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A Place Where Hurricanes Happen- Picture Book

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A Place Where Hurricanes Happen- Picture Book

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In "A Place Where Hurricanes Happen," author Renee Watson depicts the story of four children living in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. The text is written from their perspectives in poetic prose.

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This documentary focuses on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, specifically the impact it had on the New Orleans youth. Through the utilization of first-hand accounts, this documentary brings awareness to the multi-generational traumas of being black and disenfranchised in day to day life, and during the Hurricane.

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"Early Spring Rain Near the Levee" by Rolland Golden

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"Early Spring Rain Near the Levee" by Rolland Golden

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This watercolor work by Rolland Golden visually presents the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

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What issue(s) are the characters dealing with in the book?

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Hurricane Katrina: Explained - National Geographic

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Hurricane Katrina: Explained - National Geographic

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This article from National Geographic discusses the historical context of Hurricane Katrina.

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Hurricane Katrina made landfall off the coast of Louisiana on August 29, 2005. It hit land as a Category 3 storm with winds reaching speeds as high as 120 miles per hour. Because of the ensuing destruction and loss of life, the storm is often considered one of the worst in U.S. history. An estimated 1,200 people died as a direct result of the storm, which also cost an estimated $108 billion in property damage, making it the costliest storm on record.

The devastating aftermath of Hurricane Katrina exposed a series of deep-rooted problems, including controversies over the federal government's response, difficulties in search-and-rescue efforts, and lack of preparedness for the storm, particularly with regard to the city's aging series of levees-50 of which failed during the storm, significantly flooding the low-lying city and causing much of the damage. Katrina's victims tended to be low income and African American in disproportionate numbers, and many of those who lost their homes faced years of hardship.

Ten years after the disaster, then-President Barack Obama said of Katrina, "What started out as a natural disaster became a man-made disaster-a failure of government to look out for its own citizens."

(What are hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons?)

The city of New Orleans and other coastal communities in Katrina's path remain significantly altered more than a decade after the storm, both physically and culturally. The damage was so extensive that some pundits had argued, controversially, that New Orleans should be permanently abandoned, even as the city vowed to rebuild.

The population of New Orleans fell by more than half in the year after Katrina, according to Data Center Research. As of this writing, the population had grown back to nearly 80 percent of where it was before the hurricane.

Timeline of a Storm

Katrina first formed as a tropical depression in Caribbean waters near the Bahamas on August 23, 2005. It officially reached hurricane status two days later, when it passed over southeastern Miami as a Category 1 storm. The tempest blew through Miami at 80 miles per hour, where it uprooted trees and killed two people. Katrina then weakened to a tropical storm, since hurricanes require warm ocean water to sustain speed and strength and begin to weaken over land. However, the storm then crossed back into the Gulf of Mexico, where it quickly regained strength and hurricane status. (Read a detailed timeline of how the storm developed.)

On August 27, the storm grew to a Category 3 hurricane. At its largest, Katrina was so wide its diameter stretched across the Gulf of Mexico.

Before the storm hit land, a mandatory evacuation was issued for the city of New Orleans, which had a population of more than 480,000 at the time. Tens of thousands of residents fled. But many stayed, particularly among the city's poorest residents and those who were elderly or lacked access to transportation. Many sheltered in their homes or made their way to the Superdome, the city's large sports arena, where conditions would soon deteriorate into hardship and chaos.

Katrina passed over the Gulf Coast early on the morning of August 29. Officials initially believed New Orleans was spared as most of the storm's worst initial impacts battered the coast toward the east, near Biloxi, Mississippi, where winds were the strongest and damage was extensive. But later that morning, a levee broke in New Orleans, and a surge of floodwater began pouring into the low-lying city. The waters would soon overwhelm additional levees.

