ERTH15-05: Supplement on Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and the Breach of Levees

(Gabi Laske)

This page will host some of the scientific, socio-political aspects of Hurricane Katrina, the hurricane season 2005 and consequences as information becomes available. This website is dynamic (will be update) so come back to check.

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Katrina may have been third-deadliest U.S. Hurricane

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Rank	Hurricane	Year	Category	Deaths
1	TX (Galveston)	1900	4	8000
2	FL (SE/Lake Okeechobee)	1928	4	2500
3	Katrina	2005	4	1192
4	LA (Cheniere Caminanda)	1893	4	1100-1400
5	SC/GA (Sea Islands)	1893	3	1000-2000

Katrina was one of the most intense hurricanes when it made landfall in LA on Aug 29, 05 about 6am CDT

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Rank	Hurricane	Year	Category	Minimum	Pressure
			at landfall	mBar	in
1	FL (Keys)	1935	5	892	26.35
2	Camille (MS/SE LA/VA)	1969	5	909	26.84
3	Katrina (LA/MS)	2005	4	918	27.11
4	Andrew (SE FL/SE LA)	1992	5	922	27.23
5	TX (Indianoia)	1886	4	925	27.31
6	FL (Keys)/S TX	1919	4	927	27.37
7	FL (Lake Okeechobee)	1828	4	929	27.43

Katrina's History

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http://hurricane.terrapin.com

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Name	Date	Center Location	Minimum	Maximum	Current	Hurricane warning
			Pressure	Sustained Wind	Movement/
			(mBar)	(mph)	Speed
Trop. Depr. 12	Aug. 23,05; 5pm EDT	23.2N/75.5W	1007	35	NW 8	-
Trop. Depr. 12	Aug. 23,05; 11pm EDT	23.4N/76.0W	1007	35	NW 7	-
Trop. Depr. 12	Aug. 24,05; 5am EDT	24.0N/76.4W	1006	35	NW 7	-
Trop. Storm Katrina	Aug. 24,05; 11am EDT	24.7N/76.7W	1006	40	NW 8	watch, SE Florida
Trop. Storm Katrina	Aug. 24,05; 5pm EDT	25.6N/77.2W	1002	45	NW 9	watch, SE Florida
Trop. Storm Katrina	Aug. 24,05; 11pm EDT	26.0N/78.0W	1001	50	W 8	warning, SE Florida
Trop. Storm Katrina	Aug. 25,05; 5am EDT	26.2N/78.7W	1000	50	W 8	warning, SE Florida
Trop. Storm Katrina	Aug. 25,05; 11am EDT	26.2N/79.3W	997	60	W 6	warning, SE Florida
Cat 1 Hurricane Katrina	Aug. 25,05; 5pm EDT	26.1N/79.9W	985	75	W 6	warning/landfall, SE Florida
Cat 1 Hurricane Katrina	Aug. 25,05; 11pm EDT	25.5N/80.7W	984	75	SW 8	warning, S Florida
Cat 1 Hurricane Katrina	Aug. 26,05; 5am EDT	25.3N/81.5W	987	75	W 5	-
Cat 1 Hurricane Katrina	Aug. 26,05; 11am EDT	25.1N/82.2W	981	80	W 7	-
Cat 2 Hurricane Katrina	Aug. 26,05; 5pm EDT	24.8N/82.9W	965	100	WSW 8	-
Cat 2 Hurricane Katrina	Aug. 26,05; 11pm EDT	24.6N/83.6W	965	105	WSW 8	-
Cat 3 Hurricane Katrina	Aug. 27,05; 5am EDT	24.4N/84.4W	945	115	W 7	-
Cat 3 Hurricane Katrina	Aug. 27,05; 10am CDT	24.5N/85.0W	940	115	W 7	watch, LA
Cat 3 Hurricane Katrina	Aug. 27,05; 4pm CDT	24.6N/85.6W	945	115	W 7	watch, LA/MS/AL
Cat 3 Hurricane Katrina	Aug. 27,05; 10pm CDT	25.0N/86.2W	939	115	WNW 7	warning, LA/MS/AL/FL
Cat 4 Hurricane Katrina	Aug. 28,05; 1am CDT	25.1N/86.8W	935	145	WNW 8	warning, LA/MS/AL/FL
Cat 4 Hurricane Katrina	Aug. 28,05; 4am CDT	25.4N/87.4W	935	145	WNW 10	warning, LA/MS/AL/FL
Cat 5 Hurricane Katrina	Aug. 28,05; 7am CDT	25.7N/87.7W	908	160	WNW 12	warning, LA/MS/AL/FL
Cat 5 Hurricane Katrina	Aug. 28,05; 10am CDT	26.0N/88.1W	907	175	WNW 12	warning, LA/MS/AL/FL
Cat 5 Hurricane Katrina	Aug. 28,05; 4pm CDT	26.8N/89.0W	902	165	NW 13	warning, LA/MS/AL/FL
Cat 5 Hurricane Katrina	Aug. 28,05; 10pm CDT	27.6N/89.4W	904	160	NNW 10	warning, LA/MS/AL/FL
Cat 4 Hurricane Katrina	Aug. 29,05; 4am CDT	28.8N/89.6W	915	150	N 15	warning, LA/MS/AL/FL
Cat 4 Hurricane Katrina	Aug. 29,05; 6am CDT	29.1N/89.6W		145	N 15	warning/landfall, LA/MS/AL/FL
Cat 3 Hurricane Katrina	Aug. 29,05; 10am CDT	30.2N/89.6W	927	125	N 16	warning, LA/MS/AL
Cat 1 Hurricane Katrina	Aug. 29,05; 4pm CDT	31.9N/89.6W	960	75	N 18	-
Trop. Storm Katrina	Aug. 29,05; 10pm CDT	33.5N/88.5W	973	60	NNE 22	-
Trop. Storm Katrina	Aug. 30,05; 4am CDT	34.7N/88.4W	981	50	NNE 18	-
Trop. Depr. Katrina	Aug. 30,05; 10am CDT	36.3N/87.5W	985	35	NNE 21	-

