Unit 6 natural disasters the great flood and katrina

Unit 6: Natural Disasters: The Great Flood & Katrina
ytical Reasoning: Ethics, Values & Effective
Citizenship
Unit 6: Natural Disasters: The Great Flood & Katrina
Natural disasters have had ruinous impacts on the lives
and livelihood of people and places throughout
the world. CriOque Barry’s Rising Tide. Engage in
discussions about Barry’s book with at least three
members of your learning community. Working
collaboraOvely with three others, answer the following
quesOons: What is the professional responsibility of
engineers, developers and policy makers in the
protecOon of human life and the environment? What are
the consequences for violaOng professional
ethics? What is federalism and why is that concept
perOnent in the case analysis of Katrina and/or the
flood of 1927? Could the levees that broke in New
Orleans in the flood of 1927 and those that broke
during Hurricane Katrina of 2005, have been built to
higher safety and engineering standards? Write
an essay with three members of your learning community
in which you draw upon Barry’s work and
advance stronger ethical standards and seek to reform
public policy in ways that promote stronger
regulaOons.
Unit Descrip?on:
Natural disasters and the responses to them have shaped
the history of socieOes and naOons throughout

the world. No two tragedies have been more important to
American and parOcularly African‐
American history than the Great Flood of 1927 and
Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Although 80 years apart,
the devastaOon and subsequent controversies surrounding
the two were remarkably similar and lead to
quesOons about race and racism, migraOon, and
governmental responsibility in this country.
Unit Narra?ve:
The Great Flood of 1927 wiped out towns from Cairo,
Illinois, to New Orleans, leaving nearly a thousand
people dead and a million homeless. It was a natural
disaster that in some ways dwarfed Hurricane
Katrina, and the resources available to respond to it,
parOcularly in the Mississippi Delta, were
negligible at best. In the Delta, white leaders met the
devastaOon and clean up efforts the only way
they knew how: they forced blacks to do it. Under marOal
law, white leaders in the Delta arrested black
men, women, and children who tried to leave and forced
them to repair the levees that had been
wiped away. Issues of migraOon, race and racism, and
governmental responsibility during the Great
Flood compare directly with Hurricane Katrina. John
Barry’s Rising Tide will help to facilitate this discussion
along with the PBS Frontline program The Storm—an
episode from which will be shown each
day for the enOre unit. Barry’s essay “What You Need to

Know about Katrina” and his website with images
of varying degrees of flood protecOon around the world
will also provoke an examinaOon of the
other inherent quesOons associated with this tract.
36
Day 1: Great Flood of 1927
This class will deal with the history of the Great Flood of
1927. It will begin with Alice Pearson’s Greenville
Levee Blues to introduce students to the cultural
implicaOons of the Great Flood and will use the PBS
American
Experience film Fatal Flood to get into the actual events
surrounding the disaster.
In parOcular, the Great Flood of 1927 sent many black
families packing for Northern ciOes as part of the Great
MigraOon. In the Spring of 1927, aher weeks of unending
rains, the Mississippi River flooded its banks from
Cairo, Illinois, to New Orleans, inundaOng hundreds of
towns, killing as many as a thousand people, and leaving
up to one million homeless. It was a natural disaster that
in some ways dwarfed Katrina, and the resources
available to respond to it, parOcularly in the Mississippi
Delta, were negligible at best.
In the Mississippi Delta, white leaders met this
devastaOon and clean up efforts the only way they knew
how;
they forced blacks to do it. Those whites had to center a
large part of their efforts on the task of keeping blacks

from leaving. Displaced sharecroppers sought help from
families and friends across the country, and those
families in turn pushed them to finally leave the South.
The only problem was that large parts of the Mississippi
Delta were under marshal law, and many black men,
women, and children who tried to leave were arrested
and then—along with blacks and poor whites already in
the convict‐lease system and on chain gangs—
forced to work to shore up and repair the levees all along
the Delta.
These issues will lead directly to a comparison with
Katrina and class discussion. John Barry’s arguments in
Rising
Tide will help to facilitate this discussion.
SOURCES
Intro: Alice Pearson, Greenville Levee Blues
I woke up this morning,
Couldn’t even get out of my door.
I woke up this morning,
Couldn’t even get out of my door.
The levee broke and this town is overflowed.
hIp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLGrodTtL1I
Film: Fatal Flood
hIp://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/flood/
Reading: John Barry, Rising Tide, excerpts (Intro)
Day 2: Katrina
This class will deal with the history of Katrina and begin
with “Part 1: Chaos and Tragedy” of the PBS Frontline

