# data[].attributes.body
tokaho earthquake

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A list of the 20 largest earthquakes in the world.

View 20 Largest Earthquakes in the World on Map
References

Duputel, Z., Rivera, L., Kanamori, H., & Hayes, G. (2012). W phase source inversion for moderate to large earthquakes (1990-2010). GJI, 189(2), 1125-1147.

Johnson, J. M., Tanioka, Y., Ruff, L. J., Satake, K., Kanamori, H., & Sykes, L. R. (1994). The 1957 great Aleutian earthquake. Pure and Applied Geophysics, 142(1), 3-28.

Kanamori, H. (1971). Seismological evidence for a lithospheric normal faulting-The Sanriku earthquake of 1933. Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors, 4(4), 289-300.

Kanamori, H. (1976). Re-examination of the earth's free oxcillations excited by the Kamchatka earthquake of November 4, 1952. Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors, 11(3), 216-226.

Kanamori, H. (1977). The energy release in great earthquakes. Journal of geophysical research, 82(20), 2981-2987.

Kanamori, H., & Anderson, D. L. (1975). Theoretical basis of some empirical relations in seismology. BSSA, 65(5), 1073-1095.

López, A. M., & Okal, E. A. (2006). A seismological reassessment of the source of the 1946 Aleutian 'tsunami'earthquake. Geophysical Journal International, 165(3), 835-849.

Okal, E. A. (1992). Use of the mantle magnitude Mm for the reassessment of the moment of historical earthquakes. Pure and Applied Geophysics, 139(1), 17-57.

Okal, E. A., & Reymond, D. (2003). The mechanism of great Banda Sea earthquake of 1 February 1938: applying the method of preliminary determination of focal mechanism to a historical event. earth and planetary science letters, 216(1), 1-15.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A list of the 20 largest earthquakes in the world. View 20 Largest Earthquakes in the World on Map Duputel, Z., Rivera, L., Kanamori, H., & Hayes, G. (2012). W phase source inversion for moderate to large earthquakes (1990-2010). GJI, 189(2), 1125-1147. Johnson, J. M., Tanioka, Y., Ruff, L.

# data[].attributes.body
valdivia earthquake

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A list of the 20 largest earthquakes in the world.

View 20 Largest Earthquakes in the World on Map
References

Duputel, Z., Rivera, L., Kanamori, H., & Hayes, G. (2012). W phase source inversion for moderate to large earthquakes (1990-2010). GJI, 189(2), 1125-1147.

Johnson, J. M., Tanioka, Y., Ruff, L. J., Satake, K., Kanamori, H., & Sykes, L. R. (1994). The 1957 great Aleutian earthquake. Pure and Applied Geophysics, 142(1), 3-28.

Kanamori, H. (1971). Seismological evidence for a lithospheric normal faulting-The Sanriku earthquake of 1933. Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors, 4(4), 289-300.

Kanamori, H. (1976). Re-examination of the earth's free oxcillations excited by the Kamchatka earthquake of November 4, 1952. Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors, 11(3), 216-226.

Kanamori, H. (1977). The energy release in great earthquakes. Journal of geophysical research, 82(20), 2981-2987.

Kanamori, H., & Anderson, D. L. (1975). Theoretical basis of some empirical relations in seismology. BSSA, 65(5), 1073-1095.

López, A. M., & Okal, E. A. (2006). A seismological reassessment of the source of the 1946 Aleutian 'tsunami'earthquake. Geophysical Journal International, 165(3), 835-849.

Okal, E. A. (1992). Use of the mantle magnitude Mm for the reassessment of the moment of historical earthquakes. Pure and Applied Geophysics, 139(1), 17-57.

Okal, E. A., & Reymond, D. (2003). The mechanism of great Banda Sea earthquake of 1 February 1938: applying the method of preliminary determination of focal mechanism to a historical event. earth and planetary science letters, 216(1), 1-15.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A list of the 20 largest earthquakes in the world. View 20 Largest Earthquakes in the World on Map Duputel, Z., Rivera, L., Kanamori, H., & Hayes, G. (2012). W phase source inversion for moderate to large earthquakes (1990-2010). GJI, 189(2), 1125-1147. Johnson, J. M., Tanioka, Y., Ruff, L.

# data[].attributes.body
worlds biggest tornado of 2.6 iles wide

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This article lists various tornado records. The most "extreme" tornado in recorded history was the Tri-State Tornado, which spread through parts of Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana on March 18, 1925. It is considered an F5 on the Fujita Scale, even though tornadoes were not ranked on any scale at the time. It holds records for longest path length at 219 miles (352 km), longest duration at about 3½ hours, and fastest forward speed for a significant tornado at 73 mph (117 km/h) anywhere on Earth. In addition, it is the deadliest single tornado in United States history with 695 fatalities. It was also the third-costliest tornado in history at the time, but has been surpassed by several others non-normalized. When costs are normalized for wealth and inflation, it still ranks third today.

The deadliest tornado in world history was the Daulatpur-Saturia tornado in Bangladesh on April 26, 1989, which killed approximately 1,300 people. In the history of Bangladesh at least 19 tornadoes killed more than 100 people each, almost half of the total for the rest of the world.

For 37 years, the most extensive tornado outbreak on record, in almost every category, was the 1974 Super Outbreak, which affected a large area of the central United States and extreme southern Ontario in Canada on April 3 and April 4, 1974. Not only did this outbreak feature 148 tornadoes in only 18 hours, but an unprecedented number of them were violent; 7 were of F5 intensity and 23 were F4. During the peak of this outbreak there were 16 tornadoes on the ground at the same time. More than 300 people, possibly as many as 330, were killed by tornadoes during this outbreak. However, this record was later broken during the 2011 Super Outbreak, which resulted in 360 tornadoes and 324 tornadic fatalities. However, the most tornadoes spawned in the shortest amount of time is 104 over 5 hours and 26 minutes, during the 1981 United Kingdom tornado outbreak on 23 November 1981.

The 2011 Super Outbreak was the largest tornado outbreak spawned by a single weather system in recorded history; it produced 360 tornadoes from April 25-28, with 216 of those in a single 24-hour period on April 27 from midnight to midnight CDT, fifteen of which were violent EF4-EF5 tornadoes. 348 deaths occurred in that outbreak, of which 324 were tornado related. The outbreak largely contributed to the record for most tornadoes in the month of April with 771 tornadoes, almost triple the prior record (267 in April 1974). The overall record for a single month was 542 in May 2003, which was also broken.

The infamous 1974 Super Outbreak of April 3-4, 1974, which spawned 148 confirmed tornadoes across eastern North America, held the record for the most prolific tornado outbreak for many years, both in terms of overall number of tornadoes and in violent, long-track tornadoes (7 F5 and 23 F4 tornadoes). More significant tornadoes occurred within 24 hours than any other day on tornado record. Due to a secular trend in tornado reporting, the 2011 and 1974 tornado counts are not directly comparable.

Most tornado outbreaks in North America occur in the spring, but there is a secondary peak of tornado activity in the fall which is less consistent but can include exceptionally large and/or intense outbreaks. In 1992, an estimated 95 tornadoes broke out in a record 41 hours of continuous tornado activity from November 21 to 23. This is also among the largest-known outbreaks in areal expanse. Many other very large outbreaks have occurred in autumn, especially in October and November.

The greatest number of tornadoes spawned from a hurricane is 118 from Hurricane Ivan in 2004. Caution is advised comparing the raw number of counted tornadoes from recent decades to decades prior to the 1990s since more tornadoes that occur are now recorded than in the past.

On April 26, 1989 in Bangladesh a large tornado took at least 1,300 lives.

The Tri-State Tornado of March 18, 1925 killed 695 people in Missouri (11), Illinois (613), and Indiana (71). The outbreak it occurred with was also the deadliest known tornado outbreak, with a combined death toll of 747 across the Mississippi River Valley.

Similar to fatalities, damage (and observations) of a tornado are a coincidence of what character of tornado interacts with certain characteristics of built up areas. That is, destructive tornadoes are in a sense "accidents" of a large tornado striking a large population. In addition to population and changes thereof, comparing damage historically is subject to changes in wealth and inflation. The 1896 St. Louis-East St. Louis tornado on May 27, incurred the most damages adjusted for wealth and inflation, at an estimated $4.6 billion (2019 USD). In raw numbers, the Joplin tornado of May 22, 2011 is considered the costliest tornado in recent history, with damage totals near $3.18 billion (2019 USD). Until 2011, the Bridge Creek-Moore tornado of May 3, 1999 was the most damaging.

During the F5 1999 Bridge Creek-Moore tornado on May 3, 1999 in the southern Oklahoma City metro area, a Doppler on Wheels situated near the tornado measured winds of 302 ± 22 mph (486 ± 35 km/h) momentarily in a small area inside the funnel approximately 100 m (330 ft) above ground level. These are also the highest wind speeds observed on Earth.[citation needed ]

On May 31, 2013, a tornado hit rural areas near El Reno, Oklahoma. The tornado was originally rated as an EF3 based on damage; however, after mobile radar data analysis was conducted, it was concluded to have been an EF5 due to a measured wind speed of greater than 296 mph (476 km/h), second only to the Bridge Creek-Moore tornado. Revised RaXPol analysis found winds of 336 mph (541 km/h) well above ground level and ≥291 mph (468 km/h) below 10 m (33 ft) with some subvortices moving at 175 mph (282 km/h). These winds may possibly be as high or higher than the winds recorded on May 3, 1999. Despite the recorded windspeed, the El Reno tornado was later downgraded back to EF3 due to the fact that no EF5 damage was found, likely due to the lack of sufficient damage indicators in the largely rural area west of Oklahoma City.

Winds were measured at 262-280 mph (422-451 km/h) using portable Doppler radar in the Red Rock, Oklahoma tornado during the April 26, 1991 tornado outbreak in north-central Oklahoma. Though these winds are possibly indicative of an F5 strength tornado, this particular tornado's path never encountered any significant structures and caused minimal damage. Thus it was rated an F4.

The longest-known track for a single tornado is the Tri-State Tornado with a path length of 151 to 235 mi (243 to 378 km). For years there was debate whether the originally recognized path length of 219 mi (352 km) over 3.5 hours was from one tornado or a series. Some very long track (VLT) tornadoes were later determined to be successive tornadoes spawned by the same supercell thunderstorm, which are known as a tornado family. The Tri-State Tornado, however, appeared to have no gaps in the damage. A six-year reanalysis study by a team of severe convective storm meteorologists found insufficient evidence to make firm conclusions but does conclude that it is likely that the beginning and ending of the path was resultant of separate tornadoes comprising a tornado family. It also found that the tornado began 15 mi (24 km) to the west and ended 1 mi (1.6 km) farther east than previously known, bringing the total path to 235 mi (378 km). The 174 mi (280 km) segment from central Madison County, Missouri to Pike County, Indiana is likely one continuous tornado and the 151 mi (243 km) segment from central Bollinger County, Missouri to western Pike County, Indiana is very likely a single continuous tornado. Another significant tornado was found about 65 mi (105 km) east-northeast of the end of aforementioned segment(s) of the Tri-State Tornado Family and is likely another member of the family. Its path length of 20 mi (32 km) over about 20 minutes makes the known tornado family path length total to 320 mi (510 km) over about 5½ hours. Grazulis in 2001 wrote that the first 60 mi (97 km) of the (originally recognized) track is probably the result of two or more tornadoes and that a path length of 157 mi (253 km) was seemingly continuous.

What at one time was thought to be the record holder for the longest tornado path is now thought to be the longest tornado family, with a track of at least 293 miles (472 km) on May 26, 1917 from the Missouri border across Illinois into Indiana. It caused severe damage and mass casualties in Charleston and Mattoon, Illinois.

