Natural Hazard - Climatic: Tropical Storm
Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, USA (MEDC)
23 - 30 August 2005
After crossing southern Florida - where it left some 100,000 homes without power - it strengthened further before veering inland towards Louisiana, eventually making landfall 90km south of New Orleans, at 10am local time on 29 August.
Much of New Orleans lies below sea level. The city has a system of canals and levees topped with concrete floodwalls to keep water out. These are designed to withstand a category three hurricane, but when Katrina - a category four storm - hit, they were quickly overwhelmed. Within 24 hours, 80% of the city was flooded.
By August 31, 2005, 80% of the city was flooded, with some parts under 6.1 meters of water.
Four of the city's protective levees were breached, including the 17th Street Canal levee, the Industrial Canal levee, and the London Avenue Canal floodwall.
It was the sixth-strongest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded and the third-strongest landfalling U.S. hurricane on record.
1.Hurricane Katrina was the sixth strongest hurricane ever recorded and the third strongest hurricane ever recorded to make landfall in the U.S.
2.In New Orleans, the evacuation plan was particularly crucial because it is in the Storm Surge Zone, below sea level (up to six feet in some places). Its levees were only designed for a Category 3 and Katrina was forecast as a Category 4 featuring gusts topping 140 miles an hour (225 kilometers an hour).
3.The storm surge from Katrina was 20-feet (six meters) high.
4.The failure of the levees was due to system design flaws for the most part, combined with the lack of adequate maintenance. Apparently, the designers, builders and maintenance people did not devote enough time or attention to the levees in the region.
5.More than one million Gulf Coast residents have been displaced and many of the refugees were living below the poverty line before the storm struck.
6.The final death toll was at 1,836, primarily from Louisiana (1,577) and Mississippi (238). It’s very difficult to determine the exact cause of the deaths but they were all caused either directly or indirectly by the Hurricane.
7.An estimated 80% of New Orleans was under water, up to 20 feet deep in places.
8.Hurricane Katrina caused $75 billion in estimated physical damages, the most costly hurricane in history, but it is estimated that the total economic impact in Louisiana and Mississippi may exceed $150 billion.
9.About 90,000 square miles were affected by Katrina.
10.Before the hurricane, the region supported approximately one million non-farm jobs, with 600,000 of them in New Orleans, but hundreds of thousands of local residents were left unemployed by the hurricane.
11.More than 70 countries pledged monetary donations or other assistance. Kuwait made the largest single pledge of $500 million, but Qatar, India, China, Pakistan and Bangladesh made very large donations as well.
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