Mateusz Loskot :: hacking on, working out, living up

I don't like Katrina

22 Sep 2005 | mloskot

People living in the New Orleans, Louisiana are like in a trap. The city lies below sea level and it’s still sinking (…agriculture)! Thousands of people live more than 2 metres below sea level surrounded by the waters of the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrai. It may seem water was waiting for an opportunity to destroy New Orleans. It happend. Hurricane Katrina attacked on August 29, 2005. Everyone around the World knows what Katrina did to people and cities of Louisiana…

Today, after a month, we can take a look deeper inside the hearth of disaster even remotely. GeoCommunity announced Hurricane Katrina Disaster Viewer launched by ESRI:

The Hurricane Katrina Disaster Viewer went live Saturday, September 3, 2005, and will remain available indefinitely in the wake of Hurricane Katrina

and

The data presented in the viewer is provided directly by public and commercial organizations such as FEMA and the U.S. Postal Service

I put in the gallery two maps taken from the Hurricane Katrina Disaster Viewer which I think present enormity of this disaster very well:

Legend

Hurricane Katrina Disaster overview

Hurricane Katrina Disaster - New Orlean under water

Red colour on the maps symbolize area of catastrophic damage of New Orleans under water! Terrifying! More maps and photos are in Hurricane Katrina gallery

There is a good analysis of Hurricane Katrina in more technical manner published in Hurricane Season 2005: Katrina report by NASA.

The most important question today is Will it happen again?. I really would not want to be forced to ask myself such questions. I wish Louisiana good luck and no hurricane and any other kind of disasters again!

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