Hurricane Katerinas worst pain Essays (579 words) -

Hurricane Katerina's worst pain Hurricane Katrina, which made landfall near New Orleans, Louisiana, on August 29, 2005, was the most destructive and costliest tropical cyclone to hit States. Hurricane Katrina, which made landfall near New Orleans, Louisiana, on August 29, 2005, was the most destructive and costliest tropical cyclone to hit the United States. Hurricanes are tropical cyclones which are huge rotating storms which can cause huge amounts of damage. Hurricanes can reach up to 210 mph with heavy rain and stormy seas. The hurricane begins with an area of heated air over the warm seas in the Tropics. The heated air expands and rises, creating an area of low pressure. The surrounding air moves in towards the low pressure and is made to spin by the earth's rotation. Areas affected by Hurricane Katrina were Bahamas, South Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida Panhandle and most of eastern North America. The US estimates the death toll to be in the thousands and the damage cost is higher than $200 billion. The mayor in New Orleans, Ray Nagging ordered an evacuation before the hurricane struck on August 28th, He repeated the order on August 31st.The storm started east of the Bahamas, it moved over it and made its way to Miami, south of Florida. It strengthened and turned into a hurricane just before reaching the Florida coast. Hurricane Katrina passed leaving 100,000 people without power. It strengthened further with wind speeds of 100-145mph and curved its way inland, towards Louisiana. When the hurricane reached New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina was at its fullest, at nearly 165mph! It destroyed and flooded most of New Orleans and parts of Mississippi and Alabama. The hurricane was downgraded to a tropical storm when it reached the middle of Mississippi and Alabama. Over 150,000 people could not evacuate because many of the New Orleans' school busses. In addition to residents, tourists were stranded on high pieces of land. Fuel and cars were in short supply and the Greyhound bu s and Amtrak train were stopped On August 28th, many refugees that could not leave the city went to the Louisiana Superdome. It housed nearly 10,000 people including National Guard troops. The Louisiana National Guard delivered three truckloads of water and seven truckloads of food, enough to supply 15,000 people for three days. When Katrina passed, it tore two massive holes in the Superdome roof. On September the 1st, it is reported that over 60,000 people had gathered at the Superdome even with the harsh circumstances. On August 31st, it was announced that evacuees were to be moved to the Astrodome in Texas. There were countless reports of looting and violence when many people were evacuating. There were even shootings on emergency helicopters halting rescues. Much of New Orleans is below sea level, which meant it only took 24 hours for 80% of New Orleans to be flooded when part of the levees was destroyed. Army helicopters dropped massive sandbags in the water to close the gap so that no more water could be flooded in. Trucks filled with big rocks also helped to fill the gap. They then put a sheet steel barrier using a crane beside the rocks/sandbags to stop the water completely. They finally used a giant pump to pump the water out of flooded areas to the river/lake. Experts said that it would take around 80 days before they could drain all the water out of New Orleans.