Lessons Learned from Hurricane Katrinh

Crisis Planning and the Lessons Learned from Hurricane Katrina

Vernell Rixner

8 May 2012

Dr. Richard Bell

Columbia Southern University

New Orleans is well known for its vulnerability to flooding. Hurricane Katrina was noted as one of the most devastating natural disasters in United States history (Barton, 2008). It was the costliest to hit the United States, and the third deadliest, causing more than 2,000 deaths. Katrina’s wrath slammed into Florida on August 25, 2005 as a Category I storm and rapidly intensified to a Category V from a Category III in just 12 hours while traveling over the Gulf of Mexico.

Katrina attacked the Gulf Coast, four days later as a much weaker but very unpredictable Category III storm. The eye of the huge storm barely hit the eastern side of the city, sparing it from the worst of its power. However, due to poorly designed levees and the worst civil engineering failure in United States history, most of the city experienced flooding similar to a direct hit. There were many predictions of hurricane risks to New Orleans prior to Katrina. Did New Orleans have an effective hurricane preparedness plan? Could the hurricane’s devastation be mitigated? What were the lessons learned from this disaster?

Hurricane preparedness and crisis management has been continuing issues with New Orleans because of the city’s location. New Orleans was built in a basin that was surrounded by water with half of the city positioned at or below sea level. Its proximity to the Gulf of Mexico makes it even more vulnerable to hurricane storm surge. In 2001, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recognized that a major hurricane striking New Orleans as one of the three most serious threats to the nation.

FEMA’s reports also suggested that the chances of a major Category V hurricane directly striking New Orleans were a one-in-500 year event. Many concerns focused on the city that lay below sea level with a levee system that was designed for...