Hurricane Katrina was a very Costly Disaster

This hurricane was the most destructive in the United States. It was extremely tragic with the loss of homes, valuables, and even family. I know that I personally am thankful for the lives that were saved, but with forever remember the lives that were lost. Hurricane is a was a category 3 storm that hit ground near Grand Isle Louisiana. The category of the storm is based on the wind speed. A category 3 storm is considered extremely dangerous because it is a storm that is capable of taking lives. This category 3 storm was the most destructive hurricane that hit the U.S. It was 127 miles per hour with severe flooding that damaged cities along the Gulf Coast, New Orleans to Biloxi, and Mississippi. The water and the wind made homes in extremely bad conditions. Because of the damage, there was a need for emergency evacuation. The flooding caused half of the damage that occured. Because of the flooding, 134,000 units and 300,000 homes were destroyed. The worst flooding had taken place in the New Orleans' 9th Ward. That part of New Orleans was mostly insured.

Hurricane Rita was a storm that joined with Katrina. This happens when there are two atoms around 140 miles per hour and close by to join together. There can also be an incident when a small hurricane comes around a big storm, it will just rotate around it. When there is a medium hurricane and a big hurricane, they will rotate around together. Hurricane Katrina and Rita were two big storms together. Hurricane Rita was a category 5 storm. That means that a category 5 and 3 storm when they were together. The two storms damaged 457 oil and gas pipelines. Katrina also destroyed 113 offshore oil and gas pipelines when it was combined with hurricane Rita, which continued shortly after. (The Balance 1) This caused over 8 billion gallons of oil to spill. This event almost spilled as most oil as the Exxon Valdez disaster. Because of the loss of oil and gas, there was a three dollar increase on each barrel. That means that each gallon of gas increased by 5 dollars. Katrina force 75 percent of 819 manned oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. This hurricane damaged 19 percent of the U.S. oil production. That reduced oil production by a third. This hurricane did more damage than any other natural disaster in the U.S. history. The storm was massive before it even made contact with the land.

The people that were involved in the storm lost so much. For example, the Lee family, who were victims of hurricane Katrina, had to go to a new city to get out of the disaster that was made. They decided to travel to Houston to get out of the storm. They lost so much and they were treated like dirt there. I don't know why they were treated like this, but I do know this is a terrible way to live. They had to hide every little thing about their culture. They couldn't speak with their accent because one of the incident was that they were getting shot at for being from the New Orleans. They had to leave their homes and come to a city that treaded you terrible. They lost their valuables, their loved ones, and their homes. Forty percent of the deaths were caused by drowning, 25 percent wer from injury or trauma, and 11 percent were caused by heart conditions. (CNN 1) There was 1,836 deaths altogether. (The Balance 2) 71 percent of the people that died were 60 and older. Half of the 71 percent were 75 and older. In fact, 68 were in nursing homes and possibly were abandoned by their caretakers. This is extra sad because many of them most likely couldn't walk so how are they expected to swim. I personally think that the caretakers were just thinking about themselves. Fortunately, the government Accountability Office released a report that includes one million dollars that was used for sheltering 270,000 people.

There was also 114,000 families that were raised in FEMA trailers. FEMA is the abbreviation of Federal Emergency Management Agency. For 10 years after the storm, FEMA owed more than 15 billion dollars to the Gulf states for public work projects, including the repair and rebuilding of roads, schools, and buildings. So many people had pasted on or moved away because of this event. The populationas the New Orleans went from 484,674 to a dereastic 230,172 in 2006. When 2017 came around it increased to 393,292. Of more importance was the impact on people and animals. Katrina displaced 770,000 residents. That's more than the Dust Bowl migration during the Great Depression. Seventy-five thousand returned only to find their homes destroyed. (The Balance 3) The animals and pets were either killed or ended up homeless. There still are some pets that were able to find a new home with their families. Because it was so hard to get people out of there it was even harder to add getting animals out of the mess. Over 600,000 pets were left homeless of died.

For the flooding alone it was 250 billion dollars. Because the oil platforms were destroyed it costed a staggering 108 billion dollars. Oil platforms are offshore drilling structures. Insurance covered 80 billion dollars of the losses. The U.S. economy grew by 3.8 percent in the quarter before Katrina hit. After the storm had made landfall, it went down to 1.3 percent in the fourth quarter. The fourth quarter was October through December. There was so much money put to this natural disaster. This was the worst disaster to have hit the States so far. It has been cleaned up and people are back to their normal lives. I know the lives of all the victims will be honored forever to come.

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