The challenge
A long-predicted major hurricane strike on a city below sea level, with many residents without cars.
The case
Hurricane Katrina hit the US Gulf Coast in August 2005. Levees failed and most of New Orleans flooded. The city ordered a mandatory evacuation only the day before landfall, leaving many poor, elderly and car-less residents behind. Federal, state and local agencies were slow to coordinate, and people waited days for food, water and rescue at the Superdome and convention center. A 520-page House select committee report, 'A Failure of Initiative', found failures at every level of government. The National Hurricane Center now counts 1,392 deaths, most in Louisiana and many among people over 60, and damage of about $125 billion.
Why it didn't work
Plans that exist on paper fail without clear command, pre-positioned resources and transport for people who cannot leave on their own; warnings were accurate but not acted on.
Sources
- Knabb, R. D., Rhome, J. R., & Brown, D. P. (2005, updated 2023). Tropical Cyclone Report: Hurricane Katrina. National Hurricane Center.
- NPR (2006). House report cites failures on Katrina response.
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