Hurricane Katrina

Effects outside the immediate region

Economic effects

Most experts anticipate that Katrina will be the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history. Some early predictions in damages exceeded $100 billion, not accounting for potential catastrophic damage inland due to flooding (which would increase the total even more), or damage to the economy caused by interruption of oil supply (much of the U.S. energy operations are in the Gulf Coast region), and exports of commodities such as grain. Other predictions placed the minimum insured damage at around $12.5 billion (the insured figure is normally doubled to account for uninsured damages in the final cost). There are also effects on ocean shipping, the casino industry and tourism.

Related Topics:
U.S. - Oil - Energy

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International oil prices rose. In the UK pump prices for unleaded petrol (gas) hit £1 per litre ($7 per US gallon) for the first time in a significant number of places (averaging about 95p), a rise of about 3% from pre-Katrina prices. Wholesale prices were up 5% as of 6 September. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4215346.stm:Site_sources

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See also Peak Oil for more information on the geological reality that Katrina has likely exacerbated.

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Space Shuttle Program

The hurricane passed over the Michoud Assembly Facility and materially interrupted the production of external tanks for the Space Shuttle, leading to a further interruption of the shuttle flights http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0508/28michoud/. Evan McCollum, a Lockheed Martin Space Systems spokesman in Denver reported on August 292005 that "there is water leakage and potential water damage in the buildings, but there's no way to tell how much at this point" http://www.space.com/news/050829_katrina_michoud_updt.html.

Related Topics:
Michoud Assembly Facility - External tanks - Space Shuttle - Lockheed Martin Space Systems - Denver - August 29 - 2005

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The Michoud Assembly Facility remained closed until September 26, at which time only essential staff were called back to the facility. http://www.mafstatus.com/ On September 16, 2005 NASA announced that the repairs were progressing faster than anticipated, and so they will continue to use Michoud for external tank work http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/sep/HQ_05268_Resume_Work_Michoud.html. The next Shuttle flight, STS-121, may still be postponed to May or later during the second half of 2006 http://www.flatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050901/NEWS04/509010344/1007/NEWS02. This facility is also used as a temporary staging area and headquarters for the U.S. Marine Corps effort in New Orleans, helping with the evacuation.

Related Topics:
Michoud Assembly Facility - September 26 - September 16 - 2005 - NASA - STS-121

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The John C. Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Mississippi was also damaged by Katrina, with structural damage to the main facility causing some water leakage into the interior portions of the research facility and halting any major tests while repairs are being made. In addition, the space center was used as a temporary evacuation center for areas near the Mississippi gulf coast region and for residents of New Orleans.

Related Topics:
John C. Stennis Space Center - Hancock County, Mississippi

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Internet

Technology for All http://www.techforall.org set up technology centers for Internet access in the Astrodome. There were also reports that SBC and T-Mobile installed and provided free wifi access in the Astrodome. http://www.phoneplusmag.com/hotnews/59h111047.html Cisco, Vonage, and SBC provided similar services at the Dallas Convention Center and Reunion Arena where another 8,000 evacuees were sheltered.

Related Topics:
SBC - T-Mobile - Wifi

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The DirectNIC (Intercosmos Media Group, http://www.directnic.com/)

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data center in downtown New Orleans has so far been able to continue operations uninterrupted, due in part to the efforts of a few determined individuals. They've also worked to help procure fuel for telco providers, and provided a router for New Orleans' city hall, apparently so city officials could establish VoIP telephone service during the disaster. According to Netcraft, DirectNIC is the 11th largest domain registrar on the Internet, at 1.1 million domains. They are currently running a very popular blog that is documenting things that are happening around them, including pictures of the New Orleans aftermath, with a link to a webcam showing part of the Central Business District on Poydras St. A LiveJournal community, InterdictorNews http://livejournal.com/community/interdictornews/ has been started for those who have been commenting in this blog. It includes FAQs about the actions of the DirectNIC team in setting up Outpost Crystal.

Related Topics:
A few determined individuals - Netcraft - InterdictorNews

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The effects of the storm disrupted the OC-12 Abilene Network http://abilene.internet2.edu/ Internet2 link between Houston and Atlanta, as well as some of DirectNIC's many high-speed connections. The staff on site are working to restore more upstream connectivity, as well as Internet access to local municipal organizations.

Related Topics:
OC-12 - Abilene Network - Internet2

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As of September 1 2005, Sans Infocon http://isc.sans.org/infocon.php is reporting code green for Internet attacks. Keynote Internet Health Report http://scoreboard.keynote.com/scoreboard/ is reporting code green for select Internet networks. The Internet Traffic Report http://www.internettrafficreport.com/namerica.htm was reporting code yellow for North America. Earthlink network status http://netstatus.earthlink.net/netstatus/netstatus.aspx reports that DSL is unavailable in New Orleans. Perhaps one of the more interesting sets of status information is Googling New Orleans and checking the reachability of the top 20 websites. On September 1, 25% were unreachable, 20% were impaired, and 55% remained reachable.http://www.cybertelecom.org/security/katrina.htm The NO Visitor's Bureau http://www.neworleanscvb.com/static/index.cfm/action/group/contentID/256/sectionID/1/subsectionID/0/ reports "There is virtually total internet disruption as well, as locally hosted servers and routers have gone down with the loss of primary and backup power. Only those hotels with corporate housed servers in other cities have any internet possibility."

Related Topics:
September 1 - 2005 - North America - Earthlink - DSL - New Orleans - Googling

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Cybertelecom.org has established a webpage to collect data on the status of and impact on the Internet. http://www.cybertelecom.org/security/katrina.htm.

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Science research

Important work on heart disease, cancer, AIDS and many other other ailments may be lost to scientists at Tulane and Louisiana State universities' medical schools in New Orleans. Military research was also affected as state police broke into a high-security government lab in New Orleans and destroyed unspecified dangerous pathogens before they could escape or be stolen.

Related Topics:
Tulane - Louisiana State - Pathogen

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