What was probably the longest track supercell thunderstorm tracked 790 miles (1,270 km) across 6 states in 17.5 hours on March 12, 2006 as part of the March 2006 tornado outbreak sequence. It began in Noble County, Oklahoma and ended in Jackson County, Michigan, producing many tornadoes in Missouri and Illinois.

Officially, the widest tornado on record is the El Reno, Oklahoma tornado of May 31, 2013 with a width of 2.6 miles (4.2 km) at its peak. This is the width found by the National Weather Service based on preliminary data from University of Oklahoma RaXPol mobile radar that also sampled winds of 296 mph (476 km/h) which was used to upgrade the tornado to EF5. However, it was revealed that these winds did not impact any structures, and as a result the tornado was downgraded to EF3 based on damage.

The F4 Hallam, Nebraska tornado during the outbreak of May 22, 2004 was the previous official record holder for the widest tornado, surveyed at 2.5 miles (4.0 km) wide. A similar size tornado struck Edmonson, Texas on May 31, 1968, when a damage path width between 2 to 3 miles (3.2 to 4.8 km) was recorded from an F3 tornado.

The highest forward speed of a tornado on record was 73 miles per hour (117 km/h) from the 1925 Tri-State Tornado. Other weak tornadoes have approached or exceeded this speed, but this is the fastest forward movement observed in a major tornado.

A pressure deficit of 100 millibars (2.95 inHg) was observed when a violent tornado near Manchester, South Dakota on June 24, 2003 passed directly over an in-situ probe that storm chasing researcher Tim Samaras deployed. In less than a minute, the pressure dropped to 850 millibars (25.10 inHg), which are the greatest pressure decline and the lowest pressure ever recorded at the Earth's surface when adjusted to sea level.

On April 21, 2007, a 194-millibar (5.73 inHg) pressure deficit was reported when a tornado struck a storm chasing vehicle in Tulia, Texas. The tornado caused EF2 damage as it passed through Tulia. The reported pressure drop far exceeds that which would be expected based on theoretical calculations.

There is a questionable and unofficial citizen's barometer measurement of a 192-millibar (5.67 inHg) drop around Minneapolis in 1904.

The earliest recorded tornado in Europe struck Freising (Germany) in 788.

The earliest-known Irish tornado appeared on April 30, 1054 in Rostella, near Kilbeggan. The earliest-known British tornado hit central London on October 23, 1091 and was especially destructive.

An apparent tornado is recorded to have struck Tlatelolco (present day Mexico City), on August 21, 1521, two days before the Aztec capital's fall to Cortés. Many other tornadoes are documented historically within the Basin of Mexico.

A few scientists in Europe, the US, and elsewhere documented the occurrence of tornadoes in the late 18th and early-mid 19th centuries to try to discern patterns of distribution and sometimes with inferences about formative processes and dynamics.

For intensive studies of tornadoes, these are the earliest known publications:

1839-41: A detailed survey of damage path of significant tornado that struck New Brunswick, New Jersey on 19 June 1835, which was the deadliest tornado in New Jersey history. The path was surveyed by many scientists on account of its location between New York City and Philadelphia, including early tornado theorists James Pollard Espy and William Charles Redfield. Scientists disagreed whether there was whirling, convergent, or rotational motion. A conclusion that remains accurate today is that the most intense damage tends to be on right side of a tornado (with respect to direction of forward movement), which was found to be generally easterly).

1840: The earliest known intensive study of a tornadic event published in Europe, by French scientist Athanase Peltier.

1865: The first in India and earliest known scientific survey of a tornado that analyzed structure and dynamics was published in 1865 by Indian scientist Chunder Sikur Chatterjee. The path damage survey of a tornado that occurred at Pundooah (now Pandua), Hugli district, West Bengal, India, was documented on maps and revealed multiple vortices, the tornadocyclone, and direction of rotation, predating work by John Park Finley, Alfred Wegener, Johannes Letzmann, and Ted Fujita.

Before the Greensburg EF5 tornado on May 4, 2007, it had been 8 years and one day since the US had a confirmed F5 or EF5 tornado. The last confirmed F5 or EF5 had hit southern Oklahoma City metro area and surrounding communities during the May 3, 1999 event. This is the longest interval without an F5 or EF5 tornado since official records began in 1950.

2018 is the first year since official records began in 1950 that no tornado in the US was rated violent class (EF4/EF5, or, previously, F4/F5).

Matt Suter of Fordland, Missouri holds the record for the longest-known distance traveled by anyone picked up by a tornado and survive. On March 12, 2006 he was carried 1,307 feet (398 m), 13 feet (4.0 m) shy of one-quarter mile (400 m), according to National Weather Service measurements.

The small town of Codell, Kansas, was hit by a tornado on the same date (May 20) three consecutive years: 1916, 1917, and 1918. The United States has about 100,000 thunderstorms per year; less than 1% produce a tornado. The odds of this coincidence occurring again are extremely small.

Tanner, a small town in northern Alabama, was hit by an F5 tornado on April 3, 1974 and was struck again 45 minutes later by a second F5 (however, the rating is disputed and it may have been high-end F4), demolishing what remained of the town. Thirty-seven years later, on April 27, 2011 (the largest and deadliest outbreak since 1974), Tanner was hit yet again by the EF5 2011 Hackleburg-Phil Campbell tornado, which produced high-end EF4 damage in the southern portion of town. The suburban community of Harvest, Alabama, just to the northeast, also sustained major impacts from all three Tanner tornadoes, and was also hit by destructive tornadoes in 1995 and 2012.

The south Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, Oklahoma was hit by violent tornadoes (which have ratings of at least F/EF4) in 1999, 2003, 2010, and 2013. The 1999 and 2013 events were rated F5 and EF5, respectively. In total, about 23 tornadoes have struck within the immediate vicinity of Moore since 1890, the most recent of which was an EF2 on March 25, 2015.

The city of Jackson, Tennessee has been hit by an F4/EF4 tornado four separate times, in 1999, 2003, and 2 in 2008. All four of these tornadoes occurred after dark and were preceded or followed by a separate F3/EF3 tornado that caused additional destruction in the Jackson area.

1. ^ Grazulis, Thomas P. (July 1993). Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991: A Chronology and Analysis of Events. St. Johnsbury, VT: The Tornado Project of Environmental Films. ISBN 1-879362-03-1.

2. ^ Paul, Bhuiyan (2004). "The April 2004 Tornado in North-Central Bangladesh: A Case for Introducing Tornado Forecasting and Warning Systems" (PDF).

3. ^ Hoxit, Lee R; Chappell, Charles F (October 1975). "Tornado Outbreak of April 3-4, 1974; Synoptic Analysis" (PDF). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

4. ^ "Tornado: Largest Tornado Outbreak". World Weather / Climate Extremes Archive. Arizona State University. Archived from the original on 2013-09-26.

5. ^ Schneider, Russell; H.E. Brooks; J.T. Schaefer (October 2004). "Tornado Outbreak Day Sequences: historic events and climatology (1875-2003)". 22nd Conf Severe Local Storms. Hyannis, MA: American Meteorological Society.

6. ^ Edwards, Roger (2012). "Tropical Cyclone Tornadoes: A Review of Knowledge in Research and Prediction" (PDF). e-Journal of Severe Storms Meteorology. 7 (6): 3.

7. ^ Grazulis, Tom (2000). "Tornadoes in Bangladesh". Worldwide Tornadoes. The Tornado Project. Archived from the original on 2012-09-19.

8. ^ Brooks, Harold E.; Charles A. Doswell III (February 2001). "Normalized Damage from Major Tornadoes in the United States: 1890-1999". Weather and Forecasting. American Meteorological Society. 16 (1): 168-176. Bibcode:2001WtFor..16..168B. doi:10.1175/1520-0434(2001)016<0168:NDFMTI>2.0.CO;2.

9. ^ Snyder, Jeffrey C.; Bluestein, Howard B. (21 April 2014). "Some Considerations for the Use of High-Resolution Mobile Radar Data in Tornado Intensity Determination". Weather and Forecasting. 29 (4): 799-827. Bibcode:2014WtFor..29..799S. doi:10.1175/WAF-D-14-00026.1.

10. ^ Wurman, Joshua (2007). "Doppler On Wheels". Center for Severe Weather Research. Archived from the original on 2011-07-19.

11. ^ Snyder, Jeff; Bluestein, H. B. (2014). "Some Considerations for the Use of High-Resolution Mobile Radar Data in Tornado Intensity Determination". Weather Forecast. 29 (4): 799-827. Bibcode:2014WtFor..29..799S. doi:10.1175/WAF-D-14-00026.1.

12. ^ Wright, Celine (June 4, 2013). "Discovery Channel to air special for fallen 'Storm Chasers'". Los Angeles Times.

13. ^ Bluestein, Howard B.; J.G. Ladue; H. Stein; D. Speheger; W.P. Unruh (August 1993). "Doppler Radar Wind Spectra of Supercell Tornadoes". Monthly Weather Review. American Meteorological Society. 121 (8): 2200-22. Bibcode:1993MWRv..121.2200B. doi:10.1175/1520-0493(1993)121<2200:DRWSOS>2.0.CO;2.

14. ^ Johns, Robert H.; D. W. Burgess; C. A. Doswell III; M. S. Gilmore; J. A. Hart; S. F. Piltz (2013). "The 1925 Tri-State Tornado Damage Path and Associated Storm System". e-Journal of Severe Storms Meteorology. 8 (2).

15. ^ Martinelli, Jason T. (August 2007). "A detailed analysis of an extremely long-tracked supercell". Preprints of the 33rd Conference on Radar Meteorology. Cairns, Australia: American Meteorological Society and Australian Bureau of Meteorology Research Centre.

16. ^ "World: Lowest Sea Level Air Pressure (excluding tornadoes)". World Weather / Climate Extremes Archive. Arizona State University. Archived from the original on 2007-11-12.

17. ^ Blair, Scott F.; D.R. Deroche; A.E. Pietrycha (2008). "In Situ Observations of the 21 April 2007 Tulia, Texas Tornado". Electronic Journal of Severe Storms Meteorology. 3 (3): 1-27.

18. ^ Samaras, Tim M. (October 2004). "A historical perspective of In-Situ observations within Tornado Cores". Preprints of the 22nd Conference on Severe Local Storms. Hyannis, MA: American Meteorological Society.

19. ^ Dr. R. Hennig, Katalog bemerkenswerter Witterungsereignisse. Berlin 1904; Originalquellen: Aventinus (Turmair), Johannes (gest. 1534): Annales Boiorum. Mit Nachtrag. Leipzig 1710; Annales Fuldenses, Chronik des Klosters Fulda. Bei Marquard Freher: Germanicarum rerum scriptores ua Frankfurt aM 1600-1611)

20. "Tornadoliste Deutschland". ^ https://tornadoliste.de/788. German meteorological list of documented tornadoes

21. ^ Beck, Lewis C. (July 1839). "Note on the New Brunswick Tornado, or Water Spout of 1835". American Journal of Science and Arts. 36: 115-118.

22. ^ Redfield, W. C. (June 1841). "Whirling Action of the New Brunswick Tornado". American Railroad Journal. 12: 345-352.

23. ^ Peltier, Athanase (1840). Météorologie: Observations et recherches expérimentales sur les causes qui concourent à la formation des trombes (in French). Paris: H. Cousin. OCLC 457395666.

24. ^ De, S.; A. K. Sahai (2019). "Was the earliest documented account of tornado dynamics published by an Indian scientist in an Indian journal?". Weather. doi:10.1002/wea.3485.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This article lists various tornado records. The most "extreme" tornado in recorded history was the Tri-State Tornado, which spread through parts of Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana on March 18, 1925. It is considered an F5 on the Fujita Scale, even though tornadoes were not ranked on any scale at the time.