The following day, Katrina weakened to a tropical storm, but severe flooding inhibited relief efforts in much of New Orleans. An estimated 80 percent of the city was soon underwater. By September 2, four days later, the city and surrounding areas were in full-on crisis mode, with many people and companion animals still stranded, and infrastructure and services collapsing. Congress issued $10 billion for disaster relief aid while much of the world began criticizing the U.S. government's response.

Geography of New Orleans

The city of New Orleans was at a disadvantage even before Hurricane Katrina hit, something experts had warned about for years, but it had limited success in changing policy. The region sits in a natural basin, and some of the city is below sea level so is particularly prone to flooding. Low-income communities tend to be in the lowest-lying areas.

Just south of the city, the powerful Mississippi River flows into the Gulf of Mexico. During intense hurricanes, oncoming storms can push seawater onto land, creating what is known as a storm surge. Those forces typically cause the most hurricane-related fatalities. As Hurricane Katrina hit, New Orleans and surrounding parishes saw record storm surges as high as 19 feet.

Levees

Levees can be natural or manufactured. They are essentially walls that prevent waterways from overflowing and flooding nearby areas. New Orleans has been protected by levees since the French began inhabiting the region in the 17th century, but modern levees were authorized for construction in 1965 after Hurricane Betsy flooded much of the city. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers then built a complex system of 350 miles of levees. Yet a report by the

Corps released in 2006 concluded that insufficient funding, information, and poor construction had left the flood system vulnerable to failure.

Even before Katrina made landfall off the Gulf, the incoming storm surge had started to overwhelm the levees, spilling into residential areas. More than 50 levees would eventually fail before the storm subsided. While the winds of the storm itself caused major damage in the city of New Orleans, such as downed trees and buildings, studies conducted in the years since concluded that failed levees accounted for the worst impacts and most deaths.

The aftermath

An assessment from the state of Louisiana confirmed that just under half of the 1,200 deaths resulted from chronic disease exacerbated by the storm, and a third of the deaths were from drowning. Hurricane death tolls are debated, and for Katrina, counts can vary by as much as 600. Collected bodies must be examined for cause of death, and some argue that indirect hurricane deaths, like being unable to access medical care, should be counted in official numbers.

Hurricane Katrina was the costliest in U.S. history and left widespread economic impacts. Oil and gas industry operations were crippled after the storm and coastal communities that rely on tourism suffered from both loss of infrastructure and business and coastal erosion.

An estimated 400,000 people were permanently displaced by the storm. Demographic shifts followed in the wake of the hurricane. The lowest-income residents often found it more difficult to return. Some neighborhoods now have fewer residents under 18 as some families chose to permanently resettle in cities like Houston, Dallas, and Atlanta. The city is also now more racially diverse, with higher numbers of Latino and Asian residents, while a disproportionate number of African-Americans found it too difficult to return.

Rebuilding part of New Orleans's hurricane defenses cost $14.6 billion and was completed in 2018. More flood systems are pending construction, meaning the city is still at risk from another large storm. A series of flood walls, levees, and flood gates buttress the coast and banks of the Mississippi River.

Simulations modeled in the years after Katrina suggest that the storm may have been made worse by rising sea levels and warming temperatures. Scientists are concerned that hurricanes the size of Katrina will become more likely as the climate warms. Studies are increasingly showing that climate change makes hurricanes capable of carrying more moisture. At the same time, hurricanes are moving more slowly, spending more time deluging areas unprepared for major flooding.

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Hurricane Katrina was the costliest storm in U.S. history, and its effects are still felt today in New Orleans and coastal Louisiana.

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Hurricane Katrina Day by Day - National Geographic

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Hurricane Katrina Day by Day - National Geographic

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This YouTube video produced by the National Geographic provides a day-by-day account of Hurricane Katrina- following how it was formed to the devastation of the aftermath.

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Hurricane Katrina Day by Day | National Geographic

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This fictional novel tells the story of a search and rescue team made up of a golden retriever and a young girl from the lower ninth ward during Hurricane Katrina; while this book is fictional, it contains accurate contextual details and images.

