Today marks exactly 10 years since Hurricane Katrina made landfall and completely destroyed my hometown of New Orleans, Louisiana, and even after 10 years, only little progress has been done to fully repair the entire city and the whole Gulf Coast.

In late-August 2005, if you all remember (mostly all the older users on here) that a category 5 hurricane named Katrina is taking direct aim towards the city of New Orleans and they was a mass evacuation of at least 1 million people, and this was one of the biggest crisis that the nation had to face when it comes to a natural disaster. Then on August 29, 2005, the hurricane hits the Gulf Coast and nearly wiped New Orleans off the map. The worst of the damage wasn't from the storm itself, but how the federal government neglected the city after it got destroyed. FEMA themselfs didn't even start helping out till the first part of September 2005.

Most of the residents of New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast were living in poverty and couldn't be able to evacuate and had no choice but to stay behind and had to take cover in the Superdome in New Orleans, but the Superdome took severe damage from the hurricane and the rising flood waters kept coming up and everyone was screwed.

Finally after weeks of neglect, the Feds finally start giving out help for all of the residents of New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast. But they all haven't done a really good job though, they all basically halfa** the whole relieve effort and this had made everyone in not just New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast furious, but made the whole country mad at the government's laziness and neglect. Also with me living in New Orleans, I still see a bit of damage that is still left over from the hurricane a decade ago, and nothing is done and I don't think anything else would be.

Mostly the government wants to avoid deja vu with future hurricanes and other storms like Sandy in 2012 and a lot of other future storms which in a way is a bit of an improvement, but I think they should of started with Katrina in the first place.

What are your thought on how this one storm changed the complex on how the government wants to take care of their people after a disaster of any kind hits.

Since I was only 5 years old at the time, I didn't understand the situation when it happened, especially since I've never lived in New Orleans or been there. But I've heard some talk about Hurricane Katrina years after it happened.

I heard about Hurricane Katrina's 10 year anniversary yesterday on the radio but had no clue what it was. Thanks for making a thread about it, and I think it'll be a successful thread with a lot for users to talk about.

I'm hoping that the government learned fully from this situation. They should be prepared for anything weather-related after that disaster. If they didn't then they're stubborn.

PacmanandMariofan : Yeah, being someone living in New Orleans and Katrina's damage 10 years ago changed the course of history on how the government should care about their people, and it also changed out how storms are tracked and all. So, that's why I posted this.

I'd say it's a lesson in self-reliance for one thing. The government cannot and will not save you all the time. If nothing else at some point you're just a statistic with a price tag attached. Persons would do well to arm themselves in case of a disaster as well. Once the police fail you're on you're own. And anything with the term 'federal' attached to it is certain to be painfully slow, corrupt, and likely inept in execution. You can be certain that some people, probably elected officials, got very rich off of federal relief funds that never got where they were supposed to go.

I can't really say anything about Hurricane Katrina due to the fact that I can't remember anything before 4 years of age. But I can kinda of relate to the whole homeless thing. Tropical Storm Lee flooded our home in a mobile home park. And we moved. So I do have empathy for those that lost their homes.

This was the costliest storm the US has ever seen and even though the federal government ( FEMA ) took most of the blame, it wasn't all of their fault. In my opinion, I think it's safe to say that the Governor at the time ( Kathleen Blanco ) is the one political figure to take most ( if not, all ) of the blame because of the massive money laundering / fraud scam that was going on even before the hurricane was formed. You'd think that a city which resides between one and two feet Under The Sea Level would've had a better levee system, or at least a better emergency response system. The state and local officials were surprisingly slow to assess the situation once the sh** hit the fan as well. And in the end, everyone is pointing their greasy fingers at everyone else... tragic. My heart goes out to the poor souls of those who were caught in the shame of it all.

Ferdinand : I completely agree. Especially if you live in an area where these things are likely to happen. You live in tornado alley you need to expect to be hit by a tornado. You live near the ocean there is a chance you'll get hit by a hurricane. Obviously those affected by the levee breaks can't prepare enough for something like that but I imagine there has to be some sort of insurance they could/should have had for this sort of thing....



Still, I wish more people would stop relying on the government to step in and do things when people are fully capable of doing these things themselves.

I lived in and worked to help those in the area when Katrina hit. I still despise the "bringing up old tragedies with tears and sobs" gig they got going on now. Why would anyone want to rehash horrible times? Are they really just trying to get us all psycho? It's akin to retelling to domestic violence victim who is still PTSDing exact play-by-play of what happened. Instead, I think we should look at it like this:
The country messed up, people died, and whose to blame? Everyone who did nothing. Make those who did nothing feel bad (especially the government), not the folks who suffered. But since everything at the top level of LA government has to be approved by the US Congress (it's only 1 of 4 states that were forced to do that after the war between the states and it's still run that way), the largest blame goes to the Congress.

However, I did believe the government could have done a lot more and even to this day the majority of "helpers" are individuals and small private non-profits. Kind of pissed me off a little when they said Sandy was the worst Hurricane since Katrina. It was bad but Katrina/Rita did a lot more repairable damage. Funky that no one remembers Hurricane Andrew.

In terms of seriousness, LA had to evacuate 25% of it's population. That's huge if you think about it.

WandererExiled : If there's one thing I've learned as someone living in Florida, it's that very few people who matter care at all about us, other than as a swing state/hispanic vote during elections.