# data[].attributes.body
hurricane katerina

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Hurricane Katrina was a devastating Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused 1,836 fatalities and damage estimated between $97.4 billion to $145.5 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. At the time, it was the costliest tropical cyclone on record, later tied by Hurricane Harvey of 2017. Katrina was the twelfth tropical cyclone, the fifth hurricane, and the third major hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. It was also the fourth-most intense Atlantic hurricane to make landfall in the contiguous United States, gauged by barometric pressure.

Katrina began on August 23, 2005, with the merger of a tropical wave and the remnants of Tropical Depression Ten. Early the following day, the depression intensified into a tropical storm and headed generally westward toward Florida. On August 25, two hours before making landfall at Hallandale Beach, it strengthened into a hurricane. After briefly weakening to tropical storm strength over southern Florida, Katrina entered the Gulf of Mexico on August 26 and rapidly intensified. The storm strengthened into a Category 5 hurricane over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico before weakening to a high-end Category 3 hurricane at its second landfall on August 29 over southeast Louisiana and Mississippi.

The largest loss of life in Hurricane Katrina was due to flooding caused by engineering flaws in the flood protection system, particularly the levee around the city of New Orleans. Eventually, 80% of the city, as well as large areas in neighboring parishes, were flooded for weeks. The flooding destroyed most of New Orleans's transportation and communication facilities, leaving tens of thousands of people who did not evacuate the city prior to landfall with little access to food, shelter, and other basic necessities. The disaster in New Orleans prompted a massive national and international response effort, including federal, local, and private rescue operations to evacuate those displaced from the city in the following weeks. After the storm, multiple investigations concluded that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which had designed and built the region's levees decades earlier, was responsible for the failure of the flood-control systems. However, federal courts later ruled that the Corps could not be held financially liable due to sovereign immunity in the Flood Control Act of 1928.

The emergency response from federal, state, and local governments was widely criticized, leading to the resignation of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) director Michael D. Brown and New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) Superintendent Eddie Compass. Many other government officials faced criticism for their responses, especially New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, and President George W. Bush. However, several agencies, such as the United States Coast Guard (USCG), National Hurricane Center (NHC), and National Weather Service (NWS), were commended for their actions, with the NHC being particularly praised for its accurate forecasts well in advance. Katrina was the earliest 11th named storm on record, before being surpassed by Tropical Storm Kyle on August 14, 2020. The destruction and loss of life caused by the storm prompted the name Katrina to be retired by the World Meteorological Organization in April 2006.

On January 4, 2023, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) updated the Katrina fatality data based on a report by Rappaport (2014) which reduced the number from an estimated 1,833 to 1,392. The same NHC report also revised the total damage estimate keeping Hurricane Katrina as the costliest storm ever--$190 billion according to NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information.

Meteorological history

Map plotting the storm's track and intensity, according to the Saffir-Simpson scale

Hurricane Katrina originated from the merger of a tropical wave and the mid-level remnants of Tropical Depression Ten on August 19, 2005, near the Lesser Antilles. On August 23, the disturbance organized into Tropical Depression Twelve over the southeastern Bahamas. The storm strengthened into Tropical Storm Katrina on the morning of August 24. The tropical storm moved towards Florida and became a hurricane only two hours before making landfall between Hallandale Beach and Aventura on the morning of August 25. The storm weakened over land, but it regained hurricane status about one hour after entering the Gulf of Mexico, and it continued strengthening over open waters. On August 27, the storm reached Category 3 intensity on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale, becoming the third major hurricane of the season. An eyewall replacement cycle disrupted the intensification but caused the storm to nearly double in size. Thereafter, Katrina rapidly intensified over the "unusually warm" waters of the Loop Current, from a Category 3 hurricane to a Category 5 hurricane in just nine hours.

After attaining Category 5 hurricane status on the morning of August 28, Katrina reached its peak strength at 1800 UTC, with maximum sustained winds of 175 mph (280 km/h) and a minimum central pressure of 902 mbar (26.6 inHg). The pressure measurement made Katrina the fifth most intense Atlantic hurricane on record at the time, only to be surpassed by Hurricanes Rita and Wilma later in the season; it was also the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Gulf of Mexico at the time, before Rita broke the record. The hurricane subsequently weakened due to another eyewall replacement cycle, and Katrina made its second landfall at 1110 UTC on August 29, as a high end Category 3 hurricane with sustained winds of 125 mph (201 km/h), near Buras-Triumph, Louisiana. At landfall, hurricane-force winds extended outward 120 miles (190 km) from the center and the storm's central pressure was 920 mbar (27 inHg). After moving over southeastern Louisiana and Breton Sound, it made its third and final landfall near the Louisiana-Mississippi border with 120 mph (190 km/h) sustained winds, still at a mid range Category 3 hurricane intensity. Katrina maintained strength well into Mississippi, finally losing hurricane strength more than 150 miles (240 km) inland near Meridian, Mississippi. It was downgraded to a tropical depression near Clarksville, Tennessee; its remnants were absorbed by a cold front in the eastern Great Lakes region on August 31. The resulting extratropical storm moved rapidly to the northeast and affected eastern Canada.

Preparations

Federal government

Flanked by Michael Chertoff, Secretary of Homeland Security, left, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, President Bush meets with members of the Task Force on Hurricane Katrina Recovery on August 31, 2005.

The United States Coast Guard began pre-positioning resources in a ring around the expected impact zone and activated more than 400 reservists. On August 27, it moved its personnel out of the New Orleans region prior to the mandatory evacuation. Aircrews from the Aviation Training Center, in Mobile, staged rescue aircraft from Texas to Florida. All aircraft were returning towards the Gulf of Mexico by the afternoon of August 29. Aircrews, many of whom lost their homes during the hurricane, began a round-the-clock rescue effort in New Orleans, and along the Mississippi and Alabama coastlines.

President George W. Bush declared a state of emergency in selected regions of Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi on August 27. "On Sunday, August 28, President Bush spoke with Governor Blanco to encourage her to order a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans." However, during the testimony by former Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) chief Michael Brown before a U.S. House subcommittee on September 26, Representative Stephen Buyer (R-IN) inquired as to why Bush's declaration of state of emergency of August 27 had not included the coastal parishes of Orleans, Jefferson, and Plaquemines. The declaration actually did not include any of Louisiana's coastal parishes, whereas the coastal counties were included in the declarations for Mississippi and Alabama. Brown testified that this was because Louisiana Governor Blanco had not included those parishes in her initial request for aid, a decision that he found "shocking". After the hearing, Blanco released a copy of her letter, which showed she had requested assistance for "all the southeastern parishes including the City of New Orleans" as well specifically naming 14 parishes, including Jefferson, Orleans, St. Bernard, and Plaquemines.

Voluntary and mandatory evacuations were issued for large areas of southeast Louisiana as well as coastal Mississippi and Alabama. About 1.2 million residents of the Gulf Coast were covered under a voluntary or mandatory evacuation order.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

On the afternoon of August 26, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) realized that Katrina had yet to make the turn toward the Florida Panhandle and ended up revising the predicted track of the storm from the panhandle to the Mississippi coast. The National Weather Service's New Orleans/Baton Rouge office issued a vividly worded bulletin on August 28 predicting that the area would be "uninhabitable for weeks" after "devastating damage" caused by Katrina, which at that time rivaled the intensity of Hurricane Camille. During video conferences involving the president later that day and on August 29, NHC director Max Mayfield expressed concern that Katrina might push its storm surge over the city's levees and flood walls. In one conference, he stated, "I do not think anyone can tell you with confidence right now whether the levees will be topped or not, but that's obviously a very, very great concern."

Florida and Gulf Coast

In Florida, Governor Jeb Bush declared a state of emergency on August 24 in advance of Hurricane Katrina's landfall. By the following day, Florida's Emergency Operations Center was activated in Tallahassee to monitor the progress of the hurricane. Before Katrina moved ashore, schools and businesses were closed in the Miami area. Cruise ships altered their paths due to seaports in southeastern Florida closing. Officials in Miami-Dade County advised residents in mobile homes or with special needs to evacuate. To the north in Broward County, residents east of the Intracoastal Waterway or in mobile homes were advised to leave their homes. Evacuation orders were issued for offshore islands in Palm Beach County, and for residents in mobile homes south of Lantana Road. Additionally, a mandatory evacuation was ordered for vulnerable housing in Martin County. Shelters were opened across the region. Officials closed the Miami International Airport, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, Key West International Airport, and Florida Keys Marathon Airport due to the storm. In Monroe and Collier counties, schools were closed, and a shelter was opened in Immokalee.

Radar loop of Hurricane Katrina making landfall in Louisiana

On August 28, Alabama Governor Bob Riley declared a state of emergency for the approaching Hurricane Katrina. On the same day, he requested President Bush to declare "expedited major disaster declaration" for six counties of South Alabama, which was quickly approved. Three hundred fifty national guardsmen were called on duty by August 30. The state of Mississippi activated its National Guard on August 26 in preparation for the storm's landfall. Additionally, the state government activated its Emergency Operations Center the next day, and local governments began issuing evacuation orders. By 6:00 pm CDT on August 28, 11 counties and cities issued evacuation orders, a number which increased to 41 counties and 61 cities by the following morning. Moreover, 57 emergency shelters were established on coastal communities, with 31 additional shelters available to open if needed.

By Sunday, August 28, most infrastructure along the Gulf Coast had been shut down, including all freight and Amtrak rail traffic into the evacuation areas as well as the Waterford Nuclear Generating Station. Since Hurricane Katrina, Amtrak's Sunset Limited service has never been restored past New Orleans.

Vertical cross-section of New Orleans, showing maximum levee height of 23 feet (7 m). Vertical scale exaggerated.

In Louisiana, the state's hurricane evacuation plan calls for local governments in areas along and near the coast to evacuate in three phases, starting with the immediate coast 50 hours before the start of tropical-storm-force winds. Persons in areas designated Phase II begin evacuating 40 hours before the onset of tropical storm winds and those in Phase III areas (including New Orleans) evacuate 30 hours before the start of such winds. Many private caregiving facilities that relied on bus companies and ambulance services for evacuation were unable to evacuate their charges because they waited too long. Louisiana's Emergency Operations Plan Supplement 1C (Part II, Section II, Paragraph D) calls for use of school and other public buses in evacuations. Although buses that later flooded were available to transport those dependent upon public transportation, not enough bus drivers were available to drive them as Governor Blanco did not sign an emergency waiver to allow any licensed driver to transport evacuees on school buses.

By August 26, many of the computer models had shifted the potential path of Katrina 150 miles (240 km) westward from the Florida Panhandle, putting the city of New Orleans directly in the center of their track probabilities; the chances of a direct hit were forecast at 17%, with strike probability rising to 29% by August 28. This scenario was considered a potential catastrophe because some parts of New Orleans and the metro area are below sea level. Since the storm surge produced by the hurricane's right-front quadrant (containing the strongest winds) was forecast to be 28 feet (8.5 m), while the levees offered protection to 23 feet (7.0 m), emergency management officials in New Orleans feared that the storm surge could go over the tops of levees protecting the city, causing major flooding.

At a news conference at 10 a.m. EDT on August 28, shortly after Katrina was upgraded to a Category 5 storm, New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin ordered the first-ever mandatory evacuation of the city, calling Katrina "a storm that most of us have long feared". The city government also established several "refuges of last resort" for citizens who could not leave the city, including the massive Louisiana Superdome, which sheltered approximately 26,000 people and provided them with food and water for several days as the storm came ashore. Some estimates claimed that 80% of the 1.3 million residents of the greater New Orleans metropolitan area evacuated, leaving behind substantially fewer people than remained in the city during the Hurricane Ivan evacuation.

