What the effect on New Orleans water when hurricane Katrina hit?

Question

when Katrina hit the leves broke but why was the water dirty and what were the effects in the long run.

Answer 1

The water was dirty because it flooded and overflowed the sewer system, and gas stations throughout the area.  

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Then...

A bunch of people got really upset, because they didn't leave when they were told to(that's what Mandatory Evacuation means), and had to be rescued; which took a while, and lots got sick, and or died.

The Mayor of New Orleans established himself, and/or New Orleans as being racist, by announcing that new orleans is a "Chocolate City".  

Much of the city is still in ruins, because of the high abandonment of homes, and many citizens refusal to actually rebuild their homes, but rather wait for the government to do it for them.  

There's been a drop in tourism, repairing of the levees, and now Brad Pitt is building a bunch of houses.  

That about sums it up....(let the hate male begin...)

Answer 2

xooxcable does not live in New Orleans and apparently never lived here, so I don't know why he is answering a question about somewhere he is not familiar with.

New Orleans was flooded with salty water from Lake Pontchartrain.  Despite being called a "lake" it is actually a bay (with a passage to the Gulf of Mexico), which is why the water is salty.  Lake Pontchartrain is also very shallow and there was a lot of mud mixed with the flood waters.  The city stayed flooded for about a month.

The flood waters did include sewage, gasoline, oil, pesticides, and whatever else was on the ground when the city was inundated.  That happens whenever an urban area is flooded.

Urban flood water is nasty but there was nothing special about Katrina's flood water, except the water was salty + the city stayed submerged for weeks. The salt killed vegetation quickly and the heat made things smell bad.

The news media at the time went on and on about the "toxic flood waters".  In reality, testing has shown NO long term toxicity and NO special toxins in the residue.  The vegetation has almost completely recovered, and will fully recover as the rains each year wash away the salt.