And, also, we at Florida SHOULD be prepared for those category 5 hurricanes, to be perfectly fair. While we haven't even really been hit by a hurricane since Wilma, we're normally the first in harm's way whenever a hurricane is approaching the US to begin with. Andrew was really bad, and I feel for all those who were affected, but the damage was actually heavily minimized due to the overall quality of structure. Was it still horrible? Absolutely, but it would've been plenty worse.

But who really cares which storm is the worst or not? I don't.

Did this event cause suffering? Yes? Then it's bad, and that's all we should think of it when looking back. I hate anniversaries of every bad thing that's happened, ESPECIALLY when it focuses on that negative aspect and goes into very specific detail in being recounted. At best, it makes people a bit more cautious, but at worst it can fuel plenty of fear, I'd imagine.

And, luckily, I'm someone who, despite being very emotional, also has a level head on his shoulders. So I rarely get affected by this sort of anniversary stuff. But I feel others might be affected, especially those who have lived closer to those incidents than I have; those who even lost loved ones in such events.

I apologize if I went long-winded on the situation, but I just want all of my thoughts, however disorganized, to be known. And that's my rant of the day.

WandererExiled : I agree with you in a way. After Andrew hit in 1992, everyone though that was worse hurricane until 2005 when Katrina hit and people believed that was the worse hurricane till "Sandy", note I put it in quotations because it wasn't actually a hurricane when it made landfall, so if you put at it, Katrina is still to this day as the worse hurricane to hit and Andrew being the 2nd worse hurricane to hit.

SWTerra : We both live in the 2 biggest hurricane states, so we know on how devastating they can be, here in Louisiana, we normally get a hurricane once every 3-5 years (maybe more or less), like we had Isidore in 2002, Katrina/Rita in 2005, Gustav in 2008, and Isaac in 2012, so it is a matter of time to see another one hitting. Also, 9 times out of 10, when Florida's east coast gets hit, it normally turns and heads to Louisiana (like Andrew and Katrina did).

SWTerra :

I lived in Florida for a little while. Compared to LA you guys are how the Military as opposed to a Unorganized stick & stone Mob. Seriously I was in awe at how prepared you guys are in terms of evacuation routes, major rods, levees, structures, and etc. LA has only 3 major roads and only 1 (which is incomplete) that goes north. Seriously, LA politicians haven't even cared about our roads (or any public infrastructure) since the infamous Huey Long (1928 to 1932).  Granted, the Current Governor (and presidential candidate) Bobby Jindal has made some improvements in the state he has mainly focused on key cities (and most of that was shutting down Huey Long hospitals and bring jobs in the form of gambling institutions) only as an attempt to showboat the state in the P.E.  You'd figure that after 84 hurricanes since French Settlement, that at least one Politician would realize they'd need a better way with dealing with natural disasters like that one. Even, after Katrina, nothing's really being done except repairs and rebuilding the Levee.

Seriously, we weren't even taught about Hurricanes or what to do until Katrina and even then it's "Katrina was bad, be glad you didn't die, and pray for those who did." Like really? How is that suppose to make sure I don't die when the next one hits? I feel bad for those who lost folks but what about preparations, teacher?

As far as New Orleans, we got no body but the French and their habit of ignoring Native American advice to blame.

SWTerra is right, though, almost every year at least 1 Florida Hurricane comes to Louisiana with a +1 to the category. If the Country was a person it's like getting hit right between the legs 5 times every day with a baseball bat and with 4 hits usually hitting just getting the front (while the front his wearing cheap protection and the rest having none). I tried to make that analogy as PG as I could.

IgorBird122:

Actually, both Andrew and Katrina weren't the worst in LA. The 1969 Hurricane Camille (but Andrew should have been in our memories), which was the worst to hit us with unknown about of people dead. I wonder why we don't celebrate that one...

• Andrew (Cat 3 by time of Landfall in LA) was the worst hurricane to hit the USA. Causing the most damage in total (not just in repairs).
• Katrina/Rita (Cat 3 & 2) has caused the most damage in economical damage (mostly oil) and repair.
• Camille (Cat 5) was the worst hurricane to hit LA/MS causing the largest range of damage and unknown deaths. We actually still suffer from this one.

I think we'd both agree on the fact that the State's Legislation needs to focus on public infrastructure (mainly education and roads) so that the people don't have another horrible outcome the next time a large hurricane hits LA. Probably wouldn't hurt to have a Gulf Emergency Fund, where the states along the gulf pay into to help with quick repairs after a major Hurricane comes through.

tornadocam:

You posted before I was done. So I'll wait until I got some cushion. I'm a historian (particularly LA history and Trans-Mississippian) and pay close attention to that, so you and I go  hand in hand on this one! There's been way worse hurricanes in total than Katrina but your right (as far as I have read thus far) about the issues with the states and over confidence with mediocre protection, especially in the face of Mother Nature.

WandererExiled : I have a neighbor who is 67 years old, he said that he was 21 when Camille hit, he told me that trees and large branches were falling all over the place like it was nothing, he told me that he just bought a car a couple months prior and a tree uprooted and destroy his car, he said he just paid around $5,000 (and $5,000 in 1969 is a lot of money), he remembers Camille well. He was already aware of Katrina and he didn't want to repeat Camille, so he end up getting a motel room in Nashville, TN.

I know Camille, Andrew, and Katrina isn't all, we know they will be another big one, but when that will happen, we won't know till then.