The Evacuation Dilemma

evacuation dilemma: population growth faster than growth of infrastructure (roads, bridges). Example: evacuation of South Carolina before Hurricane Floyd 1999 gridlocked highway system; stopped people from leaving); catastrophe avoided because Floyd hit North Carolina instead
evacuation of some cities could take 72h; do meteorologists know that far in advance where a hurricane would make landfall?
predicted evacuation times: Ft. Myers, FL (50-60h); Ocean City, MD (40-49h); Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, Cape May county, FL (30-39h)
over half of New Orleans is at or below sea level; mostly 6m (20ft) and subsiding at 5mm/year
more than 2 million people at risk
Hurricane Ivan 2004: New Orleans was in the path of a category 4 hurricane (winds of 240km/h, 150mph) NB: the storm was a category 3 when it made landfall in Alabama. It actually reached category 5 when it devastated the Caribbean (Grenada, Jamaica, Grand Cayman). Major ordered evacuation; 1 million people fled within 2.5 days of bumper-to-bumper traffic; 600,000 people stayed put; many sick and old evacuated to 72,000-seat Superdome; city lucked out because Ivan made landfall 160km (100mi) east of New Orleans; estimated death toll if Ivan had hit: 60,000
scenario: a hurricane would bring 6m (20ft) surges to New Orleans and flood the city; takes weeks to drain; might become most costly storm event;
suggested hazard mitigation: build shelters within city that are high and strong enough to withstand hurricane

National Geographic

loss of marshes and barrier islands (4900 km²/1900mi² since 1930, the size of Delaware), from Mississippi to Texas
annual loss of land of 65 km²/25 mi² each year, despite spending $0.5 Billion over past decade to stem the tide
extensive canal and levee system prevents replenishment of sediments in wetlands and accelerates erosion
estimated costs to save current wetlands: $14 billion over 30 years (twice that of current efforts to save Everglades)
area has great economical value: produces 1/3 of domestic oil; unloads 15% of foreign oil
did you know: 250km²/98.5mi² of Luisiana's wetland has been demolished by nutria, rodents introduced for fur production in the 1930s.

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News Clips

October 08, 2005: Failure of New Orleans' levee system blamed on shiftingsoil
NEW ORLEANS - The system of levees and concrete walls that was supposed to protect the New Orleans area from flooding was breached in dozens of places, investigators said yesterday, a finding that indicates that failures were far more widespread than originally thought.
Engineers said they are increasingly convinced that floodwaters did not overtop two key floodwalls that collapsed on Aug. 29 after Hurricane Katrina struck, swamping large portions of the city. Instead, evidence suggests that the floodwalls were weakened by the shifting soil beneath the structures, according to a team of experts from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the National Science Foundation (NSF)....
Many miles of earthen berms and concrete walls are supposed to prevent the lowerlying city from being inundated by the Mississippi River, Lake Pontchartrain and other nearby waters...... At two key breaches where huge volumes of water inundated the city - the 17th Street Canal and the London Avenue Canal - the quality of the soil supporting the floodwalls appears to have been a problem. At the 17th Street Canal, they said, a section of the levee embankment moved back 35 feet. There is evidence of a similar "soil mass movement" at one of two London Avenue sites. The engineers speculate that either the pressure on the walls pushed them back against the soft soil or water seeping beneath the walls softenend the soil, weakening the wall's support. ....
The soil in the area, composed of sand, silt, clay and peat, is "compressible and not very strong", said Raymond Seed, a professor of civil engineering at the UC Berkeley. ... (Peter Whoriskey, Joby Warrick, THE WASHINGTON POST)

