The Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina - Essay Example

The epicenter of Katrina was well predicted to pass east of New Orleans. Forecasts also showed that the storm would force large volumes of water from Lake Pontchartrain against the levee system and into the city probably (Brown, Knabb and Rhome 2005). The National Weather Service further predicted unimaginable damage to New Orleans and its environs. With the severity of the hurricane beyond doubt, an evacuation order was issued by the authorities. This order was received with mixed reactions as some people refused to leave for safer grounds.

The hurricane which formed over the Bahamas traversed Southern Florida causing a lot of floods and some deaths before gaining more strength as it approached the Gulf of Mexico (Brown, Knabb and Rhome 2005). The storm surge of the natural disaster caused severe destruction in New Orleans, Louisiana as it rendered the levee system useless. With the levee system failing under the storm surge, huge tracks of parishes flooded for so many weeks. At Mississippi’s beachfront towns, the worst property damage of all was experienced as casino barges and boats knocked onto property pushing them inland; the waters going up to about 19 kilometers deep inland.

The hurricane also damaged communication and transport systems, other effects being violence and other criminal activities that followed. A lot of resources were used in the disaster’s rescue missions, and efforts to reconstruct the city and levee systems were put in place soon after the hurricane stopped (Dermisi & Kilpatrick, 2007).