On August 29, 2005, Katrina's storm surge caused 53 breaches to various flood protection structures in and around the greater New Orleans area, submerging 80% of the city. A June 2007 report by the American Society of Civil Engineers indicated that two-thirds of the flooding was caused by the multiple failures of the city's floodwalls. The storm surge also devastated the coasts of Mississippi and Alabama, making Katrina one of the most destructive hurricanes, the costliest natural disaster in the history of the United States (tied with Hurricane Harvey in 2017), and the deadliest hurricane since the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane. The total damage from Katrina is estimated at $125 billion (2005 U.S. dollars). However, in February 2021, a severe winter storm struck the United States, causing a major power failure in Houston, which caused at least $195 billion (2021 USD) in damage in Texas. It surpassed both Katrina and Harvey to become the single-costliest natural disaster recorded in the United States.

The death toll from Katrina is uncertain, with reports differing by hundreds. According to the National Hurricane Center, 1,836 fatalities can be attributed to the storm: 1 in Kentucky, 2 each in Alabama, Georgia, and Ohio, 14 in Florida, 238 in Mississippi, and 1,577 in Louisiana. However, 135 people remain categorized as missing in Louisiana, and many of the deaths are indirect, but it is almost impossible to determine the exact cause of some of the fatalities. A 2008 report by the Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness journal indicates that 966 deaths can be directly attributed to the storm in Louisiana, including out of state evacuees, and another 20 indirectly (such as firearm-related deaths and gas poisoning). Due to uncertain causes of death with 454 evacuees, an upper-bound of 1,440 is noted in the paper. A follow-up study by the Louisiana Department of Health & Hospitals determined that the storm was directly responsible for 1,170 fatalities in Louisiana.

Federal disaster declarations covered 90,000 square miles (230,000 km ²) of the United States, an area almost as large as the United Kingdom. The hurricane left an estimated three million people without electricity. On September 3, 2005, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff described the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina as "probably the worst catastrophe or set of catastrophes", in the country's history, referring to the hurricane itself plus the flooding of New Orleans.

Even in 2010, debris remained in some coastal communities.

Florida, Bahamas, and Cuba

Hurricane Katrina first made landfall between Hallandale Beach and Aventura, Florida on August 25. The storm dropped heavy rainfall in portions of the Miami metropolitan area, with a peak total of 16.43 in (417 mm) in Perrine. As a result, local flooding occurred in Miami-Dade County, damaging approximately 100 homes. Farther south in the Florida Keys, a tornado was spawned in Marathon on August 26. The tornado damaged a hangar at the airport there and caused an estimated $5 million in damage. The rains caused flooding, and the combination of rains and winds downed trees and power lines, leaving 1.45 million people without power. Damage in South Florida was estimated at $523 million, mostly as a result of crop damage. Twelve deaths occurred in South Florida, of which three were caused by downed trees in Broward County, three from drowning in Miami-Dade County, three were from carbon monoxide poisoning caused by generators, one was due to a vehicle accident, one occurred during debris cleanup, and one was associated with a lack of electricity.

Significant impacts were also reported in the Florida Panhandle. Although Katrina moved ashore in Louisiana and Mississippi, its outer periphery produced a 5.37 ft (1.64 m) storm surge in Pensacola. High waves caused beach erosion and closed nearby roadways. There were five tornadoes in the northwestern portion of the state, though none of them caused significant damage. Throughout the Florida Panhandle, the storm resulted in an estimated $100 million in damage. There were two indirect fatalities from Katrina in Walton County as a result of a traffic accident. In the Florida Panhandle, 77,000 customers lost power. Overall, the hurricane killed 14 people and caused at least $623 million in damage.

Before striking South Florida, Katrina traversed the Bahamas as a tropical storm. However, minimal impact was reported, with only "fresh breezes" on various islands.

Although Hurricane Katrina stayed well to the north of Cuba, on August 28 it brought tropical-storm-force winds and rainfall of over 8 in (200 mm) to western regions of the island. Telephone and power lines were damaged and around 8,000 people were evacuated in the Pinar del Río Province. According to Cuban television reports the coastal town of Surgidero de Batabanó was 90% underwater.

On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall near Buras-Triumph, Louisiana, with 125 mph (200 km/h) winds, as a strong Category 3 hurricane. Although the storm surge to the east of the path of the eye in Mississippi was higher, a significant surge affected the Louisiana coast. The height of the surge is uncertain because of a lack of data, although a tide gauge in Plaquemines Parish indicated a storm tide in excess of 14 feet (4.3 m), and a 12-foot (3.7 m) storm surge was recorded in Grand Isle. The hurricane made its final landfall near the mouth of the Pearl River, with the eye straddling St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, and Hancock County, Mississippi, on the morning of August 29 at about 9:45 AM CST.

Hurricane Katrina also brought heavy rain to Louisiana, with 8-10 inches (200-250 mm) falling on a wide swath of the eastern part of the state. In the area around Slidell, the rainfall was even higher, and the highest rainfall recorded in the state was approximately 15 inches (380 mm). As a result of the rainfall and storm surge the level of Lake Pontchartrain rose and caused significant flooding along its northeastern shore, affecting communities from Slidell to Mandeville. Several bridges were destroyed, including the I-10 Twin Span Bridge connecting Slidell to New Orleans. Almost 900,000 people in Louisiana lost power as a result of Hurricane Katrina.

According to the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, in St. Bernard Parish, 81% (20,229) of the housing units were damaged. In St. Tammany Parish, 70% (48,792) were damaged and in Plaquemines Parish 80% (7,212) were damaged.

In addition, the combined effect of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita was the destruction of an estimated 562 square kilometres (217 sq mi) of coastal wetlands in Louisiana.

New Orleans

As the eye of Hurricane Katrina swept to the northeast, it subjected the city to hurricane conditions for hours. Although power failures prevented accurate measurement of wind speeds in New Orleans, there were a few measurements of hurricane-force winds; based on this information, the NHC concluded that much of the city likely experienced sustained winds of Category 1 or 2 hurricane strength.

Katrina's storm surge caused 53 levee breaches in the federally built levee system protecting metro New Orleans and the failure of the 40 Arpent Canal levee. Failures occurred in New Orleans and surrounding communities, especially St. Bernard Parish. The Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MR-GO) breached its levees in approximately 20 places, flooding much of eastern New Orleans, most of St. Bernard Parish and the East Bank of Plaquemines Parish. The major levee breaches in the city included breaches at the 17th Street Canal levee, the London Avenue Canal, and the wide, navigable Industrial Canal, which left approximately 80% of the city flooded.

Most of the major roads traveling into and out of the city were damaged. The only major intact highway routes out of the city were the westbound Crescent City Connection and the Huey P. Long Bridge, as large portions of the I-10 Twin Span Bridge traveling eastbound towards Slidell, Louisiana had collapsed. Both the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway and the Crescent City Connection only carried emergency traffic. However, access to downtown New Orleans and the "shelter of last resort" at the Convention Center was never closed because River Road in Jefferson Parish and Leake Avenue and Tchoupitoulas Street in New Orleans were not flooded, and would have allowed access throughout the immediate post-storm emergency period.

Levee breaches in New Orleans also caused a significant number of deaths, with over 700 bodies recovered in New Orleans by October 23, 2005. Some survivors and evacuees reported seeing dead bodies lying in city streets and floating in still-flooded sections, especially in the east of the city. The advanced state of decomposition of many corpses, some of which were left in the water or sun for days before being collected, hindered efforts by coroners to identify many of the dead.

A U.S. coast guardsman searches for survivors in New Orleans in the Katrina aftermath.

The first deaths reported from the city were reported shortly before midnight on August 28, as three nursing home patients died during an evacuation to Baton Rouge, most likely from dehydration. An estimated 215 bodies were found in nursing homes and hospitals in New Orleans, the largest number being at Memorial Medical Center where 45 corpses were recovered. Some 200 patients at Charity Hospital were not evacuated until Friday, September 2, having been without power or fresh water for five days. While there were also early reports of fatalities amid mayhem at the Superdome, only six deaths were confirmed there, with four of these originating from natural causes, one from a drug overdose, and one a suicide. At the Convention Center, four bodies were recovered. One of the four is believed to be the result of a homicide.

There is evidence that many prisoners were abandoned in their cells during the storm, while the guards sought shelter. Hundreds of prisoners were later registered as "unaccounted for".

Mississippi

The Gulf coast of Mississippi suffered extremely severe damage from the impact of Hurricane Katrina on August 29, leaving 238 people dead, 67 missing, and billions of dollars in damage: bridges, barges, boats, piers, houses, and cars were washed inland. Katrina traveled up the entire state; as a result, all 82 counties in Mississippi were declared disaster areas for federal assistance, 47 for full assistance.

After making a brief initial landfall in Louisiana, Katrina had made its final landfall near the state line, and the eyewall passed over the cities of Bay St. Louis and Waveland as a Category 3 hurricane with sustained winds of 120 mph (190 km/h). Katrina's powerful right-front quadrant passed over the west and central Mississippi coast, causing a powerful 27-foot (8.2 m) storm surge, which penetrated 6 miles (10 km) inland in many areas and up to 12 miles (19 km) inland along bays and rivers; in some areas, the surge crossed Interstate 10 for several miles. Hurricane Katrina brought strong winds to Mississippi, which caused significant tree damage throughout the state. The highest unofficial reported wind gust recorded from Katrina was one of 135 mph (217 km/h) in Poplarville, in Pearl River County.

The storm also brought heavy rains with 8-10 inches (200-250 mm) falling in southwestern Mississippi and rain in excess of 4 inches (100 mm) falling throughout the majority of the state. Katrina caused eleven tornadoes in Mississippi on August 29, some of which damaged trees and power lines.

Battered by wind, rain and storm surge, some beachfront neighborhoods were completely leveled. Preliminary estimates by Mississippi officials calculated that 90% of the structures within half a mile of the coastline were completely destroyed, and that storm surges traveled as much as 6 miles (10 km) inland in portions of the state's coast. One apartment complex with approximately thirty residents seeking shelter inside collapsed. More than half of the 13 casinos in the state, which were floated on barges to comply with Mississippi land-based gambling laws, were washed hundreds of yards inland by waves.

A number of streets and bridges were washed away. On U.S. Highway 90 along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, two major bridges were completely destroyed: the Bay St. Louis-Pass Christian bridge, and the Biloxi- Ocean Springs bridge. In addition, the eastbound span of the I-10 bridge over the Pascagoula River estuary was damaged. In the weeks after the storm, with the connectivity of the coastal U.S. Highway 90 shattered, traffic traveling parallel to the coast was reduced first to State Road 11 (parallel to I-10) then to two lanes on the remaining I-10 span when it was opened.

All three coastal counties of the state were severely affected by the storm. Katrina's surge was the most extensive, as well as the highest, in the documented history of the United States; large portions of Hancock, Harrison, and Jackson counties were inundated by the storm surge, in all three cases affecting most of the populated areas. Surge covered almost the entire lower half of Hancock County, destroying the coastal communities of Clermont Harbor and Waveland, much of Bay St. Louis, and flowed up the Jourdan River, flooding Diamondhead and Kiln. In Harrison County, Pass Christian was completely inundated, along with a narrow strip of land to the east along the coast, which includes the cities of Long Beach and Gulfport; the flooding was more extensive in communities such as D'Iberville, which borders Back Bay. Biloxi, on a peninsula between the Back Bay and the coast, was particularly hard hit, especially the low-lying Point Cadet area. In Jackson County, storm surge flowed up the wide river estuary, with the combined surge and freshwater flooding cutting the county in half. Remarkably, over 90% of Pascagoula, the easternmost coastal city in Mississippi, and about 75 miles (120 km) east of Katrina's landfall near the Louisiana-Mississippi border was flooded from storm surge at the height of the storm. Other large Jackson County neighborhoods such as Porteaux Bay and Gulf Hills were severely damaged with large portions being completely destroyed, and St. Martin was hard hit; Ocean Springs, Moss Point, Gautier and Escatawpa also suffered major surge damage.

