The impact of the failure of New Orleans' levee system after Hurricane Katrina was significant and lasting. Hurricane Katrina quickly became the costliest disaster in U.S. history and one of the worst. This affected areas from southeast Louisiana to east of New Orleans. Say no to plagiarism. Get a Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayNew Orleans was about 80% flooded, including waters deeper than 10 feet in some areas from New Orleans. As of August 2, 2006, 1,118 people were confirmed dead, with an additional 135 people missing. The scale of the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina made it difficult to account for and track all the lives affected by the disaster. The city and economy were severely affected by the number of people leaving New Orleans (around 400,000 people) and never returning. During this major disaster, water levels rose, and because of this, many unfortunate things happened. The dike system has failed in more than 50 places. Broken levees and crumbling flood walls caused water to rise about a foot every 10 minutes. Many people were able to escape before or after the hurricane. While others, unfortunately, drowned in the high water levels. Individuals left their homes, waiting in the storm, and died while waiting in hopes of receiving food, water, and medical care. After a while, the bodies of the deceased would rise to higher ground, where members of the public would have to cover them. Many people tried to flee to their attics in the hope of escaping the rising waters. These individuals were found days, weeks, even months later and many of them unfortunately did not survive. Other New Orleans residents have drowned after trying to save the lives of others. Elderly residents were unable to access their attics, forcing family members to watch their loved ones slowly drown to death, all the while knowing there was nothing they could do. It is important to note that elderly residents have been most affected by this situation. failure. In the immediate aftermath of this failure, thousands of people were looking for a safe place to go. These people were forced to wade through floodwaters encountering various obstacles such as mud, trash and harmful chemicals such as cleaners and solvents. The next major harmful chemical was gasoline that escaped from properties and vehicles in the area. All of this doesn't even take into consideration the ultimate major problem. It is the product of 7 major oil spills that spilled into floodwaters. There has been an increase in gastrointestinal illnesses, skin infections and upper respiratory infections. This is due to high exposure to high levels of E.coli and fecal coliform bacteria in waters. The impact of the failure caused fatalities in many other ways. It was reported that six of the deaths were due to bacterial infection when previous or new wounds (from the storm) were submerged in floodwaters. Five deaths were due to carbon monoxide poisoning due to improper use of gasoline generators during the period of power outages. The long-term impacts include billions of dollars in property damage, including personal, property and business losses. Another consequence..