program The Storm—an episode from which will be
shown each day for the rest of this secOon. John Barry’s
essay “What You Need to Know about Katrina” will
facilitate this discussion and look at the quesOons central
to
this secOon, including:
What is the professional responsibility of engineers,
developers and policy makers in the protecOon of
human life and the environment?
37
What are the consequences for violaOng professional
ethics?
What is federalism and why is that concept perOnent in
the case analysis of Katrina and/or the flood of
1927?
Could the levees that broke in New Orleans in the flood
of 1927 and those that broke during Hurricane
Katrina of 2005, have been built to higher safety and
engineering standards?
In addiOon, John Barry’s website and the images of
varying degrees of flood protecOon around the world
should be used to bring these points to bear.
SOURCES
Film: The Storm
Part 1: Chaos and Tragedy
hIp://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/storm/view/
Reading: John Barry, “What You Need to Know About
Katrina—and SOll Don’t—Why It

Makes Economic Sense to Protect New Orleans”
hIp://www.johnmbarry.com/bio.htm
Music Video: Lil Wayne, Tie My Hands Hurricane
Katrina
Day 3 Educa?onal Implica?ons for Displaced Students
aaer Hurricane Katrina
This presentaOon will include an engaging analysis on
youth affected by the storm and its impact on their
academic
performance. Students displaced by the hurricane faced
mulOple challenges in adjusOng to new school
sesngs along with unstructured support from the assigned
district. According to data reported by the Southern
EducaOon FoundaOon (SEF, 2007) between 20,000 and
30,000 students did not aIend school at all in the
2005‐2006 school term. This rise in student populaOons
across 49 states proved that many schools were woefully
unprepared in space and resources to accommodate this
student populaOon surge. This presentaOon will
cover the mental well‐being of students using video and
mulO‐media. Given the average classroom will not
hold posiOve student‐teacher raOos, schools had issues of
overcrowding and limited supplies. In those limited
resources, supplemental services were also needed for
students who required remedial assistance in academic
preparaOon. Students in this module will be required to
offer analysis of post Katrina challenges to student

performance in educaOon and compare other underserved
districts with similar issues in student performance.
Recommended Reading:
EducaOon aher Katrina: Time for a New Federal
Response. (8/30/2007) Southern EducaOon FoundaOon
(SEF)
Film: The Storm
Part 2: FEMA’s Rocky History
38
Children of the Storm, Hurricane Katrina
hIp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=‐
QG03FQOZ3k&feature=related
Children of the Storm, Hurricane Katrina, Children
Survivors
hIp://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=95SNlMwxIvk&feature=related
Katrina's Effect on Kids: What Have We Learned?
v=FciRuwtgf9c&feature=related
Alarming Post‐Katrina Study
hIp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCbIGa86oGQ
Day 4 Implica?ons for Health and Wellness among
Displaced Youth: A Global Perspec?ve
This presentaOon will conOnue with the focus on
Hurricane Katrina and its impact on children and
adolescent

populaOon in terms of social and emoOonal well‐being.
Several studies and endless documents cite the lasOng
impact of trauma causing serious mental illness and
behavioral problems of children who witness natural
disasters
on this scale. A significant perspecOve from this
presentaOon will allow the student to examine the long
term effect of natural disasters on children and their
families, while comparing similar events on a global
scale.
The facilitator will provide media resources from major
catastrophes from around the world (e.g. China, HaiO,
etc.) and make comparaOve links to that of Hurricane
Katrina and the Flood of 1927. In consideraOon of the
knowledge gained from the introductory porOon of this
module, students will idenOfy common outcomes and
challenges faced by children and families aher a natural
disaster occurs. AddiOonally, the students will evaluate
intervenOons made by government, local agencies and
internaOonal groups to meet those needs.
Film: The Storm
Part 3: FEMA aher 9/11
HaiO Earthquake: Concern over SituaOon of children in
Port‐au‐Prince
hIp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdfHZZeCHPA
Katrina's Effect on Kids: What Have We Learned?