Mississippi Emergency Management Agency officials also recorded deaths in Forrest, Hinds, Warren, and Leake counties. Over 900,000 people throughout the state experienced power outages.

Southeast United States

Although Hurricane Katrina made landfall well to the west, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle were both affected by tropical-storm-force winds and a storm surge varying from 12 to 16 feet (3.7-4.9 m) around Mobile Bay, with higher waves on top. Sustained winds of 67 mph (108 km/h) were recorded in Mobile, Alabama, and the storm surge there was approximately 12 feet (3.7 m). The surge caused significant flooding several miles inland along Mobile Bay. Four tornadoes were also reported in Alabama. Ships, oil rigs, boats and fishing piers were washed ashore along Mobile Bay: the cargo ship M/V Caribbean Clipper and many fishing boats were grounded at Bayou La Batre.

An oil rig under construction along the Mobile River broke its moorings and floated 1.5 miles (2.4 km) northwards before striking the Cochrane Bridge just outside Mobile. No significant damage resulted to the bridge and it was soon reopened. The damage on Dauphin Island was severe, with the surge destroying many houses and cutting a new canal through the western portion of the island. An offshore oil rig also became grounded on the island. As in Mississippi, the storm surge caused significant beach erosion along the Alabama coastline. More than 600,000 people lost power in Alabama as a result of Hurricane Katrina and two people died in a traffic accident in the state. Residents in some areas, such as Selma, were without power for several days.

Eastern Arkansas received light rain from the passage of Katrina. Gusty winds downed some trees and power lines, though damage was minimal. Katrina also caused a number of power outages in many areas, with over 100,000 customers affected in Tennessee, primarily in the Memphis and Nashville areas.

Other U.S. states and Canada

In Kentucky, rainfall from Katrina compounded flooding from a storm that had moved through during the previous weekend. A 10-year-old girl drowned in Hopkinsville. Dozens of businesses were closed and several families evacuated due to rising floodwaters. As a result of the flooding, Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher declared three counties disaster areas and a statewide state of emergency. Additionally, wind gusts up to 72 mph (116 km/h) resulted in some damage. Downed trees and power lines were reported in several counties in western Kentucky, especially Calloway and Christian counties. Overall, more than 10,000 utility customers in western Kentucky experienced power outages. The remnants of Katrina spawned a tornado in Virginia, damaging at least 13 homes in Marshall. In addition, approximately 4,000 people lost electricity. Over 3 in (76 mm) of rain fell in portions of West Virginia, causing localized flooding in several counties. At least 103 homes and 7 buildings suffered some degree of water damage. A number of roads and bridges were inundated or washed out. The remnants of Katrina produced locally heavy precipitation in northeast Ohio, ranging from about 2 to 4 in (51 to 102 mm). Numerous streams and rivers overflowed their banks, forcing the closure of several roads, including Interstate 90 in Cleveland. Two deaths occurred due to a flood-related automobile accident in Huron County. Additionally, hundreds of homes and businesses suffered flood damage.

Katrina spawned five tornadoes in Pennsylvania, though none resulted in significant damage. Up to 5 in (130 mm) of rain fell in western New York. Gusty winds also left approximately 4,500 people in Buffalo without electricity. The remnants of Katrina brought 3 to 6 in (76 to 152 mm) of rain to portions of Massachusetts, causing flash flooding in Bristol and Plymouth counties. Several roads were closed due to floodwater inundation in Acushnet, Dartmouth, New Bedford, and Wareham, including Route 18 in New Bedford. Very minimal impact was reported in Rhode Island, with winds downing a tree and two electrical poles in the city of Warwick. In Vermont, 2.5 in (64 mm) of rain in Chittenden County caused cars to hydroplane on Interstate 89, resulting in many automobile accidents. The storm brought 3 to 5 in (76 to 127 mm) of precipitation to isolated areas of Maine and up to 9 in (230 mm) near Patten. Several roads were inundated or washed out by overflowing brooks and streams, including sections of U.S. Route 1 and Maine routes 11 and 159. Several structures and one parked vehicle were also affected by the waters. Wind gusts up to 60 mph (97 km/h) also impacted parts of Maine, felling trees and causing power outages in Bar Harbor, Blue Hill, Dover-Foxcroft, Sedgwick Ridge, and Sorrento.

In Canada, the remnants of Katrina brought rainfall amounts in excess of 3.94 in (100 mm) to many locations between the Niagara Peninsula and the Saint Lawrence River valley. Severe local flooding occurred in Quebec, forcing the evacuations of dozens of homes in some communities as rivers began overflowing their banks and sewage systems were becoming overwhelmed by the influx of precipitation. Inundated and washed out roads, including Route 138 along the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River, Route 172 north of Tadoussac, and Route 385 near Forestville left several communities isolated for at least a week.

Economic effects

The economic effects of the storm reached high levels. The Bush Administration sought $105 billion for repairs and reconstruction in the region, which did not account for damage to the economy caused by potential interruption of the oil supply, destruction of the Gulf Coast's highway infrastructure, and exports of commodities such as grain. Katrina damaged or destroyed 30 oil platforms and caused the closure of nine refineries; the total shut-in oil production from the Gulf of Mexico in the six-month period following Katrina was approximately 24% of the annual production and the shut-in gas production for the same period was about 18%. The forestry industry in Mississippi was also affected, as 1.3 million acres (5,300 km ²) of forest lands were destroyed. The total loss to the forestry industry from Katrina is calculated to rise to about $5 billion. Furthermore, hundreds of thousands of local residents were left unemployed. Before the hurricane, the region supported approximately one million non-farm jobs, with 600,000 of them in New Orleans. It is estimated that the total economic impact in Louisiana and Mississippi may eventually exceed $150 billion. Forensic accountants were involved in the assessment of economic damages resulting from this catastrophe.

Katrina displaced over one million people from the central Gulf coast to elsewhere across the United States, becoming the largest diaspora in the history of the United States. Houston, Texas, had an increase of 35,000 people; Mobile, Alabama, gained over 24,000; Baton Rouge, Louisiana, over 15,000; and Hammond, Louisiana, received over 10,000, nearly doubling its size. Chicago, Illinois received over 6,000 people, the most of any non-southern city. By late January 2006, about 200,000 people were once again living in New Orleans, less than half of the pre-storm population. By July 1, 2006, when new population estimates were calculated by the U.S. Census Bureau, the state of Louisiana showed a population decline of 219,563 or 4.87%. Additionally, some insurance companies have stopped insuring homeowners in the area because of the high costs from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, or have raised homeowners' insurance premiums to cover their risk.

Environmental effects

Katrina also had a profound impact on the environment. The storm surge caused substantial beach erosion, in some cases completely devastating coastal areas. In Dauphin Island (a barrier island), approximately 90 mi (140 km) to the east of the point where the hurricane made landfall, the sand that comprised the island was transported across the island into the Mississippi Sound, pushing the island towards land. The storm surge and waves from Katrina also severely damaged the Chandeleur Islands, which had been affected by Hurricane Ivan the previous year. The US Geological Survey has estimated 217 sq mi (560 km ²) of land was transformed to water by the hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Before the storm, subsidence and erosion caused loss of land in the Louisiana wetlands and bayous. This, along with the canals built in the area, let Katrina keep more of its intensity when it struck. The lands that were lost were breeding grounds for marine mammals, brown pelicans, turtles, and fish, and migratory species such as redhead ducks. Overall, about 20% of the local marshes were permanently overrun by water as a result of the storm.

The damage from Katrina forced the closure of 16 National Wildlife Refuges. Breton National Wildlife Refuge lost half its area in the storm. As a result, the hurricane affected the habitats of sea turtles, Mississippi sandhill cranes, red-cockaded woodpeckers, and Alabama Beach mice.

Katrina produced massive tree loss along the Gulf Coast, particularly in Louisiana's Pearl River Basin and among bottomland hardwood forests. Before the storm, the standard mortality rate for the area's trees was 1.9%, but this interval increased to 20.5% by the end of 2006. Delayed mortality as an effect of the storm continued with rates up to 5% until 2011. This significant loss in biomass caused greater decay and an increase in carbon emissions. For example, by 2006 the decreased biomass in bottomland hardwood forests contributed an amount of carbon which equated to roughly 140% of the net annual U.S. carbon sink in forest trees.

The storm caused oil spills from 44 facilities throughout southeastern Louisiana, which resulted in over 7 million US gallons (26,000 m ³) of oil being leaked. Some spills were only a few hundred gallons and most were contained on-site, though some oil entered the ecosystem and residential areas. After a spill at the Murphy Oil refinery, for example, 1,800 homes were oiled in the towns of Chalmette and Meraux. Unlike Hurricane Ivan, no offshore oil spills were officially reported after Hurricane Katrina. However, Skytruth reported some signs of surface oil in the Gulf of Mexico.

Finally, as part of the cleanup effort, the floodwaters that covered New Orleans were pumped into Lake Pontchartrain, a process that took 43 days to complete. These residual waters contained a mix of raw sewage, bacteria, heavy metals, pesticides, toxic chemicals, and oil, which sparked fears in the scientific community of massive numbers of fish dying.

Reestablishing governance

U.S. Army Infantry on patrol in New Orleans in an area previously underwater, September 2005.

Shortly after the hurricane moved away on August 30, 2005, some residents of New Orleans who remained in the city began looting stores. Many were in search of food and water that were not available to them through any other means, as well as non-essential items. Additionally, there were reports of carjacking, murders, thefts, and rapes in New Orleans. Some sources later determined that many of the reports were inaccurate, greatly exaggerated or completely false, leading news agencies to print retractions.

Thousands of National Guard and federal troops were mobilized and sent to Louisiana, with 7,841 in the area on August 29, to a maximum of 46,838 on September 10. A number of local law enforcement agents from across the country were temporarily deputized by the state. "They have M16s and are locked and loaded. These troops know how to shoot and kill and I expect they will", Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco said. Congressman Bill Jefferson told ABC News: "There was shooting going on. There was sniping going on. Over the first week of September, law and order were gradually restored to the city." Several shootings occurred between police and New Orleans residents, some involving police misconduct; including an incident where police officers killed two unarmed civilians and seriously injured four others at Danziger Bridge. Five former police officers pleaded guilty to charges connected to the Danziger Bridge shootings in the aftermath of the hurricane. Six other former or existing officers appeared in court in June 2011.

Overall, a number of arrests were made throughout the affected area, including some near the New Orleans Convention Center. A temporary jail was constructed of chain link cages in the New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal, the city's main train station.

In West Virginia, where roughly 350 refugees were located, local officials took fingerprints to run criminal background checks on the refugees. The background checks found that 45% of the refugees had a criminal record of some nature, and that 22% had a violent criminal record. Media speculation fueled a popular perception that the displaced New Orleans residents brought a wave of crime into the communities where they relocated, however, detailed studies of crime statistics in these communities did not reveal a significant increase in violent crime.

Government response

President Bush stands with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao and Secretary of Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt during a press conference from the Rose Garden, regarding the devastation along the Gulf Coast caused by Katrina.

Within the United States and as delineated in the National Response Plan, disaster response and planning is first and foremost a local government responsibility. When local government exhausts its resources, it then requests specific additional resources from the county level. The request process proceeds similarly from the county to the state to the federal government as additional resource needs are identified. Many of the problems that arose developed from inadequate planning and back-up communication systems at various levels.

