Hurricane Katrina 2005
Hurricane Katrina made landfall in the gulf coast on August 29th 2005. New Orleans was in the eye of the storm and was hit the worst. After the storm hit, it was said to have been "the largest civil engineering disaster in the history of the United States" (Marshall, 2005). An estimated one million people evacuated from Greater New Orleans for preparation from the storm. However, 20% of New Orleans residents was either unable due to financial reasons, lack of transportation options, the disabled or just did not want to leave their homes stayed in the metropolitan area despite the mandatory evacuation. Many took refuge in the Superdome that was originally supposed to be designated as a "shelter of last resort" but quickly became a major lifeline for the residents stuck in New Orleans.
Role of the Superdome
Hurricane Katrina was the third time the dome was used for shelter from a storm. In 1998, Hurricane Georges ripped through New Orleans and in 1994, Hurricane Ivan came through. For Katrina, there were 9,000 residents along with 550 National Guardsmen who stayed there during the night of the storm. Afterwards, the numbers sky rocketed to 15,000 and then 20,000 people who took refuge there while rescue teams brought more and more people in.
Hurricane Katrina was not the main reason New Orleans took such a heavy beating. It was mostly due to the levee failures. Levees on four of the city's canals were breached. A storm surge came through the Mississippi River with caused more breaches. There were a total of 53 levee breaches in all after the storm. Some areas that at first seemed saved from the floods, later became flooded a few days after the storm because of rapidly rising waters. Water levels were similar to a hurricane in 1909, but because areas that once were farmland or swamps now are heavily developed, the effects of flooding was much worse. The total economic loss from the disaster has been roughly $108 billion dollars. Also, due to New Orleans being a heavy supplier of America's oil, oil production was reduced by 1.4 million barrels per day, which worsened the already suffering economy of the City. On top of economic effects, the environmental effects were just as bad if not worse. A substantial amount of beach erosion occurred, approximately 20% of local marshes were permanently overrun by water and a significant amount of wetlands were lost. More than 1,100 people died in Louisiana alone from the storm.
Hurricane Rita
Just a short three weeks later after Katrina, Hurricane Rita came through New Orleans. Places that were not already flooded, became under water and areas that were previously flooded, re-flooded. These two hurricanes came to be known as "the costliest engineering mistake in American history". This was because the United States Army Corps of Engineers designed the levees and floodwall systems incorrectly by designing them to only withstand a category two hurricane.
New Orleans after Katrina and Rita
The racial makeup of New Orleans has changed after the storms hit. Before, there was about 67% of the population as African American while after the storm, only 60% were African America. As far as whites go, there were 28% before and 33% of whites living there afterwards. Since the storms, the Army Corps of Engineers has given about $14 billion to improve the flood defense structures. The number of poor people remain at high levels while there have also been greater amounts of college educated newcomers. About the same amount of households that were living in poverty, still live in poverty.
BP oil spill 2010
The BP oil spill occurred in 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. It was considered the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry. There were a total of 4.9 million barrels of oil lost in the Gulf of Mexico waters. Though massive attempts to clear up the oil and protect the surrounding wildlife and environment, years later the effects are still seen. There are still damages to marine and wildlife habitats, fishing and tourism industries are still hurting, and human health problems are still arising. The greatest impact was on marine species. Louisiana suffered economically from the spill, such as with their offshore drilling, fishing and tourism. Much of New Orleans's city revenue comes from tourism, but because the waters were infested with oil and the local seafood was polluted, tourists and residents alike were too afraid to visit and eat.
Present Day New Orleans after Katrina
The population of the city is still 20% below pre-Katrina levels, however by 2011, New Orleans was the fastest growing city in the nation. People who were forced to move elsewhere like Houston, Atlanta and Baton Rouge have finally returned to their homes and have gutted and cleared up there land. More businesses and restaurants are popping up all over the city. While business is looking up, there can still be seen, areas of complete devastation and crime and unemployment rates are still high. Many of those are located in the lower ninth ward; the area that was most badly hit.