New Orleans After the Hurricane

hurricane katrina

i can't believe what hurricane katrina did to new orleans. it was a diaster of what it did.

new orleans {my city}

my city i lost alot of people in the storm so 2 yall who lost people much love we lost everything but i still love the city ya haerd me!!!!!!!!!!

my city

i lost a lot of people in the storm so for yalll who did much love ya heard me we all lost everything new orleans our city i love it !!!!!!!!!1

3 Years of Progress

As a New Orleans native, it troubles me to see the national media 3 years later still focusing on the progress that isn't happening and not what IS happening.

Yes, federal dollars are still going through hoops before getting to the communities. And there are still neighborhoods deserted, crime and corruption. That won't change anytime soon, if ever.

But many neighborhoods, businesses and schools are doing better than ever--thanks in part to donations and volunteers, but mostly the die-hard locals who were determined to not just rebuild but build better.

In regards to the people who have returned, the population is once again predominately African-American, the tourists are flocking back in droves and a new generation of young aspiring professionals who welcome the opportunity to renew a great American city has emerged.

Below is just one example from today's local business paper.

Summer tourists hit N.O. in droves: http://www.neworleanscitybusiness.com/viewStory.cfm?recID=31500

I won't deny this city is still struggling to get back on its feet after Hurricane Katrina, but please don't overlook the progress we have made along the way.

Bob and Doctor J, how true

They are correct. As a matter of the heart, Doctor J is precisely on target. Much of the country flat out doesn't care about LA or MS, based on what I've witnessed and felt over the last half century.

Californian mountain-side homes perched precariously in well-documented at-risk areas have been rebuilt after being in place only a few years compared to the centuries of living along the Gulf Coast of LA and MS. My family faced difficulties fund-raising for Hurricane victims against so many comments about the foolishness of allowing living along the Gulf Coast and the stupidity of New Orleanians...this from West Coast folks. Many told us that the whole area should be abandoned.

Look up a news report by John Stasi about how he and other well-off Americans build and rebuild on the Eastern Seaboard their costly vacation homes. He fully discussed the taxpayers cost of these actions and honestly admitted that he had no current plans (back then) of not rebuilding.

The truth

Let me tell you the truth of Katrina and this country. I am a native New Orleanian and my mother lives a block from the beach in Pass Christian, MS. Come to think again, why bother. This country obviously could care less about either place. Who cares if both still look like a forgotten land. Not your problem, right? I will tell you I no longer have a country. Oh, I get to send it $1000 a week in taxes, but that is my extent of being an American.

Coastal Damage is continual

The American people must come to terms with the realities of building inappropriately in areas that should not be developed or rebuilt. So long as the Feds or any other entity insures housing on beaches, coastal flood plains, swamps, ocean fronts, et al. we will always have these increasingly expensive problems.

We need a national coastal land use plan that acknowledges nature is the determiner of which areas can be inhabited by humans and their buildings. Even more foolishly, we have our taxes paying for the richest Americans to build, live, and rebuild on the pricy coastal lands that also restrict public use of these beautiful areas.

RE New Orleans specifically...( no longer live in N.O., have tons of family in MS) For an eye-opener check how money was handled in Mississippi compared to Louisiana in how quickly money materialized in checks and how tough it was/wasn't to qualify for them. I leave the reader to note the political affiliations of those involved.

I believe you are overlooking an aspect of government failure: the lack of land use and building code reform in disaster-prone areas.

Losses due to natural catastrophes in the U.S have been climbing rapidly over the years. Adjusted for inflation, insured property losses from natural catastrophes over the past decade were eight times higher than those from the 1980s. A big factor has been the southward migration of the population, particularly to coastal regions that are vulnerable to hurricanes, as well as increases in the quantity and value of personal property.

Over the past 50 years, local and state governments welcomed the influx of people, which created jobs, stronger local economies and larger tax bases. For developers, coastal communities were economically attractive to build; and purchasers were attracted by lower cost of living, property prices and taxes.

For most of this period, building codes standards for wind resistance were either non-existent, not strict enough, or ignored by contractors and enforcement officials alike. Florida’s wind codes prior to 1992 were considered the country’s strongest - until Hurricane Andrew reduced southern Miami-Dade county to splinters. Andrew’s damage exposed both code and enforcement deficiencies; prompting the creation of a new wind code for southern Florida in 1994. In other hurricane states, building codes and enforcement still vary widely. For example, Louisiana had no statewide residential building code until they were adopted after Hurricane Katrina in December of 2005.

An analysis of property claims after the hurricanes of 2004 and 2005 showed that the amount of damage that a given building sustained was strongly influenced by building codes. In Florida, new residential homes built under the statewide 2002 Building Code performed well and came through the hurricanes with little or no damage, while older homes suffered more.

The proximity of a building to the coast was also a major factor in the amount of loss a building incurred. The further inland a building was, the less damage one could expect from a hurricane. In fact, insurance models indicate that average losses to a building from a hurricane event can drop by 50% or more by moving the building from the coast to a location inland by a few miles.

Hurricanes aside, proper building codes and land use can mitigate the potential damage from several types of natural disasters. Though there is a cost to property owners, the short term expense is much less than the potential long-term financial consequence of inaction.

At a time when affordability and availability of insurance in disaster-prone areas is receiving considerable attention in the press and at the federal, state and local government levels, proper land use and building codes is one of best ways to reduce loss. It is a long-term solution that will reduce injuries, save lives, lower losses, and let impacted communcommunities get back to normal faster.