Of the 60,000 people stranded in New Orleans, the Coast Guard rescued more than 33,500. Congress recognized the Coast Guard's response with an official entry in the Congressional Record, and the Armed Service was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation.

The United States Northern Command established Joint Task Force (JTF) Katrina based out of Camp Shelby, Mississippi, to act as the military's on-scene response on Sunday, August 28, with US Army Lieutenant General Russel L. Honoré as commander. Approximately 58,000 National Guard personnel were activated to deal with the storm's aftermath, with troops coming from all 50 states. The Department of Defense also activated volunteer members of the Civil Air Patrol.

Michael Chertoff, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, decided to take over the federal, state, and local operations officially on August 30, 2005, citing the National Response Plan. This was refused by Governor Blanco who indicated that her National Guard could manage. Early in September, Congress authorized a total of $62.3 billion in aid for victims. Additionally, President Bush enlisted the help of former presidents Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush to raise additional voluntary contributions, much as they did after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. American flags were also ordered to be half-staff from September 2, 2005, to September 20, 2005, in honor of the victims.

FEMA provided housing assistance (rental assistance, trailers, etc.) to more than 700,000 applicants-families and individuals. However, only one-fifth of the trailers requested in Orleans Parish were supplied, resulting in an enormous housing shortage in the city of New Orleans. Many local areas voted to not allow the trailers, and many areas had no utilities, a requirement prior to placing the trailers. To provide for additional housing, FEMA has also paid for the hotel costs of 12,000 individuals and families displaced by Katrina through February 7, 2006, when a final deadline was set for the end of hotel cost coverage. After this deadline, evacuees were still eligible to receive federal assistance, which could be used towards either apartment rent, additional hotel stays, or fixing their ruined homes, although FEMA no longer paid for hotels directly. As of March 30, 2010, there were still 260 families living in FEMA-provided trailers in Louisiana and Mississippi.

Law enforcement and public safety agencies, from across the United States, provided a " mutual aid" response to Louisiana and New Orleans in the weeks following the disaster. Many agencies responded with manpower and equipment from as far away as California, Michigan, Nevada, New York, and Texas. This response was welcomed by local Louisiana authorities as their staff were either becoming fatigued, stretched too thin, or even quitting from the job.

Two weeks after the storm, more than half of the states were involved in providing shelter for evacuees. By four weeks after the storm, evacuees had been registered in all 50 states and in 18,700 zip codes-half of the nation's residential postal zones. Most evacuees had stayed within 250 miles (400 km), but 240,000 households went to Houston and other cities over 250 miles (400 km) away and another 60,000 households went over 750 miles (1,200 km) away.

Criticism of government response

USNS Comfort takes on supplies at Mayport, Florida, en route to the Gulf Coast.

The criticisms of the government's response to Hurricane Katrina primarily consisted of criticism of mismanagement and lack of leadership in the relief efforts in response to the storm and its aftermath. More specifically, the criticism focused on the delayed response to the flooding of New Orleans, and the subsequent state of chaos in the city. The neologism Katrinagate was coined to refer to this controversy, and was a runner-up for "2005 word of the year".

Within days of Katrina's August 29 landfall, public debate arose about the local, state and federal governments' role in the preparations for and response to the hurricane. Criticism was initially prompted by televised images of visibly shaken and frustrated political leaders, and of residents who remained stranded by floodwaters without water, food, or shelter. Deaths from thirst, exhaustion and violence days after the storm had passed fueled the criticism, as did the dilemma of the evacuees at facilities such as the Louisiana Superdome and the New Orleans Civic Center. Some alleged that race, class, and other factors could have contributed to delays in government response. For example, during A Concert for Hurricane Relief, a benefit concert for victims of the hurricane, rapper Kanye West veered off script and harshly criticized the government's response to the crisis, stating that "George Bush doesn't care about black people."

In accordance with federal law, President George W. Bush directed the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, to coordinate the Federal response. Chertoff designated Michael D. Brown, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as the Principal Federal Official to lead the deployment and coordination of all federal response resources and forces in the Gulf Coast region. However, the President and Secretary Chertoff initially came under harsh criticism for what some perceived as a lack of planning and coordination. Brown claimed that Governor Blanco resisted their efforts and was unhelpful. Governor Blanco and her staff disputed this. Eight days later, Brown was recalled to Washington and Coast Guard Vice Admiral Thad W. Allen replaced him as chief of hurricane relief operations. Three days after the recall, Michael D. Brown resigned as director of FEMA in spite of having received recent praise from President Bush.

Politicians, activists, pundits, and journalists also directed criticism at the local and state governments headed by Mayor Nagin of New Orleans and Louisiana Governor Blanco. Nagin and Blanco were criticized for failing to implement New Orleans's evacuation plan and for ordering residents to a shelter of last resort without any provisions for food, water, security, or sanitary conditions. Perhaps the most important criticism of Nagin was that he delayed his emergency evacuation order until 19 hours before landfall, which led to hundreds of deaths of people who could not find any way out of the city.

The destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina raised other, more general public policy issues about emergency management, environmental policy, poverty, and unemployment. The discussion of both the immediate response and of the broader public policy issues may have affected elections and legislation enacted at various levels of government. The storm's devastation also prompted a Congressional investigation, which found that FEMA and the Red Cross "did not have a logistics capacity sophisticated enough to fully support the massive number of Gulf coast victims". Additionally, it placed responsibility for the disaster on all three levels of government. An ABC News poll conducted on September 2, 2005, showed more blame was being directed at state and local governments (75%) than at the Federal government (67%), with 44% blaming Bush's leadership directly. A later CNN/ USAToday/ Gallup poll showed that respondents disagreed widely on who was to blame for the problems in the city following the hurricane-13% said Bush, 18% said federal agencies, 25% blamed state or local officials and 38% said no one was to blame.

International response

United States Navy personnel unload Canadian relief supplies from a Royal Canadian Air Force transport aircraft in Pensacola, Florida.

Over seventy countries pledged monetary donations or other assistance. Cuba and Venezuela (both considered as hostile to US government interest) were the first countries to offer assistance, pledging over $1 million, several mobile hospitals, water treatment plants, canned food, bottled water, heating oil, 1,100 doctors and 26.4 metric tons of medicine, though this aid was rejected by the U.S. government. Kuwait made the largest single pledge, $500 million; other large donations were made by Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (each $100 million), South Korea ($30 million), Australia ($10 million), India, China (both $5 million), New Zealand ($2 million), Pakistan ($1.5 million), Norway ($1.8 million), and Bangladesh ($1 million).

India sent tarps, blankets, and hygiene kits. An Indian Air Force IL-76 aircraft delivered 25 tonnes of relief supplies for the Hurricane Katrina victims at the Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas, on September 13, 2005.

Countries like Sri Lanka, which was still recovering from the Indian Ocean Tsunami, also offered to help. Canada, Mexico, Singapore, and Germany sent supplies, relief personnel (like Technisches Hilfswerk), troops, ships and water pumps to aid in the disaster recovery. Belgium sent in a team of relief personnel. The United Kingdom's donation of 350,000 emergency meals did not reach victims because of laws regarding mad cow disease.

Russia's initial offer of two jets was declined by the U.S. State Department but accepted later. The French offer was also declined and requested later.

Non-governmental organization response

The American Red Cross, America's Second Harvest (now known as Feeding America), Southern Baptist Convention, Salvation Army, Oxfam, Common Ground Collective, Burners Without Borders, Emergency Communities, Habitat for Humanity, Catholic Charities, Direct Relief, Service International, "A River of Hope", The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and many other charitable organizations provided aid to victims in the aftermath of the storm. They were not allowed into New Orleans proper by the National Guard for several days after the storm because of safety concerns. These organizations raised US$4.25 billion in donations from the public, with the Red Cross receiving over half of these donations. Some smaller organizations and individuals ignored the access restrictions and provided early relief. For example, two privately chartered planes from FasterCures evacuated 200 patients from Charity Hospital in New Orleans.

Volunteers from the Amateur Radio Emergency Service provided communications in areas where the communications infrastructure had been damaged or totally destroyed, relaying everything from 911 traffic to messages home. In Hancock County, Mississippi, ham radio operators provided the only communications into or out of the area and even served as 911 dispatchers.

Many private corporations also contributed to relief efforts. On September 13, 2005, it was reported that corporate donations amounted to $409 million, and were expected to exceed $1 billion.

During and after the Hurricanes Katrina, Wilma and Rita, the American Red Cross had opened 1,470 shelters and registered 3.8 million overnight stays. None were allowed in New Orleans, however. A total of 244,000 Red Cross workers (95% of which were non-paid volunteers) were utilized throughout these three hurricanes. In addition, 346,980 comfort kits (including such basic necessities as toothpaste, soap, washcloths, and toys for children) and 205,360 cleanup kits (containing brooms, mops, and bleach) were distributed. For mass care, the organization served 68 million snacks and meals to victims of the disasters and to rescue workers. The Red Cross also had its Disaster Health services meet 596,810 contacts, and Disaster Mental Health services met 826,590 contacts. Red Cross emergency financial assistance was provided to 1.4 million families. Hurricane Katrina was the first natural disaster in the United States in which the American Red Cross utilized its "Safe and Well" family location website.

Direct Relief provided a major response in the Gulf states so health providers could treat the local patients and evacuees. Direct Relief furnished $10 million in medical material aid and cash grants to support clinics and health centers in the area.

In the year following Katrina's strike on the Gulf Coast, The Salvation Army allocated donations of more than $365 million to serve more than 1.7 million people in nearly every state. The organization's immediate response to Hurricane Katrina included more than 5.7 million hot meals and about 8.3 million sandwiches, snacks, and drinks served in and around New Orleans. Its SATERN network of amateur radio operators picked up where modern communications left off to help locate more than 25,000 survivors. Salvation Army pastoral care counselors were on hand to comfort the emotional and spiritual needs of 277,000 individuals. As part of the overall effort, Salvation Army officers, employees, and volunteers contributed more than 900,000 hours of service.

Analysis of New Orleans levee failures

View of the eyewall of Hurricane Katrina taken on August 28, 2005, as seen from a NOAA WP-3D hurricane hunter aircraft before the storm made landfall on the United States Gulf Coast

According to a modeling exercise conducted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), two-thirds of the deaths in Greater New Orleans were due to levee and flood wall failure. On April 5, 2006, months after independent investigators had demonstrated that levee failures were not caused by natural forces beyond intended design strength, Lieutenant General Carl Strock, chief of engineers and commander of the Corps of Engineers, testified before the United States Senate Subcommittee on Energy and Water that "We have now concluded we had problems with the design of the structure."

A June 2007 report released by the American Society of Civil Engineers determined that the failures of the levees and flood walls in New Orleans were found to be primarily the result of system design and construction flaws. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had been federally mandated in the Flood Control Act of 1965 with responsibility for the conception, design, and construction of the region's flood-control system. All of the major studies in the aftermath of Katrina concluded that the USACE was responsible for the failure of the levees. This was primarily attributed to a decision to use shorter steel sheet pilings during construction in an effort to save money. According to a report published in August 2015 in the official journal of the World Water Council, the Corps misinterpreted the results of a 1985 study and wrongly concluded that sheet piles in the flood walls needed to be driven to depths of only 17 feet (5 m) instead of between 31 and 46 feet (9 and 14 m). That decision saved approximately US$100 million, but significantly reduced overall engineering reliability.