October 06, 2005: Hit from hurricane s felt in higher costs for travel, shipping
Almost two weeks after a second hurricane [Rita] delivered a devastating punch to the heart of the U.S. energy industry, the slow recovery of refineries along the Gulf Coast is starting to be felt across the economy. With prices of diesel and jet fuel rising sharply in recent days, companies are now passing on the higher costs to consumers. American Airlines, Delta and other airlines are cutting routes and raising ticket prices, and shipping companies are increasing their rates....
The Energy Department estimates that as much as 15% of the country's refining capacity might be out of service for weeks because they either still lack power or face extensive repairs because of flooding caused by the hurricanes. As of yesterday, 11 major refineries,accounting for 18% of the nation's capacity, remain closed....
Weekly government data released yesterday showed that oil companies were drawing from their commenrcial stockpiles to make up for the shortfall in refining capacity after the storms. The problem ... is that refiners typically take advantage of this season to build up stocks for the winter. High energy prices in the U.S. have attracted much-needed supplies from Europe and South America. Gasoline imports surged to 1.4 million barrels a day last week, about 400,000 barrels a day more than before the storms hit, according to the Energy Information Administration. (Jad Mouawad, Micheline Maynard, NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE)

October 05, 2005: A brief excerpt from a NASA article (Title: NASA: Workers may have damaged shuttle foam before takeoff)
.....Repair work has been set back because of Katrina and Rita. The storms dealt "a severe blow" to resuming shuttle flights and caused NASA to lose three months of work....In a memo soon after Katrina slammed two shuttle facilities on the Gulf Coast, Hale (the newly appointed manager of the space shuttle program) speculated that the space shuttles might be grounded until fall 2006. He has since backe off that view. "We're working a spring kind of launch date"..... (Marcia Dunn, ASSOCIATED PRESS)

October 05, 2005: N. Orleans to halve its work force; Mayor cites financial woes in 3,000 layoffs
NEW ORLEANS - Mayor Ray Nagin said yesterday the city is laying off as many as 3,000 employees - or about half its work force - because of the financial damage inflicted on New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina....
He said that only nonessential workers will be laid off and that no firefighters or police will be among those let go.
Nagin described the layoffs as "pretty permanent" and said that the city will work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to notify municipal employees who fled the city in the aftermath of Katrina....The mayor said the move will save about $5-8 million of the city's monthly payroll of $20 million. (Cain Burdeau, ASSOCIATED PRESS)

October 05, 2005: Justice system in chaos after Katrina; courts and prisons struggle to recover
NEW ORLEANS - When the Orleans Parish Prison was evacuated during Hurricane Katrina, the inmates wore colored armbands that indicated the nature of their offenses. But by the time they arrived at temporary holding facilities scattered throughout the state, some were missing their armbands [yellow: misdemeanors, e.g. failing to pay parking tickets; orange: nonviolent felony, e.g. drug possession; red: violent offense].
It didn't matter. The state corrections officers receiving the prisoners had no idea what the color codes meant. The armbands are one example of how Hurricane Katrina and the mass evacuation of 8,500 inmates from prisons in three Louisiana parishes, or counties, threw the state's corrections and court system into chaos from which they're only beginning to recover.
Records and evidence against some of the prisoners may have been lost or destroyed in the floods. Some people who were picked up on minor offenses or were due to be released from jail just before Katrina hit remain in prison almost five weeks later.....At the top of the list of the legal system's woes are accounts of what happened to some of the 7,006 prisoners evacuated from the Orleans Parish Prison. ...the Human Rights Watch investigators can't find 349 men whose manes were on lists of evacuated inmates.....Orleans Parish Prison officials insist that no one - neither rpisoners nor officers - died in the flood that resulted when city levees failed. (Chuck Crumbo, KNIGHT RIDDER NEWS SERVICE)

October 04, 2005: Search for Katrina victims concludes (LA/MS 1185)
The search for Hurricane Katrina victims has ended in Louisiana with a death toll of 964...a state official said yesterday......FEMA did nearly 23,000 thorough room-to-room searches in New Orleans with about a dozen teams. Mississippi's death toll remained at 221. There were signs of life returning to normal in the city yesterday - five weeks to the day since Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast. ....A week ago, residents were allowed to return to the school's Algiers neighborhood of 57,000 people across the Mississippi River that largely escaped flooding.... (Amy Forliti, ASSOCIATED PRESS)

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