1. Hurricane Katrina
What was the Hurricane Katrina?
Hurricane Katrina was a large category 5 hurricane that caused devastation when it made landfall on
New Orleans on 29th August 2005
.It was the largest and 3rd strongest hurricane ever recorded in the USA.
Hurricane Katrina affected over 15 million people in different ways like having to
evacuate their homes, rising gas prices...
The areas that were affected were “Las Bahamas”,Louisiana,Cuba,South
Florida,Mississippi and Alabama.
1. Science helps us predict hazards
Although hurricanes are very hard to predict and track,scientist have their ways and manners to do
it.They use:
Satellites: They are very sophisticated and they are use to measure the size of the hurricanes
Weather radar: The US has a total of 155 radars constantly scanning the skies over the US and its
surrounds. They are capable of recording wind and precipitation data.
Aircraft: The US Air Force uses aircraft to drop sensors into hurricanes to measure wind speed, wind
direction, pressure, etc.
Buoys and floats: These can measure water and air temperature, wave height and the direction and
speed of wind.
Computer models
2. Knowing hazard risk can help people make decisions
Well,it can help people make decisions for example the President Bush made a plan if a hurricane
occurs again,but it did not help so much.The plan was that government of each state help the city
which was damage.If the government of each state could not help them,then all the states will help
the state which is damage even if they have to change their economy.Also, the states had been
donating some money to fix every damage.
3. Linkages exist between natural hazards
Hurricane Katrina brought multiple threats to the area because of the linkages that exist
between the hazard and the physical environment. Due to the intense precipitation,
hurricanes will cause flooding and also erosion along the coast and landslides on inland
slopes. The flooding is what destroyed most of the city, not the actual precipitation from the
storm. Katrina also eroded away a lot of Louisiana’s wetlands with tons of wildlife and
nutrients.
Primary Effects
1800 people died survivors had to swim for their lives many trapped on roofs.
Levees breached in 20 places (80% of city flooded)2/3rds of cities flooding
Roads damaged, Bridges collapsed- twin span bridge collapsed.
Buildings destroyed

2. Secondary Effects
Oil spills
Industrial waste and toxic chemicals in water
Fall in trade business tourism
Overall economic impact of Hurricane Katrina was estimated to be $ 150 billion
Crime looting and racial tension
4. Consequences ofhazards can be minimized
The consequences of Katrina could have been minimized with a few simple plans. There
never should have even been such a huge city right next to the Mississippi where it is below
sea level. And since there is now, the engineers need to make sure the levees will hold a
category 5 hurricane. They need a good evacuation system to get everyone out of the city, not
just the ones that could afford it. And also they need to be able to warn people sooner, not
just 1-2 days before the storm. They can do this by radar and Doppler tracking.