In January 2008, Judge Stanwood Duval of the U.S. District Court ruled that despite the Corps' role in the flooding, the agency could not be held financially liable because of sovereign immunity in the Flood Control Act of 1928. Exactly ten years after Katrina, J. David Rogers, lead author of a new report in the official journal of the World Water Council, concluded that the flooding during Katrina "could have been prevented had the corps retained an external review board to double-check its flood-wall designs".

Other factors may have contributed to the flooding. According to the authors of Catastrophe in the Making (Island Press, 2009), the straight design and lack of outward flow into the Gulf allowed the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet Canal to become "the perfect shortcut for salt-water intrusion" which damaged buffering cypress forests and wetlands which historically had protected New Orleans from storm surge. The Army Corps of Engineers built and maintained the canal. Furthermore, according to storm surge researcher Hassan Mashriqui:

Storm surge pushing across shallow Lake Borgne from the east is constrained by these MRGO levees to the south and, to the north, by the long-standing levees of the Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW). Initially ten or more miles apart, these two channels meet, and when they do, the water building between their levees is squeezed into a single channel - the Funnel - only 260 yards wide, constrained by levees 14 feet to 16 feet high....In concert with the denuded marshes, it could increase the local storm surge hitting the Intracoastal Waterway by 20 percent to 40 percent - a critical and fundamental flaw.

View of flooded New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina

The Corps of Engineers disputes these causalities. Nonetheless, in June 2008, the Army Corps of Engineers New Orleans District submitted a Deep-Draft De-authorization Study of the MRGO which stated that "an economic evaluation of channel navigation use does not demonstrate a Federal interest in continued operation and maintenance of the channel." Congress ordered the MRGO closed as a direct result.

Many of the levees have been reconstructed since Katrina. In reconstructing them, precautions were taken to bring the levees up to modern building code standards and to ensure their safety. For example, in every situation possible, the Corps of Engineers replaced I-walls with T-walls, which have a horizontal concrete base that protects against soil erosion underneath the flood walls.

Media involvement

Many representatives of the news media reporting on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina became directly involved in the unfolding events, instead of simply reporting. Because of the loss of most means of communication, such as land-based and cellular telephone systems, field reporters in many cases became conduits for information between victims and authorities. The authorities, who monitored local and network news broadcasts, as well as internet sites, would then attempt to coordinate rescue efforts based on the reports. One illustration was when Geraldo Rivera of Fox News tearfully pleaded for authorities to either send help or evacuate the thousands of evacuees stranded at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. The role of AM radio was also of importance to the hundreds of thousands of persons with no other ties to news, providing emergency information regarding access to assistance for hurricane victims. Immediately after Katrina, WWL-AM was one of the few area radio stations in the area remaining on the air. This emergency service, simulcasted on shortwave outlet WHRI, was named " United Radio Broadcasters of New Orleans". Their ongoing nighttime broadcasts continued to be available up to 500 mi (800 km) away. Announcers continued to broadcast from improvised studio facilities after the storm damaged their main studios. The cellular phone antenna network was severely damaged and completely inoperable for several months.

The storm also brought a dramatic rise in the role of websites-especially blogging and community journalism. One example was the effort of NOLA.com, the web affiliate of New Orleans's Times-Picayune. A group of reporters were awarded the Breaking News Pulitzer Prize and shared the Public Service Pulitzer with the Biloxi-based . The newspaper's coverage was carried for days only on NOLA's blogs, as the newspaper lost its presses and evacuated its building as water rose around it on August 30. The site became an international focal point for news by local media, and also became a vital link for rescue operations and later for reuniting scattered residents, as it accepted and posted thousands of individual pleas for rescue on its blogs and forums. NOLA was monitored constantly by an array of rescue teams-from individuals to the Coast Guard-which used information in rescue efforts. Much of this information was relayed from trapped victims via the SMS functions of their cell phones, to friends and relatives outside the area, who then relayed the information back to NOLA.com. The aggregation of community journalism, user photos, and the use of the internet site as a collaborative response to the storm attracted international attention and was called a watershed moment in journalism. In the wake of these online-only efforts, the Pulitzer Committee for the first time opened all its categories to online entries.

As the U.S. military and rescue services regained control over the city, there were restrictions on the activity of the media. On September 9, the military leader of the relief effort announced that reporters would have "zero access" to efforts to recover bodies in New Orleans. Immediately following this announcement, CNN filed a lawsuit and obtained a temporary restraining order against the ban. The next day the government backed down and reversed the ban.

In September 2022, the Associated Press issued a style guide change to Katrina stating that reporters when writing about the storm in New Orleans should note that "...levee failures played a major role in the devastation in New Orleans. In some stories, that can be as simple as including a phrase about Hurricane Katrina's catastrophic levee failures and flooding...."

Retirement of name

Because of the large death toll and destruction of property along the Gulf Coast, the name Katrina was officially retired on April 6, 2006, by the World Meteorological Organization at the request of the U.S. government. The name will never again be used for another North Atlantic hurricane. It was replaced by Katia on List III of the Atlantic hurricane naming lists, which was used in the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season.

Studies concerning post-Katrina victims

An article published in the Community Mental Health Journal from January 2016 revealed information about a recent study on the psychosocial needs of Hurricane Katrina evacuees that temporarily resided in Dallas, Texas. More than one-fourth of the sample met the criteria for major depressive disorder (MDD). About one-third of the individuals received a referral to mental health services for meeting symptom criteria for incident MDD and PTSD.

In a study published in Maternal and Child Health Journal, five to seven years after the disaster, 308 New Orleans pregnant women were interviewed about their exposure to Katrina. Researchers found that there were associations between experiencing damage during Katrina and birthweight, thus researchers concluded that natural disasters may have long-term effects on pregnancy outcomes. Furthermore, it was concluded that women who are most vulnerable to disaster may be more vulnerable to poor pregnancy outcome.

From a September 2015 journal of Current Psychology, a study examined the attitudes of older, long-term residents of Baton Rouge, Louisiana toward displaced newcomers to their community. After using multiple tests, analyses, and descriptive statistics, the study suggested residents grew to become more patient, tolerant, and friendly towards newcomers. The study also suggests, however, that residents felt more fearful and suspicious of the evacuees, as well as the fact that they were being taken advantage of more.

Reconstruction

Reconstruction of each section of the southern portion of Louisiana has been addressed in the Army Corps LACPR (Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration) Final Technical Report, which identifies areas to not be rebuilt and areas where buildings need to be elevated.

The Technical Report includes:

locations of possible new levees to be built

suggested existing levee modifications

"Inundation Zones", "Water depths less than 14 feet, Raise-In-Place of Structures", "Water depths greater than 14 feet, Buyout of Structures", "Velocity Zones" and "Buyout of Structures" areas for five different scenarios.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers submitted the report to the U.S. Congress for consideration, planning, and response in mid-2009.

Katrina is the costliest tropical cyclone on record, tying with Hurricane Harvey in 2017. The storm was the fourth-most intense Atlantic hurricane on record to make landfall in the contiguous United States, behind the 1935 Labor Day hurricane, Hurricane Camille in 1969, and Hurricane Michael in 2018. Katrina was also the earliest eleventh named storm in the Atlantic until Tropical Storm Kyle surpassed it on August 14, 2020, beating Katrina by 10 days, as it was named on August 24, 2005.

Other similar tropical cyclones

References

1. ^ Richard D. Knobby; Jamie R. Rhome; Daniel P. Brown. "Tropical Cyclone Report Hurricane Katrina" (PDF). National Hurricane Center.

2. Charles F. Anderson, Jurjen A. Battjes; et al. (2007). "The New Orleans Hurricane Protection System: What Went Wrong and Why" ^ (PDF) Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. American Society of Civil Engineers. Retrieved July 25, 2016.

3. ^ United States Congress (February 19, 2006). A Failure of Initiative: Final Report of the Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina (PDF). Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 26, 2009.

4. ^ Knabb, Richard D.; Rhome, Jamie R.; Brown, Daniel P. (January 4, 2023). ""Tropical Cyclone Report, Hurricane Katrina 23-30 August 2005" (PDF)" (PDF). NOAA.GOV.

5. ^ Schleifstein, Mark (January 14, 2023). ""How many people died in Hurricane Katrina? Toll reduce 17 years later"". The Advocate.

6. ^ Knabb, Richard D; Rhome, Jamie R; Brown, Daniel P; National Hurricane Center (December 20, 2005). Hurricane Katrina: August 23-30, 2005 (PDF) (Tropical Cyclone Report). United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Weather Service.

7. ^ Blanco, Kathleen (August 28, 2005). Governor Blanco asks President to Declare an Emergency for the State of Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina (PDF) (Report). Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Government of the State of Louisiana. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2012.

8. ^ "Hurricane Katrina Probabilities Report Number 15". Archived February 20, 2006, at the Wayback Machine and Hurricane Katrina Probabilities "Report Number 21". Archived February 20, 2006, at the Wayback Machine National Hurricane Center. August 26, 2005. Retrieved on June 5, 2006.

9. Staff Writer. ^ "Katrina Heads for New Orleans". Archived August 7, 2015, at the Wayback Machine Fox News/Associated Press. August 29, 2005. Retrieved on June 5, 2006.

10. ^ Diary From the Dome is a 2008 memoir written by a tourist who was stuck inside the Superdome during Katrina and the levee failures. It offers an overview of the conditions inside the stadium as well as a critique of the media's coverage of the disaster.

11. Brunkard, Joan; Namulanda, Gonza; Ratard, Raoult (August 28, 2008). "Hurricane Katrina deaths, Louisiana, 2005". Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness. 2 (4): 215-223. doi:10.1097/DMP.0b013e31818aaf55. PMID 18756175.

12. ^ Reports of Missing and Deceased (Report). Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals. August 2, 2006. Archived from the original on February 11, 2012.

13. ^ Hurricane Katrina Service Assessment Report (PDF). National Weather Service (Report). Silver Spring, Maryland: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. June 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 19, 2013.

14. Devenas, Andy ^ "Marathon Tornado Survey Report". National Weather Service Forecast Office Key West, Florida Retrieved on June 5, 2006.

15. Associated Press, "Katrina at a Glance" (August 31, 2005), page 4A, ^ Mobile Register, web: MobileRegister-083105-PDF Archived October 1, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.

16. Rosenzweig, C., G. Casassa, D.J. Karoly, A. Imeson, C. Liu, A. Menzel, S. Rawlins, T.L. Root, B. Seguin, P. Tryjanowski. (2007). "Assessment of observed changes and responses in natural and managed systems. Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability". Chapter 1 in ^ Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, (M.L. Parry, O.F. Canziani, J.P. Palutikof, P.J. van der Linden and C.E. Hanson, Eds.), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. (url : http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg2/ar4-wg2-chapter1.pdf Archived March 6, 2009, at the Wayback Machine). p. 92. Accessed December 19, 2011.

17. Transcript from, ^ The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. "Hurricane Damages Gulf Coast". Archived January 8, 2014, at the Wayback Machine . August 29, 2005. Retrieved on June 5, 2006.

18. Mowbray, Rebecca. ^ "Evacuations to hotels come with own set of hazards". Archived July 1, 2009, at the Portuguese Web Archive Times-Picayune. August 30, 2005. Retrieved on June 5, 2006.

19. ^ Davis, Robert; Johnson, Kevin (October 17, 2005). "La. looks into 215 Katrina deaths - Inquiry includes euthanasia report". USA Today. Arlington, VA.

20. ^ Abandoned & Abused: Report on the effects of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans Prisons (PDF) Archived March 26, 2016, at the Wayback Machine ([1] Archived March 14, 2015, at the Wayback Machine), American Civil Liberties Union, August 9, 2006. Retrieved November 28, 2012.

21. ^ Federal Emergency Management Agency (November 2005). "Mississippi Hurricane Katrina Surge Inundation and Advisory Base Flood Elevation Map Panel Overview" (PDF). FEMA. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 20, 2015.

