm was Cat. 4 and Cat.5, which gave it a large storm surge. (2) High Tide. If the storm surge had occurred during Low Tide it would have impacted the region less. (3) Lack of barriers, natural or manmade. The natural barrier had always been the wetlands, but the wetlands had suffered from decades of loss. A manmade barrier, a gate at the mouths of the canals to prevent storm surge onto Lake Pontchartrain were never constructed. These three factors contributed largely to the collapse of the levees and subsequent flooding. Note: 40 years prior to Katrina, in 1965 the Army Corp of Engineers actually opted for a gate system, but it had been turned down.
Why did so many people die?
Generally it is believed that the vast majority of dead were killed by flooding, but many agencies also claim that it was fairly difficult to determine with any accuracy actual causes of death. Another 130 people are still unaccounted for.
Why didn’t people evacuate?
When the storm was a Cat. 5 Mayor Nagin of New Orleans had given a mandatory
evacuation and many thousands of people did actually leave the city. Unfortunately the evacuation order came less than 19 hours before the storm made landfall. Worse yet the overall familiarity that New Orleans citizens had in regards to hurricanes also caused many of them to stay behind and wait out the storm, a fatal mistake for many.
Analysis: How can preppers survive in the event another catastrophic storm hits the region?
I. Since Hurricane Katrina several other hurricanes and tropical storms have hit the region, including Hurricane Isaac Aug 29th, 2012, the seventh anniversary of Katrina. Isaac impacted the region as a much weaker storm but it flooded areas not previously hit by hurricanes. Flooding around Lake Pontchartrain is becoming a bi-yearly event as storms flood areas that have no previous modern record. What preppers should learn from this is; Events may occur outside our ability to stop them, but they may occur frequently enough that we can estimate that they will happen again.
II. The failures of the levees and storm surge are attributed as the primary killers of many people, but the reality is that people failed to evacuate from an area located several feet below sea level. The entire region is kept dry by hundreds of miles of levees, and some areas located near these levees are up to fifteen feet below sea level. This is a catastrophe waiting to happen!
III. Tens of thousands of people gathered along highways, tops of buildings, or at the superdome because they had no clear plan or ability to leave the region. For the most part refugees huddled in these masses for up to three to four days, with little water, food, or medicine. Preppers should prepare for emergencies based upon the environment they live in. A small rowboat or canoe could have allowed many people trapped on roofs or
other locations to evacuate.
IV. The thousands of people gathered in huddled masses had very little water, food, or medicine. A 72 hour kit for each person would have given them the nourishment to move ahead, find refuge, or survive.
V. In the wake of the disaster many citizens left New Orleans and never returned. The remaining citizens found themselves confronted by increasing lawlessness, a collapsed economy, and a collapsed service system. A 72 hour kit works great for those who suffer emergencies of short duration or those who wish to evacuate and need provisions, but for those who opt to stay behind anything smaller than a 90 day kit is unwise. Preppers need to consider duration and what their community might look like when services fail and law & order are short on supply.
Sources
1. “Many decisions led to failed levees”, by Alan Levin and Pete Eisler, USA
Today. 11/3/2005. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-11-03-levees-failure_x.htm
2. “Insistent Appeals to Evacuate Did Not Warn That the Levees Could Break”, Sandy Rosenthal. Posted: 10/11/11 03:50 PM ET. Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sandy-rosenthal/katrina-levees-warning_b_1001777.html
3. “Louisiana Citizens Awareness & Disaster Evacuation Guides”, Louisiana Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness. 11/13/2009 http://www.ohsep.louisiana.gov/evacinfo/stateevacrtes.htm
4. Public Domain Images Online. Give Credit. Pay Nothing. Andreas Viklund. http://imagespublicdomain.wordpress.com/tag/hurricane-katrina/
5. National Oceanic & Atmospheric Agency (NOAA) Image Hurricane Katrina, 2005
The entire region looked as if it had been in the middle of World War III. By the time the levees had been patched and the city and surrounding parishes had been pumped out, over 1800 people had died and an estimated $81 billion in damage. Everybody was looking for answers!
What are the answers? Why did so many people die? Why did the levees fail? Why didn’t people evacuate?