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Saint Louis Armstrong Beach- Middle Grade Novel

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Saint Louis Armstrong Beach- Middle Grade Novel

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This fictional middle grade novel by Brenda Woods follows a young boy living in New Orleans named Saint Louis Armstrong Beach and his dog shadow. The duo finds themselves stranded in their neighbor's attic when the storm hits.

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Who is the most affected by the storm? How is it connected to systems of oppression?

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Hurricane Katrina: American Experience- PBS

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Hurricane Katrina: American Experience- PBS

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This article by PBS provides greater context regarding the storm.

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It was the storm long feared in a city situated on the vulnerable Gulf Coast, with many areas built below sea level. Making landfall on August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans with enormous force.

Dire Prediction
The city had faced deadly storms previously, including Hurricane Betsy in 1965, which caused extensive flooding and killed dozens of residents. But sinking land and coastal erosion, which lessened the protection provided by the city's levees, made New Orleans more vulnerable in 2005. "There's no doubt about it," said one levee manager, quoted in the New Orleans Times-Picayune in 2002. "The biggest factor in hurricane risk is land loss." That story predicted: "It's only a matter of time before South Louisiana takes a direct hit from a major hurricane." Three years later, though the direct hit was to the Mississippi Gulf Coast, the time had come.

Storm Approaches
As Katrina surged toward New Orleans, local and federal officials commented on preparedness for the storm. "This is a threat that we've never faced before," said Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans, who declared a state of emergency, Sunday, August 28, and ordered a mandatory evacuation of the city. "If we galvanize and gather around each other, I'm sure we will get through this." Added President George W. Bush: "We'll do everything in our power to help the people and communities affected by this storm."

Landfall
The category four storm that hit the city on August 29 breached the 17th Street Canal levee, causing floodwater to course through many New Orleans neighborhoods. The failure of other levees would leave about 80 percent of the city submerged. Despite the evacuation order, hundreds of thousand of people remained in the metropolitan area. Thousands of them took shelter in the New Orleans Superdome but were stranded there for days without adequate food or hygiene. Meanwhile, reports emerged of crime and looting as well as residents awaiting rescue from their flooded homes, leading to complaints about the response of emergency management officials to the disaster.

Race and Poverty
The hurricane destroyed some grand houses in New Orleans and devastated some of the poorer and predominantly minority areas of the city, such as the Lower Ninth Ward. In a city with a majority black population, most of the televised faces of the hurricane victims were black. Commentators, including Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, contended that race played a role in a slow federal response to the disaster. Others pointed to poverty as an overriding factor in residents' inability to escape the storm damage. "Poor people, disproportionately African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans ... have little capacity to get away from bad things," said Rep. Melvin L. Watt of North Carolina, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Uncertain Future
By the first anniversary of the storm, some things had returned to a semblance of normalcy. New Orleans continued its tradition of a Mardi Gras celebration the year after Katrina. Businesses reopened, particularly in areas popular with tourists. And music was again heard in a city famed for jazz. But the effect of the losses in New Orleans were overwhelming. The hurricane caused the deaths of more than 1,400 Louisiana residents, most from New Orleans. It flooded 140 square miles of the city and damaged or destroyed 160,000 homes in the area. A year later portions of the city remained blighted and about 240,000 New Orleans residents were still displaced.

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Hurricane Katrina | American Experience | PBS

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It was the storm long feared in a city situated on the vulnerable Gulf Coast, with many areas built below sea level. Making landfall on August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans with enormous force. Dire Prediction The city had faced deadly storms previously, including Hurricane Betsy in 1965, which caused extensive flooding and killed dozens of residents.

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This memoir, written by Bruce S. Snow, documents how a family a four survived Hurricane Katrina living in the infamous Superdome.

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This artistic piece depicts women walking through the flooded streets; all they have is the clothes on their backs.

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What is one thing you can do to bring awareness to this issue?

