One of the Worst Storms
on Record Unleashes Toxic Cocktail in Flood
Waters
29/08/2005 - Hurricane Katrina, one of the
largest and strongest storms on record, roared
onto shore yesterday, causing massive devastation
to New Orleans and surrounding areas in Louisiana,
Alabama and Mississippi. Part of a growing
trend, scientists have been predicting a greater
intensity for hurricanes as a result of global
warming.
In fact, a study published in the journal
Nature, notes the accumulated power of hurricanes
has more than doubled in the past 30 years.
Kerry Emanuel, a climatologist at Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT) and author of
the study writes, "My results suggest
that future warming may lead to an upward
trend in tropical cyclone destructive potential
and — taking into account an increasing coastal
population — a substantial increase in hurricane-related
losses in the 21st century.”
Meteorologists have called Katrina one of
the most powerful storms on record. New Orleans,
which sits 10 feet below sea level, experienced
some of the most significant damage, with
a storm surge of 20 feet flooding the city
and submerging up to 80 percent of the buildings
and homes.
But the danger to New Orleans and surrounding
areas isn’t over now that the storm has passed.
Following the massive storm surge, the chemical
plants in this part of the country, known
as “Cancer Alley,” also flooded, releasing
untold amounts of toxic poisons into the region’s
waterways and impacting flooded homes and
water supplies as well. Standing water of
up to 20 feet in some areas exposed area homes
to toxins such as chlorine, benzene and hydrochloric
acid. The entire region faces severe air and
water pollution.
“We’re talking about an incredible environmental
disaster,” says Ivor van Heerden, deputy director
of the Louisiana State University Hurricane
Center.
Experts have warned about the potential storm
risk to New Orleans for years, a situation
worsened by the loss of more than a million
acres of the region’s wetlands in recent decades,
which otherwise would have served as a buffer
against the storm surge. The wetlands, which
were once nourished by the floods and silt
of the Mississippi River, have been dried
out by the levee system in New Orleans. We
“have literally starved our wetlands to death”
by directing all of that precious silt out
into the Gulf of Mexico, van Heerden said.
New Orlean’s levee system, which normally
protects the city from the waters of the Mississippi
River and Lake Pontchartrain will now only
worsen the impact of the storm,by keeping
flood waters inside the city, with nowhere
to drain. The result will be a lake of toxic
chemicals, gas and storm debris. "So,
we're looking at a bowl full of highly contaminated
water with contaminated air flowing around
and, literally, very few places for anybody
to go where they'll be safe," according
to van Heerden.
