(29 August 2005) A hurricane which devastated much of New Orleans, and led to the largest US domestic relief effort in history. New Orleans lies mostly below sea level, and is protected from the sea by a series of dams. Owing to decades of chronic under-investment, the dams could only withstand a hurricane up to force three—Hurricane Katrina hit the city at between force four and force five. The dams burst, flooding 80 per cent of the city. Over 75,000 citizens, who had ignored earlier warnings to leave New Orleans, fled to the higher-lying areas of the city, with many finding refuge in the Superdome. There they stayed for days without evacuation or outside help, amidst a breakdown of public order. Military convoys with relief did not arrive until 2 September, with large-scale evacuation beginning on 3 September. At local, state and federal level, aid and evacuation programmes only became effective three days later. In Louisiana, 1079 people died, while in neighbouring Mississippi, 231 died.
The mismanagement of the relief effort, and the apparent insensitivity of the President (who did not visit the area for days), led to a dramatic decline in Bush's popularity. It also raised accusations of racial prejudice, with campaigners for civil rights asserting that relief would have been more forthcoming had the victims not been overwhelmingly poor and Black, but rich and White. Congress approved a reconstruction budget of $200 billion, but much of the money's effectiveness in subsequent years was undermined by corruption.
A Dictionary of Contemporary World History. © 2008
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