v=FciRuwtgf9c&feature=related
PTSD: Mental Health in the Wake of Disaster
v=KJg3DcHRIGM&feature=related
UNICEF: Earthquakes toll on Schools in Qinghai,
Province China
hIp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsaRjuimp4k
39
Day 5
Students should be given a brief lecture on PoliOcs
(definiOons) and be introduced to the concept of
federalism.
What is Federalism?
• Federalism is a way of organizing a naOon so that two
or more levels of government have formal
authority over the same area and people.
Establishing NaOonal Supremacy
• This is Very important because it suggests that the
United States Government should have taken
more control to ensure that New Orleans was protected.
McCulloch v. Maryland ‐ (1819) –The Supreme Court
ruled that naOonal policies take
precedence over state policies: Chief JusOce John
Marshall wrote that “the government
of the United States, though limited in its power, is
supreme within its sphere of acOon.”
From dual to cooperaOve federalism
• What is dual federalism?

Also called “layer cake federalism” – a form of
federalism in which states and the na‐
Oonal government each remain supreme within their own
spheres.
• What is cooperaOve federalism?
Also called “marble cake federalism” – a form of
federalism with mingled responsibiliOes
and blurred disOncOons between the levels of
government.
Film: The Storm
Part 4: The CommunicaOons Breakdown in Katrina
Day 6
Film: The Storm
Part 5: Epilogue
Presenta?ons: Day 7 and Day 8
Each group will be asked to read the ?meline of the
events leading up to Katrina, and the days following
Katrina.
They will then be asked to make an assessment of their
appointed ?meline.
Group One (July 23, 2005 – August 28, 2005)
Read the summaries of the arOcles that cover your Ome
period at the website
hIp://www.factcheck.org/arOcle348.html. As a group,
decide what criOcism might be made of the ac‐
Oons of the following people:

• New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin
• President George W. Bush
Conduct research on Hurricane Pam and answer the
following quesOons.
40
• Who parOcipated in Hurricane Pam?
• What was the purpose of this exercise?
• What major issues or problems were idenOfied?
• What impact did officials think this hurricane would
have on New Orleans?
• What was done with the informaOon that was learned
from Hurricane Pam?
Using informaOon from your reading, take a stand on
whom you would blame for the poor response to
Hurricane Katrina. Explain your answer and provide
supporOng informaOon.
Using supporOng informaOon, organize a short
presentaOon that covers your group's findings on who is
to blame for the devastaOon. Include a recommendaOon
on how this problem could be avoided in the
future. Summarize what you will be presenOng here.
Group Two (August 29, 2005 – August 31, 2005)
period at the website,

• Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff
• United States Senator David ViIer
• Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco
Research the breach of the 17th Street Canal:
• What was FEMA's response to the breach of the 17th
Street Canal?
• Why did the flooding conOnue aher Hurricane Katrina
leh the city?
• What evidence is there that communicaOons broke
down between various levels of government
and agencies during the flooding?
period, at the website
• FEMA director Michael Brown

What problems did the following people report:
• CNN Correspondent Adaora Udoji
• Dr. Sanjay Gupta
• CNN Correspondent Paula Zahn
• Red Cross Officials
41
Group Three (September 1, 2005 – September 2, 2005)
Read the transcript at the website
hIp://www.factcheck.org/arOcle348.html As a group,
answer the following
quesOons:
• What were Mayor Ray Nagin's criOcisms of President
George W. Bush?
• Why does Mayor Ray Nagin blame the governor,
FEMA and Homeland Security for the 17th Street
Canal breach?
Group Four (September 3, 2005 – September 15, 2005)

period, at the website
answer the following quesOons:
• What issues came up as the dead were removed from the
streets of New Orleans?
• What responsibility does the federal government have
for the failures in New Orleans according
to President George W. Bush?
• What does FEMA director Michael Brown say about the
acOons of the Louisiana Governor Kathleen
Blanco?
42

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