Essay Sample on Hurricane Rita & Katrina: Two of the Severest Storms to Hit the US Coast

Introduction

Hurricane Rita was the seventeenth entitled tropical storm, ninth hurricane, fifth primary hurricane and other classification five hurricane that took place 2005 during Atlantic hurricane season. Hurricane Rita was one of the severest storms to hit the Coast of the United States. While hurricane Katina is a typical cyclone that hit the southeastern of America in the late. Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Louisiana on August 29, 2005, causing winds of 140 miles per hour and storm water which stagnated more than 80% of New Orleans.

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Strong flood from Hurricanes Katina and Rita wrecked vast areas of the coastline wetlands. The damage caused by stagnation and hurricanes floors was aggravated by the previous loss of protective wetlands. Louisiana and its surroundings tolerated two massive storms in 2005. These hurricanes caused substantial pulverization and illustrated the disastrous effect that land loss has on essentialness and sustainability of the focal Gulf Coast (Behreadant, n.d.).

Firstly, Hurricane Katrina made landslide in Plaquemines Parish La. Falling on group 3 tropical storm, followed by Hurricane Rita that attacked coastline in Southwestern Louisiana on September 24, 20005, fragmenting through some portion of Cameron Parish prior furrowing it way along eastern Texas. Joining them, the two resulted in nearly 2000 deaths and an approximated monetary loss of $91 billion, with $81 billion of the originating specifically from Katrina (Behreadant, n.d.). Louisiana endured the worst part of the harm-around 1,300 setbacks from Hurricane Katrina, consequent levee downfall and devastating loss in the fishing sector and other different industry. Besides their overwhelming effect on the lives of a great many Gulf Coast occupants, the tempests harmed the effectively delicate bogs and wetlands of beachfront Louisiana

Impacts

Loss of Life

Lousiana and Texas officials migrated more than 3 million inhabitants and thus sharply minimized the number of individuals at risk from the storm surge and will - associated damage. A storm surge of about 15 feet flooded Louisiana localities constituting Jefferson Davis, Cameron, Vermilion, and, Terrebonne trapping some of the victims in these regions.

Floods

Some floodwaters started to regress relatively swiftly after the hurricane moved northwards illustrating the magnitude of destruction in the offshore neighborhoods. Some confined flooding happened in southern Florida as Rita chased through the Straits of Florida on the 2oth; damage was insignificant. Some renovated flooding happened in New Orleans as 8- foot storm flow overtopped the provisionally-repaired levees, formally destroyed during Hurricane Katrina.

Power Outages

More than a million people as a result of the storm in the Gulf States lost power, and the majority stayed with no electricity for several days. Some state such as Lousiana power was not destroyed after Hurricane Katrina when Hurrican Rita stroke the region suddenly. For an early trace of Rita, in Southern Florida only 10,000 had no access to power and power were restored within some few hours.

The estimated cost for insured damages for Hurricane Rita is still tremendously preliminary and correctly analyzing losses will take several months. Nevertheless, the cost of Rita cannot even carefully estimate that of Katrina and will probably not approach that of Andrew in 1992- the second priciest America landfalling hurricane with loss of nearly billion.

Prior approximation of Rita's insured cost is roughly $4-5 billion. Several highways were impassable after hurricane across the Gulf coast near the Texas/Louisiana border and were unbearable to rapid recovery. Many inhabitants were struck nearly 10 hours in traffic jams as a consequence of massive evacuation decree.

Response to the Hurricanes

The US government response to Katrina is extensively seen as an abject failure that saw poorer, mainly black inhabitants abandoned to fend for themselves. Mayer, Moss, & Dale, 2008). The defeat was brought about with separation of authority in the U.S federal system of governments, various constellations of investors at different levels of government and inside jurisdictions, feast or famine planning for emergency preparedness; self-governing of an absence of co-operation across multiple functional or policy domains and inadequate incorporation of the private sector in the emergency response system

Howitt and Leonard (2006), since hurricane Katrina overwhelmed New Orleans in 2005, Louisiana was chosen as a new model for coastal management. America has foster new internal and targets to upsurge collaboration across governmental agencies to rationalize coastal restoration projects.

There is natural solution which can mitigate the effect of the hurricane in Louisiana and Texas. Wetlands and grasslands naturally absorb water in their soil. When these landscapes are permitted to operate properly, floodwaters can distribute itself out and slowly seep into the ground. Unlike paved roads and parking lots which can immediately force water runoff into the surrounding drainage system, wetlands and grasslands can hold water for a lengthy period. Scientists assert that protecting green space and tightening development policies in floodplain areas is critical for mitigating stagnation due to heavy rainfall. According to Lucas (2018) Jim Blackburn, a professor of environmental law at Rice University claims that grassland can absorb as much as 11 inches of rain per hour. Officials and urban planners in Houston need to rephrase current zoning policy to incorporate suggestion made by environmental scientists to safeguard that continued urban development is sustainable and act to safeguard residents

Reference

Behreadant, D. (n.d.). Katarina Exposes Fatal Flaws. Retrieved from Hurricane Katrina: https:/Katrina_exposes_fatal_flaws_Hu%20(1).PDF

Howitt, A. M., & Leonard, H. B. (2006). Katrina and the core challenges of disaster response. Fletcher F. World Aff., 30, 215.retrived from: https://www.hks.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/centers/research-initiatives/crisisleadership/files/katrina_core_challenges.pdf

Lucas, J. (2018, January 05). Disaster Response Challenges for Coastal Communities. Retrieved 5 6, 2019, from The Challenges of Disaster Response for Communities Living on the Coast.

Mayer, B. W., Moss, J., & Dale, K. (2008). Disaster and preparedness: lessons from Hurricane Rita. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 16(1), 14-23. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5973.2008.0053