“Hurricane Season,” “One Year After the Flood,” and “Day Zero” (original) (raw)

Katrina: 10 years and counting

This was a co-authored work for an upcoming book, "Only in New Orleans." We post this as a draft for your reading enjoyment.

Reflections of the Storm: Emerging Hope

2007

As the nation marked the one-year anniversary of hurricane Katrina, the clean-up work continues. This narrative recounts personal experiences of members of the Sacred Heart University faculty who accompanied a student delegation as they joined the many volunteers in Gulfport, Mississippi. The interdisciplinary group included faculty from Nursing, Psychology, Education, Media Studies, Campus Ministry, and university administration. The goal of the group was to participate in manual labor while providing emotional support for those hardest hit by the storm. The results had a profound effect on each member ofthe team, as each developed a sense of gratitude, a true understanding of the importance of neighbors helping neighbors, and experienced hope.

History Repeats Itself with Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina began as a tropical depression 175 miles southeast of Nassau on August 23, 2005. On August 26, as a Category 1 Hurricane, Katrina made landfall over southeast Florida. Once in the Gulf of Mexico, the atmosphere and high ocean temperatures fueled Katrina to a Category 5 and put her on a path toward Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. No-one was prepared for the Category 4 hurricane that was to make landfall in Southeast Louisiana, not once but twice on August 29, 2005. Two days before landfall, the state of Louisiana began voluntary evacuations. With less than 24 hours until landfall, the Superdome and other hurricane evacuation centers began opening and receiving citizens. Mandatory evacuation did not begin until it was almost too late to evacuate. When the sun came up, on the morning of August 30, the officials began to see where they failed. This paper will review how Southeast Louisiana is no stranger to hurricanes yet was unprepared for numerous large-scale storms and how history, resiliency, and social science research can help prepare not only Louisiana but all other communities be prepared for the next large or small scale storm.