Hurricane Katrina and the energy sector in the Mississippi Delta

Write a paper of no more than 1,400 words describing the effect Hurricane Katrina had on the nation’s power infrastructure.

Indicate damages that Hurricane Katrina caused to the country’s electrical system. Within your paper, address the following items:

• Provide a brief history of the evolution of utilities within the Mississippi River Delta region of the United States over the past one-hundred years. Explain contributing factors to this evolution aside from population growth.
• Describe the extent of damage done to the power grid during Hurricane Katrina in Mississippi, Texas, and Louisiana. Explain major concerns that plagued electric utilities during the restoration phase. What effects did the demand for electricity have on assorted load requirements in these areas? Why was electrical load an important issue?
• Determine how many customers were without power and for how many days. How did power outages differ between residential and commercial customers? As a manager of the energy sector, what strategies could have been implemented to determine the customer(s) with the greatest need?
• How many utility companies participated in restoring service to customers after Hurricane Katrina? Describe various methods used by these organizations to produce, store and transport the needed electricity.
• What was the estimated cost of recovery to the electrical system after Katrina? Could the costs of recovery have been minimized using another strategy to restore power? Explain your answer.