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Impact Summary:
As of September 21, 2005:
- Insurance estimates for losses due to Katrina are now estimated to be around $40 Billion
Risk Management Solutions estimates higher insurance losses of $60 Billion and total damage at
$125 Billion - most losses attributed to flood damage
- Death toll is over 970, expected to grow
- Approximately 60 percent of New Orleans is still under water.
- Mayor of New Orleans allowed some people with businesses to return to the city but reversed the
decision as Hurricane Rita threatens landfall along the Texas/Louisiana coast.
- Evacuees in Texas are being relocated to Arkansas and Tennessee as Hurricane Rita (currently Cat 2
threatens to make landfall
- More than 20,000 children displaced from New Orleans have enrolled in schools in other parts of
Louisiana or in Texas
As of September 17, 2005:
- Foreign aid continues to pour in - Little Rock Air Force Base has been set up to receive
international flights and is able to unload planes and get the aid out to the coast within several hours
- Recovery of those who perished in the storm continues - unofficial death toll is 700+
- President Bush has pledged to fund the recovery effort (estimated at $200 Billion)
- Some New Orleans businesses are being allowed to reopen
- Scientists are starting to collect data to assess the environmental impacts of Katrina
- Coast Guard reports indicate that more than 7 million gallons of oil may have spilled as Katrina
came onshore (roughly two thirds as much oil spilled from Exxon Valdez in 1989)
As of September 12, 2005:
- FEMA Director resigns amid controvery surrounding the response of the Federal Goverment to Katrina
(Vice Adm. Thad Allen Coast Guard's chief of staff is leading the response in the Gulf)
- EPA confirmed that New Orleans floodwaters contain high concentrations of lead and E. coli bacteria
- Overall confirmed number of fatalities for all states is over 500.
- Financial contributions to Katrina have topped $587 Million by Americans
(more than initial funds raised for both 9/11 and the Asian Tsunami) and $6.1 Billion from
the U.S. government; 60 Nations have offered aid
As of September 8, 2005:
- Congress approved a $51.8 Billion in emergency spending to fund recovery efforts along the Gulf Coast.
- Still no estimates on the number of fatalities but most agree the numbers will be in the thousands, likely
surpassing the Galveston, TX 1900 hurricane.
- Pumping of the city of New Orleans continues, breaches in levees are still being worked on
- Mississippi expects to restore power to most of the state by Saturday (September 10).
- Current estimates of evacuees of the region is around a quarter million.
- U.S. Postal service is restoring service to some affected areas.
- Controvery continues regarding the federal response to the disaster.
As of September 6, 2005:
- Disaster area extends along Gulf Coast from southeast Louisiana to Mobile, Alabama for 150 miles inland
- President Bush plans to ask Congress for $30 to $50 Billion in aid (in addition to $10.5 Billion already requested
- Military has approximately 58,000 troops in affected Gulf Coast region
- Officials
with Dept. of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA) are under fire for the "unacceptable" response to the disaster
- Evacuees
are being transported to states around the country including Texas,
Oregon, Illinois, Kentucky, California, South Carolina, among many
others
- Rescue operations conintue in New Orleans - Mayor
has ordered the forced evacuation of all residents - many are refusing
to go voluntarily
- Threat of disease in New Orleans grows - water in New Orleans is contaminated with E. Coli bacteria
- Levees around New Orleans are being repaired; some water pumping has begun
- Superdome is now under military control; may have to be torn down due to extensive damage
- Mississippi still has 350,000+ customers without power
- All but one of the major highways in Mississippi have reopened
As of September 4, 2005:
- Offers of help from the around the world are being made; unclear which the federal government will accept
- Death toll is still unknown - expected to be in the thousands
- New Orleans: 42,000 people have been evacuated from the city
Superdome and Convention Center are almost completely evacuated although hundreds are still there
City police and firefighters are being moved out of the city to allow for medical and psychological treatment
Current plans inlcude evacuation of all residents from the city (even if their area is not flooded
- Army Corps of Engineers is still worked to fixed breeched levees
- Biloxi shelter closes when over 20 people become ill; 400 who were in the shelter were moved
As of September 1, 2005:
- Katrina (the storm) no longer exists, it merged with an extratropical system and moved over the North Atlantic.
- Cleanup in Alabama and Mississippi continue. Many coastal communities have not been reached yet due to the large
amount and depth of debris
- Flooding in New Orleans has subsided - it is level with Lake Pontchartrain
- More than 2.3 million are without power in Florida Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana
- Gas prices throughout the nation are rising as a result of lack of production due to
the storm (prices in Georgia are reported to be over $5 per gallon).
- Death toll is over 180 but many areas like New Orleans have not released official numbers yet.
- 78,000 people are in emergency shelters; 20,000 of these people are being transported from the Superdome to the
Astrodome in Texas; it will take months before people can return home.
- Officials are concerned about disease outbreak in New Orleans due to the standing water filled with debris and toxins.
- Looting and lawlessness is a significant problem in New Orleans.
- 10,000 more National Guard tropps have been deployed to the region.
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