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina people sought answers to these questions and many more, but in reality inquiry began as live news broadcasts showed hundreds of thousands of people standing along highways, at the Superdome, and a city completely under siege by mother nature. Modern technology and media brought images if endless lines of people standing along the highways leading out of town or any area above the flood line. Even the images of dead bodies on roof tops, highways, and floating about began to fill our television and internet. The pictures were gruesome but the circumstances of all this destruction were worse.
Why the levees failed!
The storm surge is the main culprit of the disaster. Before the storm made landfall three things provided it with all the intensity it needed; (1) Prior to landfall the storm was Cat. 4 and Cat.5, which gave it a large storm surge. (2) High Tide. If the storm surge had occurred during Low Tide it would have impacted the region less. (3) Lack of barriers, natural or manmade. The natural barrier had always been the wetlands, but the wetlands had suffered from decades of loss. A manmade barrier, a gate at the mouths of the canals to prevent storm surge onto Lake Pontchartrain were never constructed. These three factors contributed largely to the collapse of the levees and subsequent flooding. Note: 40 years prior to Katrina, in 1965 the Army Corp of Engineers actually opted for a gate system, but it had been turned down.
Why did so many people die?
Generally it is believed that the vast majority of dead were killed by flooding, but many agencies also claim that it was fairly difficult to determine with any accuracy actual causes of death. Another 130 people are still unaccounted for.
Why didn’t people evacuate?
When the storm was a Cat. 5 Mayor Nagin of New Orleans had given a mandatory
evacuation and many thousands of people did actually leave the city. Unfortunately the evacuation order came less than 19 hours before the storm made landfall. Worse yet the overall familiarity that New Orleans citizens had in regards to hurricanes also caused many of them to stay behind and wait out the storm, a fatal mistake for many.
Analysis: How can preppers survive in the event another catastrophic storm hits the region?
I. Since Hurricane Katrina several other hurricanes and tropical storms have hit the region, including Hurricane Isaac Aug 29th, 2012, the seventh anniversary of Katrina. Isaac impacted the region as a much weaker storm but it flooded areas not previously hit by hurricanes. Flooding around Lake Pontchartrain is becoming a bi-yearly event as storms flood areas that have no previous modern record. What preppers should learn from this is; Events may occur outside our ability to stop them, but they may occur frequently enough that we can estimate that they will happen again.
II. The failures of the levees and storm surge are attributed as the primary killers of many people, but the reality is that people failed to evacuate from an area located several feet below sea level. The entire region is kept dry by hundreds of miles of levees, and some areas located near these levees are up to fifteen feet below sea level. This is a catastrophe waiting to happen!
III. Tens of thousands of people gathered along highways, tops of buildings, or at the superdome because they had no clear plan or ability to leave the region. For the most part refugees huddled in these masses for up to three to four days, with little water, food, or medicine. Preppers should prepare for emergencies based upon the environment they live in. A small rowboat or canoe could have allowed many people trapped on roofs or
other locations to evacuate.
IV. The thousands of people gathered in huddled masses had very little water, food, or medicine. A 72 hour kit for each person would have given them the nourishment to move ahead, find refuge, or survive.
V. In the wake of the disaster many citizens left New Orleans and never returned. The remaining citizens found themselves confronted by increasing lawlessness, a collapsed economy, and a collapsed service system. A 72 hour kit works great for those who suffer emergencies of short duration or those who wish to evacuate and need provisions, but for those who opt to stay behind anything smaller than a 90 day kit is unwise. Preppers need to consider duration and what their community might look like when services fail and law & order are short on supply.
Sources
1. “Many decisions led to failed levees”, by Alan Levin and Pete Eisler, USA
Today. 11/3/2005. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-11-03-levees-failure_x.htm
2. “Insistent Appeals to Evacuate Did Not Warn That the Levees Could Break”, Sandy Rosenthal. Posted: 10/11/11 03:50 PM ET. Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sandy-rosenthal/katrina-levees-warning_b_1001777.html
3. “Louisiana Citizens Awareness & Disaster Evacuation Guides”, Louisiana Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness. 11/13/2009 http://www.ohsep.louisiana.gov/evacinfo/stateevacrtes.htm
4. Public Domain Images Online. Give Credit. Pay Nothing. Andreas Viklund. http://imagespublicdomain.wordpress.com/tag/hurricane-katrina/
5. National Oceanic & Atmospheric Agency (NOAA) Image Hurricane Katrina, 2005
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