At the time, the homeless encampment became an embarrassment to then-Mayor Ray Nagin. More is learned about the intensity of the storm as well.
The study also found more than half the jurisdictions surveyed (23) now require some type of licensing or registration for roofers, which is critical to prevent work being performed by people not qualified to do so.
Some of the research came from following and interviewing displaced New Orleans residents to determine what effect the storm had on their mental and physical health.
The enormous size of Katrina and its devastation, plus difficulties in communication between law enforcement and other officials, left a huge gap in government’s initial response.
The blighted houses remain in part because of a tangle of bureaucratic red tape involved in selling them off. Before the city can sell a tax-delinquent property, state law requires the public and all owners to be notified and mandates waiting periods of up to three years.
The study hasn’t continued to follow those children. Dr. Mitch Gruich set up a solo practice in Biloxi in 1995 after graduating from the University of Mississippi Medical School and completing his pediatric training.
After Katrina hit, thousands streamed toward the Superdome to take shelter. If you were actually to get on the ground and walk down there, you’d be very, very proud of what happened that first week. There was no electricity, sewage, or potable water. “They own their homes and they’re just now resolving issues of ownership”, he said. Probably the most important is the unpredictability and tremendous power of Mother Nature. The model is designed to leverage volunteers to help communities prepare and respond to disasters.
80% of the city flooded after levees failed.
With multiple wildfires burning in Washington State, firefighters need all the help they can get. The storm and subsequent flooding killed more than 1,800 people and destroyed homes and businesses, causing $108 billion in damage.
“The pews that are in here look similar to what we see here now, there wasn’t one pew in the building”.
And again, New Orleans is just an example of this tragedy.
Former Gov. Haley Barbour, in his new book, “America’s Great Storm”, lists Roberts as one of the reporters who was “generous in making sure we were able to tell our story to a broader national audience”, along with MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and Mississippi natives Shepard Smith of Fox News and Kathleen Koch, formerly of CNN.
The warning from climatologists is that Global Warming will spawn other massive storms like Katrina in the future.
The country is also certainly better prepared to handle disasters.
Even today – 10 years after Katrina struck – some homeowners are still trying to resolve problems, said William Buster, director of Mississippi and New Orleans programs for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. It was the emotional toll of watching a disaster that could have hit any of us.