The Impacts Of Hurricane Katrina

There have been many natural disasters that occurred in the United States. However, Hurricane Katrina in 2005 had the biggest impact because of the immense amount of money spent on repair, the backlash President George.W Bush received for not responding immediately to the catastrophe, and the massive migration that occurred when people’s home were destroyed. Therefore, Hurricane Katrina affected the United States more than any other natural disaster to date.

To begin with, one of the reasons Hurricane Katrina was the most devastating was because of the huge amount of spending. With horrible winds gushing through the land and destroying homes alongside with injuring and taking away the lives of multiple civilians, money had to be spent to repair

Sadly, 2005 was not their year. Referring back to Brandon Moore and his article, “Economics”, there was a total loss of 22,900 jobs and 382.7 million dollars which deal with tourism. New Orleans was a total disaster by this time. But what can be said for the entire nation? Even though the hurricane only physically hit some southern states such as Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, this catastrophic event affected all of the United States. Before it even made landfall, the storm was already causing damage in the Gulf. The Gulf was the center of oil production for the nation, but was greatly impacted as the hurricane took the route through the Gulf to enter the United States. Oil production went down 92 %, causing a temporary shutdown until safe to begin production again. The entire U.S. was not prepared for the wrath of Katrina. With many resources being destroyed, the demand from people increased. Something being demanded the most was gas. In addition to that, gas prices in 2005 was already at an all-time high, $2.27, on average before Katrina it. Although, it raised over 3 dollars as the demand for gas increased according to the article previously mentioned above. All individuals were desperate for gas so they met the 3 dollar standard, but that resulted in all gas stations selling out completely. That was just one of many issue the U.S. faced in 2005. The other big problem was the amount of money they spent on repair. With water flooding damaged streets, many homes not existing no more, electricity being cut short due to heavy rainfall and many civilians either dead or injured, money had to be taken out of the budget for the greater good. According to the Federal Emergency Manage Agency, FEMA, the estimate cost of damages was around $108 billion dollars, making it the costliest hurricane in the United States. The government responded back with an estimate amount of $700 million dollars