HURRICANE HARVEY 2

Hurricane Harvey

Hurricane Harvey was a category four hurricane that hit the US states of Texas and
Louisiana in August, 2017. It resulted in massive flooding in both states leading to extensive loss
of life and property. In terms of cost, Hurricane Harvey ties with Hurricane Katrina that hit in
2005 as the costliest tropical storm to ever hit the US as it is estimated to have caused damage
worth over a hundred billion dollars (Fandos, 2017). However, compared to Hurricane Katrina, it
was managed in a much better way thanks in part to employment of National Response
Framework (NRF) guidelines.
Immediately the coming storm and its scale were identified, NRF was activated to deal
with it both before, during, and in the aftermath of the disaster. At the federal level FEMA
worked with Customs and Border Protection as well as Coast Guards to make preparations
before, during, and after the storm ((Fandos, 2017). Both Texas and Louisiana governors
declared states of emergency in their states to allow for better management of the storm (Fandos,
2017).
Given the scale of the disaster, emergency response units of local authorities, particularly
in the cities of New Orleans and Houston, closely coordinated their efforts with state and federal
disaster units. For proper coordination of response efforts, the federal response team set up base
in Texas and sent their personnel to work with response units based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
and Austin, Texas (Fandos, 2017).
Due to these efforts towards effective coordination of response units at all levels of
government, there were fewer deaths than those recorded twelve years earlier when Hurricane
Katrina hit the state of Louisiana despite both hurricanes being of the same size and scope. The

HURRICANE HARVEY 3
response of Hurricane Harvey, therefore, proved that NRF is effective in guiding response to
large scale disasters.

References

Fandos, N. (August 25, 2017). Trump Administration Faces Hurricane Harvey, Its First Major
National Disaster. The New York Times. Retrieved on 13 th October, 2019 from
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/25/us/politics/trump-hurricane-texas-
fema.html?mcubz=0