VOICE ONE:
Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Barbara Klein.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Doug Johnson. This week, our subject is the first anniversary of
Hurricane Katrina. The storm hit land three times in the final days of August of
two thousand five. Its third landfall, on August twenty-ninth, was the one that
caused the most damage.
VOICE ONE:
Katrina was blamed for about one thousand eight hundred
deaths along the Gulf of Mexico coast. Property damage estimated at around
seventy-five thousand million dollars made it the most costly hurricane in
American history.
(SOUND)
VOICE TWO:
In the year since Hurricane Katrina, people in the affected areas have heard
many promises and seen some progress.
Congress and state governments have provided for thousands of millions of
dollars in aid. Engineers are developing plans that they say will improve flood
protection systems. And emergency officials say they are planning better ways to
get people to safety.
But the progress has not been enough to satisfy many of the people who lived
through the storm. They say they will believe the promises when they see the
results.
VOICE ONE:
The National Association of Community Health Centers estimates that as many
as two million people had to leave their homes because of Katrina. Many found
they no longer had a home or a job to return to. A year later, some are still
trying to re-establish their lives.
Across the affected states, progress has been uneven.
Rebuilding has begun. But workers have yet to clear away many of the homes
and other buildings wrecked by the storm.
Thousands of people now live in temporary trailer
housing provided by the government. Many homeowners are still
waiting for insurance payments or government help to rebuild.
Many people have left to make new lives in other places.
Today, perhaps half of New Orleans appears normal or near normal. But other
areas of the city look as if Katrina struck yesterday. Almost half of the public
schools are still closed.
Before Katrina, New Orleans had nine hospitals. Now only a few are open.
Katrina was not the only problem. Hurricane Rita caused additional flooding in
September.
VOICE TWO:
About 1,600 people from the state of Louisiana died as a
result of Katrina. More than 230 were killed in Mississippi. Florida,
Alabama and Georgia also had victims.
The remains of about 50 people are still unidentified in Louisiana. Some were
found months after the storm.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
During the past year, investigations examined government responses to
Hurricane Katrina. Rescue operations and evacuations of communities were
painfully disorganized. Many thousands of people went for days without receiving
food, water or medical care.
Government officials blamed each other. And almost everyone blamed FEMA, the
Federal Emergency Management Agency. But, as one investigation put it, there was
enough blame to share.
VOICE TWO:
On June 1, the Army Corps of Engineers accepted responsibility for faults in
the New Orleans levees. These barriers were built to protect the city which sits
below sea level.
The corps released a 6,000-page report that described many problems with
engineering and design of the flood protection system.
Several levees failed as a result of Katrina and Rita. Water rushed through
and covered everything in its path.
Saltwater flowed into Lake Pontchartrain. For a while, even areas far inland
looked like part of the Atlantic Ocean.
In some inland areas, people are still finding pieces of boats that Katrina
blew in from the Gulf of Mexico.
VOICE ONE:
The Army Corps of Engineers repaired the broken levees. Now the corps says it
will begin a project to reduce the damage that future hurricanes might cause.
The work includes adding floodgates
and pump stations. The project is supposed to be finished by September of 2007.
The current hurricane season began June 1 and will continue through
November. Government weather scientists say this Atlantic season probably will
not be as severe as the last one. But they still expect an above-normal number
of storms.
The existing flood protection system is not designed for a Category Five
hurricane -- the most severe. For a time Katrina had been at Category Five
strength. But the storm lost some of that strength by the time it hit land
southeast of New Orleans on August 29.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
Some parts of New Orleans were not heavily affected by Katrina. The famous
entertainment area around Bourbon Street, for example, began to re-open not long
after the storm.
But damage was severe and widespread in some other areas of the city,
including some of its poorest communities.
Some people in New Orleans and other areas hit by Katrina had stayed in their
homes after they were warned of the coming storm. They stayed for different
reasons. Some had no transportation. Others had survived earlier hurricanes in
their homes. They thought they could live through this one.
Some were lucky -- they were pulled from rooftops by helicopters or rescued
by boats. Others were not -- their bodies were found in the weeks and months
after Katrina.
VOICE ONE:
In New Orleans today, the mostly black community that was the Lower Ninth
Ward is almost empty. Film director Spike Lee has made a four-hour documentary
on HBO television about the suffering of the Lower Ninth.
"When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts" has received praise but also
some criticism. Some people say it could give the wrong idea that mostly black
people suffered in Katrina.
VOICE TWO:
The United States Census Bureau released its most recent population estimates
for the affected Gulf Coast areas in January. The report showed that the
population of New Orleans was 64 percent smaller than before. Only about
158,000 people were left in the city.
Before the storms, two out of three people in New Orleans were black. Now the
average citizen is more likely to be white, a little older and better off
financially compared to the averages a year ago.
Before Katrina and Rita, 36 percent of the people in the New Orleans
metropolitan area were black. That number dropped to 21 percent.
But Katrina increased the populations of cities like Houston, Texas, that
received thousands of people needing shelter.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
The American Psychological Association says many Katrina survivors suffer
from depression. They are also at increased risk of drug and alcohol problems.
Many displaced families moved several times after the storm. The children may
have attended two or three schools, or more. Not surprisingly, some have trouble
keeping their minds on their schoolwork.
Katrina destroyed a large number of community medical centers that had been
providing care to poor people. These centers were under pressure for resources
long before the storm. Now the ones that remain do not have enough doctors and
nurses. In Louisiana, community health care officials say seventy percent of
local doctors and nurses have yet to return to damaged parts of the state.
VOICE TWO:
In some Gulf Coast communities, strong economic influences have been the
driving force to rebuild. Biloxi, Mississippi, is a good example. Before
Katrina, eight to ten million people each year came to Biloxi to gamble. Katrina
destroyed or heavily damaged the city's famous riverboat casinos. Fifteen
thousand employees had no work.
Today Biloxi is recovering. Seven of its nine casinos are operating again or
will soon. Visitors are returning. City official Vincent Creel says Biloxi has
lived through hurricanes before. He tells us, "Biloxi will endure and prevail."
A young woman who lives and works in New Orleans shows the same spirit about
the city that people call the Big Easy. In her words, "There will always be a
New Orleans."
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by Caty Weaver.
I'm Barbara
Klein.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Doug Johnson. We hope you can join us again next week for THIS IS
AMERICA in VOA Special English.
trailer
housing : 房车
floodgate :
水闸
（来源：VOA 英语点津姗姗编辑）