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Remembering Hurricane Katrina Remembers- TIME

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Remembering Hurricane Katrina Remembers- TIME

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This video produced by TIME reflects back on Hurricane Katrina and the affect that it had on New Orleans and its residents.

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Remembering Hurricane Katrina Remembers | TIME

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Inspired by a real man, this book by Phil Bildner tells the story of a sanitation worker from New Orleans who bands together with volunteers and residents to make the streets sparkle again after Hurricane Katrina.

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"Throw me a Line, Mister" by Rolland Golden 

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"Throw me a Line, Mister" by Rolland Golden 

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This artistic piece illustrates the mass amount of people stranded on rooftops, trying to signal for help.

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This article discusses larger context and the political fallout surrounding the hurricane.

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Hurricane Katrina: Before the Storm

The tropical depression that became Hurricane Katrina formed over the Bahamas on August 23, 2005, and meteorologists were soon able to warn people in the Gulf Coast states that a major storm was on its way. By August 28, evacuations were underway across the region. That day, the National Weather Service predicted that after the storm hit, "most of the [Gulf Coast] area will be uninhabitable for weeks...perhaps longer."

Did you know? During the past century, hurricanes have flooded New Orleans six times: in 1915, 1940, 1947, 1965, 1969 and 2005.

New Orleans was at particular risk. Though about half the city actually lies above sea level, its average elevation is about six feet below sea level-and it is completely surrounded by water. Over the course of the 20th century, the Army Corps of Engineers had built a system of levees and seawalls to keep the city from flooding. The levees along the Mississippi River were strong and sturdy, but the ones built to hold back Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Borgne and the waterlogged swamps and marshes to the city's east and west were much less reliable.

Levee Failures

Before the storm, officials worried that surge could overtop some levees and cause short-term flooding, but no one predicted levees might collapse below their designed height. Neighborhoods that sat below sea level, many of which housed the city's poorest and most vulnerable people, were at great risk of flooding.

The day before Katrina hit, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin issued the city's first-ever mandatory evacuation order. He also declared that the Superdome, a stadium located on relatively high ground near downtown, would serve as a "shelter of last resort" for people who could not leave the city. (For example, some 112,000 of New Orleans' nearly 500,000 people did not have access to a car.) By nightfall, almost 80 percent of the city's population had evacuated. Some 10,000 had sought shelter in the Superdome, while tens of thousands of others chose to wait out the storm at home.

By the time Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans early in the morning on Monday, August 29, it had already been raining heavily for hours. When the storm surge (as high as 9 meters in some places) arrived, it overwhelmed many of the city's unstable levees and drainage canals. Water seeped through the soil underneath some levees and swept others away altogether.

By 9 a.m., low-lying places like St. Bernard Parish and the Ninth Ward were under so much water that people had to scramble to attics and rooftops for safety. Eventually, nearly 80 percent of the city was under some quantity of water.

Hurricane Katrina: The Aftermath

Many people acted heroically in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The Coast Guard rescued some 34,000 people in New Orleans alone, and many ordinary citizens commandeered boats, offered food and shelter, and did whatever else they could to help their neighbors. Yet the government-particularly the federal government-seemed unprepared for the disaster. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) took days to establish operations in New Orleans, and even then did not seem to have a sound plan of action.

Officials, even including President George W. Bush, seemed unaware of just how bad things were in New Orleans and elsewhere: how many people were stranded or missing; how many homes and businesses had been damaged; how much food, water and aid was needed. Katrina had left in her wake what one reporter called a "total disaster zone" where people were "getting absolutely desperate."

Failures in Government Response

For one thing, many had nowhere to go. At the Superdome in New Orleans, where supplies had been limited to begin with, officials accepted 15,000 more refugees from the storm on Monday before locking the doors. City leaders had no real plan for anyone else. Tens of thousands of people desperate for food, water and shelter broke into the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center complex, but they found nothing there but chaos.

