Hurricane Katrina 2005

Question 1

Characteristics

Answer 1

Started as Category 1 in the Bahamas
4 days later, it became Category 5, with wind speeds of 145mph
When it reached land the day after this, it was Category 3
Struck the Gulf Coast, New Orleans
Climate Change - Heightened Scale of Disaster? - Sea Level Rise - More Water

Question 2

Primary Impacts

Answer 2

80% of New Orleans flooded up to 6m high
1800 people killed
Roughly 180,000 homes damaged or destroyed
Major highways damaged
Oil Spillage

Question 3

Secondary Impacts

Answer 3

Over 1 million people displaced
75% of evacuees were still within 400km of their homes but 10,000s had to move over 10,000km
Oil damage - oil demand up - prices up
Tourism reduced
Chaos of evacuation - looting
Profit warnings to shareholders
Cost around $125 billion overall

Question 4

Primary Response

Answer 4

$1.8 billion donated through Red Cross Public donations
$10.5 billion rapidly assigned by US government
Quick global response
National guard deployed
Levees - Airlifted sandbags to drop onto

Question 5

Secondary Response

Answer 5

Oil Spillage cleaned up
Power restoring took almost 2 months
Tourism recovery by 2017
Contaminated Sediment Removal
Levee repairs and strengthening took a long time - but also fear they will still not withstand future storms
$900 million spent on mobile homes