Effects of Hurricane Katrina

Introduction

The United States were taken aback by the chaos caused by Hurricane Katrina. On August 29th, 2005, the south of the country faced one of the worst natural disasters in its history. The states of Mississippi, Alabama and especially Louisiana were devastated by the winds of extreme violence that destroyed everything in their path and caused thousands of victims. The people who had fled the cities including New Orleans, flooded after the rupture of several dams. The population in the affected areas were left abandoned, hungry, and without shelter along with hundreds of casualties. The consequences of this natural disaster with respect to humanitarian factors are incalculable. The destruction caused by Katrina will be felt for years. The cost of reconstruction was estimated at tens of billions of dollars. A year after the disaster, the rebuilding of the city fell far behind.

Discussion

Hurricane Katrina is one of the strongest natural disasters that affected the United States. It caused havoc in a number of states. Television stations broadcasted images of the aftermath of the storm, which were extremely disturbing. After few days of the disaster, it was time to assess the economic impact of Katrina. Some firms such as Eqecat, with the help of a risk modeling tool, estimated an amount between 9,000 and 16,000 million dollars just in compensation paid by insurers (U.S. Government, Pp. 3-20). These forecasts, which could only be concretized in the field, were determined from initial estimates of 15,000 to 30,000 million dollars, as the storm reduced its level of intensity (level rose from 5 to level 1) and its path moved away from major population centers (Al-Otaibi, Pp. 317-336). However, it was still able to be the most expensive disaster for the insurance sector in the United States in its history.

Moreover, the oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico had to stop the production during the days when the storm struck. An estimated one and a half million barrels of oil failed to reach the market each day, which was assumed at 8% of U.S. production (Lansford, Pp. 144-174). This factor was not only responsible for the upward pressure on oil prices, as the prices were already quite high. However, the impact on the economic factors of the country was significant that was felth by the infrastructure, productive and social fabric. Without these bases, the region's economy soon recovered. Not to mention that hurricane season was not over yet, and it was expected that there would be more storms in the following years this year.

The Case of New Orleans

The consequences of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans were disastrous. On 29th August 2005, the Hurricane Katrina was predicted and monitored by the weather service fell on the coast of Louisiana to the United States. On 30th August 2005, one day after the passage of Hurricane Katrina, 80% of the city of New Orleans was flooded (Lansford, Pp. 144-174). The flood was caused by two breaches of the dyke system of seven feet high that ...