Meanwhile, it was nearly impossible to leave New Orleans: Poor people especially, without cars or anyplace else to go, were stuck. For instance, some people tried to walk over the Crescent City Connection bridge to the nearby suburb of Gretna, but police officers with shotguns forced them to turn back.

Katrina pummeled huge parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, but the desperation was most concentrated in New Orleans. Before the storm, the city's population was mostly black (about 67 percent); moreover, nearly 30 percent of its people lived in poverty. Katrina exacerbated these conditions and left many of New Orleans's poorest citizens even more vulnerable than they had been before the storm.

In all, Hurricane Katrina killed nearly 2,000 people and affected some 90,000 square miles of the United States. Hundreds of thousands of evacuees scattered far and wide. According to The Data Center, an independent research organization in New Orleans, the storm ultimately displaced more than 1 million people in the Gulf Coast region.

Political Fallout From Hurricane Katrina

In the wake of the storm's devastating effects, local, state and federal governments were criticized for their slow, inadequate response, as well as for the levee failures around New Orleans. And officials from different branches of government were quick to direct the blame at each other.

"We wanted soldiers, helicopters, food and water," Denise Bottcher, press secretary for then-Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco of Louisiana told the New York Times. "They wanted to negotiate an organizational chart."

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin argued that there was no clear designation of who was in charge, telling reporters, "The state and federal government are doing a two-step dance."

President George W. Bush had originally praised his director of FEMA, Michael D. Brown, but as criticism mounted, Brown was forced to resign, as was the New Orleans Police Department Superintendent. Louisiana Governor Blanco declined to seek re-election in 2007 and Mayor Nagin left office in 2010. In 2014 Nagin was convicted of bribery, fraud and money laundering while in office.

The U.S. Congress launched an investigation into government response to the storm and issued a highly critical report in February 2006 entitled, " A Failure of Initiative."

Changes Since Katrina

The failures in response during Katrina spurred a series of reforms initiated by Congress. Chief among them was a requirement that all levels of government train to execute coordinated plans of disaster response. In the decade following Katrina, FEMA paid out billions in grants to ensure better preparedness.

Meanwhile, the Army Corps of Engineers built a $14 billion network of levees and floodwalls around New Orleans. The agency said the work ensured the city's safety from flooding for the time. But an April 2019 report from the Army Corps stated that, in the face of rising sea levels and the loss of protective barrier islands, the system will need updating and improvements by as early as 2023.

HISTORY Vault

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Hurricane Katrina - Facts, Affected Areas & Lives Lost

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Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 storm that made landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast in August 2005. The storm triggered catastrophic flooding, particularly in the city of New Orleans, and caused more than 1,800 deaths.

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"Heading for the Superdome" by RollandGolden

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"Heading for the Superdome" by RollandGolden

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This artistic piece depicts a woman walking towards the Superdome, which was seen as a last resort shelter, with her only belongings atop her head.

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This documentary portrays a young couple who survived Hurricane Katrina; the film documents their struggles during, and after, the hurricane. In addition, the film discusses living in the Ninth Ward, a black community that was already abandoned before the hurricane.

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How does the setting of the storm impact the options that the characters had to navigate the problem?

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What Was Hurricane Katrina? - Middle Grade Text

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What Was Hurricane Katrina? - Middle Grade Text

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In this middle grade text, students learn concrete facts about Hurricane Katrina, such as the path of the storm, the damage that it did, and the rescue efforts. This book also discusses how the citizens of New Orleans survived during the historical event.

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"Hurricane Evacuation Route" by Elaine Hodges

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"Hurricane Evacuation Route" by Elaine Hodges

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An acrylic painting by artist Elaine Hodges: "a comical, or not-so-comical, painting of life in Southern Louisiana."

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The "Ninth Ward" gives a glimpse into life in the ninth ward, a predominately black neighborhood in New Orleans, as told by a teenage girl living through the effects of Hurricane Katrina..