• A similarity between the oil spill catastrophe and the catastrophic flooding of New Orleans in 2005 is that the flooding was a manmade disaster, and the oil spill is a manmade disaster. Many still do not realize that the flooding occurred a day after Hurricane Katrina hit the city and calm weather prevailed. Floodwalls failed because of faulty design and faulty construction. Neither the flooding nor the oil rig explosion that led to the oil spill were acts of nature.
• Another similarity between the two is the effects on livelihoods. With New Orleans nearly destroyed by the 2005 flood, its citizens were scattered across the nation, tens of thousands were without homes and, as a result, were separated from their jobs. The livelihoods of those in coastal Louisiana towns who make their living fishing now hang in the balance. Currently, most of Louisiana’s coastal fisheries remain free of oil, but for a state that produces much of the nation’s seafood, the Louisiana fishing industry remains on edge.
• A third similarity is the effects on local culture. The culture of New Orleans is unique—its music, cuisine, strong family-centric neighborhoods, and traditions were all severely damaged by the Katrina-spawned flood. They are returning far stronger than anyone would have imagined, but still remain changed. Here, too, for coastal Louisiana residents facing the oil spill, their culture, which is inextricably bound to their fishing heritage, hangs in the balance.
• Though the flooding of New Orleans was a manmade disaster, the flooding of coastal Louisiana by Hurricane Katrina and subsequent coastal erosion was a natural disaster. Canals dug by oil exploration companies have played a significant role in coastal erosion in Louisiana, greatly abetting erosion caused by storms. Since the 1930s, Louisiana has lost a land mass along its coast the size of the state of Delaware due to coastal erosion. This lost land mass had served as an important buffer to storms greatly reducing storm surge, and protecting the interior.
• Now the oil spill may damage or destroy coastal estuaries and marshes, which are extremely important for sea life. It can also destroy marsh grasses and cane, which hold together the sediment. Once the vegetation dies, the sediment has no connective tissue, and coastal waters wash it away, greatly contributing to erosion.

As mentioned, the rig accident comes nearly five years after the worst natural disaster in American history. On August 29, 2005, hurricane Katrina roared ashore impacting an area of the Gulf Coast the size of Great Britain. Over a thousand patients and their family members were stranded in LSU’s Charity and University hospitals for five days. With gunfire erupting outside, running short on food and without electricity, the hospital staff heroically stood fast by their patients, even as the hurricane destroyed their homes and scattered their families across the nation.

In the wake of Katrina, LSU first reestablished hospital and trauma care on a navy ship, then in MASH-style mobile tents inside the New Orleans Convention Center, where it would remain until the reopening of University Hospital in November 2006. It’s now called the Interim LSU Public Hospital. Charity Hospital was declared unsalvageable. Work is currently underway on a new $1.2 billion University Medical Center, which will be adjacent to the new Veterans Administration Hospital in Mid City.

It’s in this context that we watch the growing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the potential yet again, for economic and environmental devastation.

Marvin McGraw is Director of Communications and Media Relations, LSU Health System

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