Weathering The Storm Of Hurricane Katrina - 1970 Words

Weathering the Storm On the morning of Monday, August 29, 2005, in southeast Louisiana, hurricane Katrina made its second landfall. It began as a category one hurricane in the Bahamas and crossed the southern tip of Florida into the Gulf of Mexico, where is mixed with the warm waters and grew into a category five hurricane. After making landfall the second time, it weakened to a category three hurricane but still caused catastrophic damage to everything in its path. Hurricane Katrina resulted in at least 1833 deaths from both the storm and subsequent floods, making it the deadliest U.S. hurricane since the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane (Knabb). The residents of southeast Louisiana had advanced notice of the severity of the storm since the†¦show more content†¦The children in the family can’t seem to bother with the possibility of the hurricane being anything but an inconvenience, while the father only takes slight precautions before its’ arrival. The possibility o f evacuation and the preparation for the category five hurricane Katrina are both prevalent, but due to the economic situation and the education of the main characters, they are forced to the storms full impact. The category five designation of hurricane Katrina can be very misleading for those who are not familiar with the Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale, or the Saffir–Simpson hurricane scale. â€Å"Wind engineer Herb Saffir and meteorologist Robert Simpson created what has become known as the Saffir–Simpson hurricane scale (SSHS) to provide an indication of a hurricane’s intensity based on its maximum sustained winds.† (Allen) The scale, from one to five, is setup to be very easy to understand for the general public, however it still does not clearly convey the amount of damage that can be sustained from a category one hurricane as opposed to a category five hurricane. A category one hurricane is classified as having winds between seventy-fou r and ninety-five mile per hour sustained winds with a damage rating being described as having very dangerous winds will produce some damage. Category two has winds between ninety-six and one hundred and ten miles per hour, category three has winds between one