Blog Post #41

"Maddy and Az"

Find information and a picture about a time we weren't prepared. (i.e. a natural disaster or attack). Post the information and cite it.

Hurricane Katrina slammed into the U.S Gulf Coast on Aug. 29 2005, destroying beachfront towns in Mississippi and Louisiana, displacing a million people, and killing almost 1,800. When levees in New Orleans were breached, 80% of the city was submerged by the flooding. About 20% of its 500,000 citizens were trapped in the city without power, food or drinking water. Rescue efforts were so delayed and haphazard that many were stranded for days on rooftops and in attics before help arrived. The city became a toxic pool of sewage, chemicals, and corpses, and in the ensuing chaos, mayhem and looting became rampant- about 15% of the city's police force had simply walked off the job. The 20,000 people who made their way to the superdome, the city's emergency shelter found themselves crammed into sweltering and fetid conditions. At a second shelter, the convention center, evacuees were terrorized by roaming gangs and random gunfire. Relief workers, medical help, security forces, and essential supplies remained profoundly inadequate during the first critical days of the disaster. A year after Katrina, the population of New Orleans was less than half of what it was before the storm hit. Nearly half the city's hospitals remained shut and half its doctors had moved out of the area. Electricity was restored to just 60% of the city. Tens of thousands of working class African Americans, who were scattered around the country after the storm, were unable to return because neither housing nor jobs awaited them. Rebuilding efforts have been chaotic and slow- there is currently no master plan for rebuilding large-scale infrastructure. Still, more than a third of New Orleans homeowners whose houses were flooded have taken out building permits, providing a sign of hope: Slowly and painfully, the city is rebuilding itself.