The impact of the failure of the New Orleans levee system following Hurricane Katrina was significant and long-lasting. Hurricane Katrina quickly became the costliest disaster in U.S. history and one of the worst. It affected areas from southeastern Louisiana to east of New Orleans. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original EssayNew Orleans was about 80% flooded, including water deeper than 10 feet in some areas of New Orleans. As of August 2, 2006, 1118 people have been confirmed dead with the addition of 135 missing persons. The extent of damage caused by Hurricane Katrina has made it difficult to keep track of all the lives affected by the disaster. The city and economy were severely affected due to the number of people who left New Orleans (reportedly around 400,000 people) and never returned. During this major disaster, the water levels increased and due to this, many unfortunate things occurred. The levee system has failed in more than 50 locations. Broken levees and crumbling floodwalls were causing the water to rise about a foot every 10 minutes. Many people managed to escape before or after the hurricane. While others, unfortunately, drowned in the high water level. People left their homes, waiting in the storm, and died while waiting in hopes of receiving food, water and medical care. The bodies of the deceased after a while rose to higher ground, where members of the public were left to cover them. Many people tried to escape to their attics in hopes of escaping the rising water levels. These individuals were found days, weeks or even months later and many sadly did not survive. Other New Orleans residents have drowned while trying to save the lives of others. Elderly residents were unable to reach their attics, which led to family members being virtually forced to watch their loved ones slowly drown to their deaths knowing there was nothing they could do. It is important to note that elderly residents have been hit the hardest by this failure. As a result of the failure, in the immediate aftermath, thousands of people looked for a safe place to go. These individuals were forced to walk through floodwaters with various obstacles such as mud, waste and harmful chemicals such as detergents and solvents. The next harmful chemical was gasoline leaking from properties and vehicles in the area. All of this doesn't even take into consideration the big final issue. This is the result of 7 large oil spills that spilled into the flood waters. There has been an increase in gastrointestinal diseases, skin infections and upper respiratory tract infections. This is due to the high exposure levels of E.coli and fecal coliform bacteria in the water. The impact of the failure caused deaths in many other ways. Six of the deaths were reported to be the cause of a bacterial infection when previous or new wounds (due to the storm) were placed in flood waters. A total of 5 deaths were the result of carbon monoxide poisoning due to the improper use of gasoline-powered generators during the period of power outages. Long-term repercussions include billions of dollars in property damage that includes losses of personal, real estate and commercial property. Another unintended consequence is that many of the sites destroyed during this disaster were virtually unlivable. After more than a year, many of the sites destroyed.