Narrative Essay on Hurricane Katrina Text

Jonathan Friesen - Writing Coach

At the time, i was a young child, about 7, and it was the very beginning of the school year.  going into the third grade at a pretentious, expensive private school was a bit scary.  sure, i had been there in 2nd grade after switching from another school, but i had stayed after school every day with that teacher since my parents worked for some time after school ended.  barely three days had passed before my mom said those words that have been stuck in my mind for the better part of seven years now.  it was huge, hundreds of miles across, and it barreled straight towards us, straight towards my beloved home of new orleans, louisiana.  i can remember someone maybe my grandma , calling up and telling us my dad’s sister, my cousin, and my uncle were there, and planning our evacuation.

 looking back, i wish i had went around one last time, smelled the rather stale, yet comforting smell of the air conditioner, and the different spots on the carpet that had become familiar.  i wish i had committed all of these things to permanent memory, but i hadn’t, thinking i’d be back within the span of less than a week.  what else could i have thought?  i don’t think anyone could have predicted what happened next, let alone a young child.  in the back of the car was a water bowl for the dog, the dog herself, random suitcases, things of that nature.  i remember staying in our van for the majority of the trip, stopping at several gas stations to get drinks and snacks, use the facilities, let the dog do her business, etcetera.  mcdonald’s was a stop that sticks in my mind through all of the fog surrounding my early years.

 me and my cousin didn’t eat much, as we were having a fun time of amusing each other.  then again, she wasn’t even two yet, so i did most of the entertaining, but you get my point.  we stopped at a gas station after that, and my dad fed the dog the rest of his slim jim, which she promptly responded to by drinking down nearly a bottle’s worth of water from her bowl.  why i made this next choice, i do not know, so if you ever see me, don’t ask.

 i don’t remember much after that, just lost in my thoughts, listening to the conversations around me.  it was a nice hotel full of nice people that served nice breakfast, and it was the only pet friendly place in the area.  why tupelo, you may ask?  well, to this day, i really don’t know, but it’s led me here, and i am, to some degree, content.

Good Words to Put In a College Essay

 my parents being glued to the tv at all times, i knew all about what was going on.  the levees failed, water drowned many people, and those who weren’t drowned, were trapped in their houses and attics.  i have heard from people who went through it, and, honestly, i’d never want to. Misha strage chapter 1 –   secrets of the government, to:   director of fema, mr. Dan sullivan subject: hurricane katrina man made suffering dear director of fema, hurricane katrina was a terrible natural disaster and unavoidable, but the drowning of new orleans and the subsequent suffering was all man made. As an investigative reporter, i went down to visit new orleans after the tragedy. Never could i have imagined what i was about to see and, more importantly, what i was about to uncover about racism in america.

Despite warnings that the levees were outdated and in desperate need of repair, the government made a tradeoff, gambling with the lives and welfare of the poorest americans, and chose to delay any repairs.  the real reason that 80% of the city of new orleans flooded, was due to the failure of these outdated levees. To see the desolation and destruction of new orleans, and in particular the 9 th ward, was shocking. And to make it worse, to know that the levee failure could have been avoided, and the damage to these people’s lives could have been much less. I have personally witnessed one of the worst engineering disasters and an avoidable one! the 9th ward neighborhood was thrust into the nation's spotlight during hurricane katrina. Much of the 9th ward on both sides of the industrial canal experienced catastrophic flooding with the majority of the damage caused by the storm surge and multiple severe levee breaks along the canals.

Once the storm hit, the town and the government did not take immediate action.  americans saw the devastation being played out on their tvs and were shocked that this was not some third world country but in their our back yard. Fema, the federal emergency management agency, knew a huge storm was going to hit, days in advance, and yet the agency did not have adequate preparations nor were they quick to act. Information was confused and incomplete with thousands of people being stranded without food or water. It was never going to be possible for everyone to evacuate, especially in the poorer areas, and yet there was no plan for these people! where you planning on just leaving people out there to toughen out a catastrophic category 5 storm? as many have noted, hurricane katrina and the reactions to the disaster held a mirror up to our society and what we saw was shocking. Perhaps the most disturbing reporting concerned those survivors trying to find food: hungry white victims found the food they needed to survive, while blacks doing the exact same thing were said to have looted it.  there is possibly no other snapshot that reflects the reality that this country remains divided by race and class still to this day, than this example. Did you not think about what hurricane betsy did to new orleans, and the people of the 9 th ward? did you not think to learn from previous events, and so therefore be better prepared when it happened again? but instead you left the 9 th ward alone, stranded to fight the storm themselves. Does that mean they do not deserve to live in safety? tax money and the government should be protecting and ensuring the safety of the people all of the people of new orleans.

I hope you take this into consideration for the future, and so the disaster of hurricane katrina is never repeated again. August 28th, 2005… more than 1800 people lost their lives because of a strong hurricane that took place in the united states. In your academic institution you may be asked to write a hurricane katrina essay.