Hurricane Katrina: Analysis and Recommendations

Hurricane Katrina in
USA

Contents
INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................................3
Case Summary...........................................................................................................................................3
Analysis and Critique................................................................................................................................4
Analysis and evaluation of key environmental health issues...................................................................4
Analysis and evaluation of key social health issues.................................................................................5
Analysis and evaluation of key public health issues................................................................................6
Recommendations.....................................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES..........................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Hurricane Katrina was a tropical cyclone that occurred in the year 2005 which caused a
lot of damage in the city of New Orleans and areas surrounding it. The cyclone caused nearly
1200 deaths and is recorded to be the costliest cyclone till date. Hurricane Katrina led to massive
flooding and with the area as well as number of people affected, it is said to be one of the largest
natural disasters within the nation (Adeola and Picou, 2017). It started off with a very low-
pressure system over the Atlantic Ocean and gradually formed a hurricane that moved fast. The
city of New Orleans was the most affected area from the hurricane. This report explains key
issues both before as well as after the disaster, an analysis and evaluation of the major
environmental social and public health issue. The report also includes recommendations
regarding nursing and data collection in order to evaluate the impact of health promotion.
Case Summary
Hurricane Katrina was the result of the tropical depression that formed over the Bahamas
during the August of 2005. When this was discovered the people were warned about a major
storm by the meteorologists (Kirk, 2020). By the end of the month, evacuations were already
under their way and it was predicted that after the storm many areas would not be habitable for a
long period of time. The city of Orleans, in particular was estimated to be at a high risk and this
was because it was completely surrounded by water. Before the storm, no one predicted that the
levees might collapse below their designed height (Hurricane Katrina, 2020). Hurricane Katrina
was a category 5 tropical storm that caused storm surges up to six meters in height. One of the
biggest problems with Hurricane Katrina was that it killed nearly 1200 people and caused a
property damage of $100 billion. Other key problems that accompanied the hurricane were heavy
rains, a storm surge, tornadoes etc.
Hurricane Katrina caused a lot of problems which included flooding and strong winds.
Hurricanes can cause the sea level around them to rise which is called storm surge. The storm
surge caused by the hurricane led to substantial beach erosion and this can lead to completely
devastating the coastal areas (Schüwer, Lambert and Noth, 2019). Respective hurricane caused
massive tree loss along the Gulf Coast as well as oil spills from 44 different facilities. The impact
of the hurricane was so severe that some residents of the city of Orleans are no longer to get an