22. ^ Canadian Tropical Cyclone Season Summary for 2005 (Report). Gatineau, Quebec: Environment Canada. January 15, 2014. Archived from the original on February 20, 2015.

23. Fagot, Caryl; Winbush, Debra. ^ "Hurricane Katrina/Hurricane Rita Evacuation and Production Shut-in Statistics Report as of Wednesday, February 22, 2006". Archived May 10, 2006, at the Wayback Machine U.S. Government Minerals Management Service. Archived November 26, 2005, at the Wayback Machine February 22, 2006. Retrieved on June 5, 2006.

24. Anthony E. Ladd, John Marszalek, and Duane A. Gill. ^ The Other Diaspora: New Orleans Student Evacuation Impacts and Responses Surrounding Hurricane Katrina. Retrieved on April 14, 2010.

25. ^ United States Geological Survey (September 14, 2005). "Daupin Island - Pre- and Post-Storm 3D Topography". Hurricane Katrina Impact Studies. USGS. Archived from the original on March 12, 2015.

26. ^ "USGS Reports Latest Land Change Estimates for Louisiana Coast", USGS National Wetlands Research Center, Oct 3, 2006 Archived May 13, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, accessed May 7, 2008.

27. ^ Tidwell, Mike (2006). The Ravaging Tide: Strange Weather, Future Katrinas, and the Coming Death of America's Coastal Cities. Free Press. p. 22. ISBN 978-0-7432-9470-6. The Ravaging Tide: Strange Weather, Future Katrinas, and the Coming Death of America's Coastal Cities book.

28. United States Fish and Wildlife Service (September 9, 2005). "U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Conducting Initial Damage Assessments to Wildlife and National Wildlife Refuges". USFWS. Archived from the original on October 29, 2005.

29. ^ Chapman, Elise (2008). "Hurricane Katrina Impacts on Forest Trees of Louisiana's Pearl River Basin". Forest Ecology and Management. 256 (5): 883-889. doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2008.05.057.

30. ^ Henkel, Theryn (2016). "Delayed Tree Mortality and Chinese Tallow Explosion in Louisiana Bottomland Hardwood Forest Following Hurricane Katrina". Forest Ecology and Management. 378: 222-232. doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2016.07.036.

31. ^ Chambers, Jeffrey Q.; Fisher, Jeremy I.; Zeng, Hongcheng; Chapman, Elise L.; Baker, David B.; Hurtt, George C. (January 1, 2007). "Hurricane Katrina's Carbon Footprint on U.S. Gulf Coast Forests". Science. 318 (5853): 1107. Bibcode:2007Sci...318.1107C. doi:10.1126/science.1148913. JSTOR 20051600. PMID 18006740. S2CID 477946.

32. ^ "Hurricane Katrina : Aug 31: Looting in Mississippi". KLRT. Little Rock, Arkansas. August 31, 2005.

33. ^ Verano, Paul (January 1, 2010). "A Tale of Three Cities: Crime and Displacement after Hurricane Katrina". Journal of Criminal Justice. 38: 42-50. doi:10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2009.11.006. Archived from the original on September 13, 2015.

34. ^ Settles, Tanya; Lindsay, Bruce (August 23, 2010). "Crime in post-Katrina Houston: the effects of moral panic on emergency planning". Disasters. 35 (1): 200-219. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7717.2010.01200.x. PMID 20735458.

35. ^ United States Government Accountability Office (July 2006). Coast Guard: Observations on the Preparation, Response, and Recovery Missions Related to Hurricane Katrina (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on September 1, 2006.

36. California Political Desk. ^ "Pelosi: Davis Report on Katrina Leaves Unfinished Business". Archived October 27, 2006, at the Wayback Machine California Chronicle. Archived June 17, 2006, at the Wayback Machine February 15, 2006. Retrieved on June 5, 2006.

37. ^ Times-Picayune, September 26, 2005, page A-12. Retrieved on June 5, 2006.

38. Staff Writer. ^ "U.S. Grateful for Pakistan's Assistance for Hurricane Katrina Victims". Embassy of the United States. September 8, 2005. Retrieved on April 14, 2010.

39. ^ Staff Writer (September 16, 2005). "ARRL President Submits Congressional Testimony on Hams' Katrina Response". 24 (36). American Radio Relay League. Archived from the original on December 21, 2010.

40. ^ "Hurricane Season 2005: Facts and Figures". American Red Cross. September 29, 2006. Archived from the original on May 1, 2006.

41. Charles F. Anderson, Jurjen A. Battjes; et al. (2007). "The New Orleans Hurricane Protection System: What Went Wrong and Why" ^ (PDF) Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. American Society of Civil Engineers. Retrieved July 25, 2016.

42. ^ Heerden, Ivor van; Bryan, Mike (May 18, 2006). The Storm: What Went Wrong and Why During Hurricane Katrina - the Inside Story from One Louisiana Scientist. Penguin. ISBN 9781101201701. Archived from the original on April 28, 2016 - via Google Books.

43. ^ Burdeau, Cain (February 12, 2008). "White House Budget for Levee Work Riles Many Louisiana Elected Officials". Associated Press.

44. ^ ""Hurricane Tropical Guide". AP Stylebook The Associated Press". The Associated Press. September 27, 2022.

45. ^ King, Richard V.; Polatin, Peter B.; Hogan, David; Downs, Dana L.; North, Carol S. (January 1, 2016). "Needs Assessment of Hurricane Katrina Evacuees Residing Temporarily in Dallas". Community Mental Health Journal. 52 (1): 18-24. doi:10.1007/s10597-015-9938-5. ISSN 1573-2789. PMID 26507550. S2CID 9817578.

46. ^ Harville, Emily W.; Giarratano, Gloria; Savage, Jane; Barcelona de Mendoza, Veronica; Zotkiewicz, TrezMarie (November 1, 2015). "Birth Outcomes in a Disaster Recovery Environment: New Orleans Women After Katrina". Maternal and Child Health Journal. 19 (11): 2512-2522. doi:10.1007/s10995-015-1772-4. ISSN 1573-6628. PMC . PMID 26122255.

47. ^ Kamo, Yoshinori; Henderson, Tammy L.; Roberto, Karen A.; Peabody, Kimberly L.; White, Jamikka K. (August 2, 2015). "Perceptions of Older Adults in a Community Accepting Displaced Survivors of Hurricane Katrina". Current Psychology. 34 (3): 551-563. doi:10.1007/s12144-015-9356-4. ISSN 1046-1310. S2CID 146488181.

48. ^ United States Army Corps of Engineers (2009). "The LACPR Home Page". United States Army. Archived from the original on August 25, 2009.

49. ^ "Continental United States Hurricanes (Detailed Description)". United States Hurricane Research Division. June 2020.

Further reading

Augustson, Alan (August 31, 2008). Bernstein, Jonathan (ed.). "Katrina: Three Years Later, The Lessons We Haven't Learned". Crisis Manager. Bernstein Crisis Management. ISSN 1528-3836.

Brennan, Virginia (2009). Natural Disasters and Public Health: Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-9199-1.

Center for Public Integrity, ed. (2007). City Adrift: New Orleans Before and After Katrina. Baton Rouge: LSU Press. ISBN 978-0-8071-3284-5.

Dyson, Michael Eric (2006). Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster. New York: Perseus Books Group. ISBN 978-0-465-01761-4.

Eyerman, Ron (2015). Is This America? Katrina as Cultural Trauma. The Katrina Bookshelf. Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN 9781477303689. OCLC 900609113.

Harris, Paul (2008). Diary From the Dome. New York: Vantage Press. ASIN B003M69KSC.

Hartman, Chester; Squires, Gregory D., eds. (2006). There Is No Such Thing as a Natural Disaster: Race, Class, and Hurricane Katrina. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-95487-7.

Hirsch, Arnold R. "Fade to black: Hurricane Katrina and the disappearance of Creole New Orleans." Journal of American History 94.3 (2007): 752-761. https://doi.org/10.2307/25095136

Horowitz, Andy. Katrina: A History, 1915-2015 (Harvard University Press, 2020), long-term scholarly perspective.

Camden Burd, "How To Plan A Disaster: Politics, Nature, and Hurricane Katrina" Reviews in American History (2021) 49#2 pp. 303-309 doi:10.1353/rah.2021.0030 online review

Robinson, Sue. "A chronicle of chaos: Tracking the news story of Hurricane Katrina from The Times-Picayune to its website". Journalism 10.4 (2009): 431-450 online.

Rosenthal, Sandy. Words Whispered in Water: Why the Levees Broke in Hurricane Katrina (Mango, 2020), non-fiction account of author's battle to expose Army Corps of Engineers.

Saint-Saens, Alain (2010). Ordeal at the Superdome. Escaping Katrina's Wrath. New Orleans: University Press of the South. ISBN 978-1-889431-87-1.

Scott, Cathy (2008). Pawprints of Katrina: Pets Saved and Lessons Learned. Hoboken: Howell Book House. ISBN 978-0-470-22851-7.

Spielman, David G. (2007). Katrinaville Chronicles: Images and Observations from a New Orleans Photographer. Baton Rouge: LSU Press. ISBN 978-0-8071-3252-4.

Taylor, William M., ed. (2015). The "Katrina Effect": On the Nature of Catastrophe. London; New York: Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9781472595164. OCLC 893894307.

Usher, Nikki. "Recovery from disaster: How journalists at the New Orleans Times-Picayune understand the role of a post-Katrina newspaper". Journalism Practice 3.2 (2009): 216-232.

External links

Disaster recovery:

Images:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Hurricane Katrina was a devastating Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused 1,836 fatalities and damage estimated between $97.4 billion to $145.5 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. At the time, it was the costliest tropical cyclone on record, later tied by Hurricane Harvey of 2017.

# data[].attributes.body
312 inches of snowfall

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Chat with agent Enquire for package

Here is a list for you - 10 Snowiest Places On Earth

1. Aomori City
Aomori City - 312 inches
It is the snowiest place on the earth receives 312 inches of snowfall as it is located at the highest peak of the Hakkoda Mountains, receives 26 feet of snow per year, a 100 inch more than Sapporo, the next snowiest place. There is a huge precipitation of heavy clouds which is the reason for an unusual amount of snow and thick fog known as snow monster.

2. Sapporo
Sapporo - 191 inches
The next snowiest place on earth is the Sapporo, which receives 191 inches and 17 feet snowfall with a population of 2 million. It is a tourist destination place due to its annual snow festival, which offers various type of activities for visitors which are very entertaining and cultural. The place draws more than 10,000,000 visitors every year.

Struck by Wanderlust? Get best quotes on your favourite destinations

3. Toyama
Toyama - 413 inch
Another snowiest place is again captured by Toyama, Japan. This area of Japan receives heavy rainfall that it becomes very difficult for the drivers, as it completely blocking their view of the road. It is the home for more than 417,000 populations, receives an average 413 inch of snowfall.

4. St. John's

The fourth position is captured by St. John's is located in the province of Newfoundland and receives the most rainfall as compared to any other Canadian City. The city experiences 131 inches of snowfall.

Struck by Wanderlust? Get best quotes on your favourite destinations

5. Quebec City
Canada - 124 inches
The city is again a tourist attraction place which is famous for its fantastic Canadian cuisines and its carnivals and cultural activities organized. The city receives an average snowfall of 124 inches and lands up at No. 5 in snowiest places on earth The city is also famous for its beautiful architecture.

6. Syracuse
Syracuse - 124 inches
Syracuse receives 124 inches of snowfall annually captures the sixth position on the world's snowiest place. It is situated on Lake Ontario of New York City.

Struck by Wanderlust? Get best quotes on your favourite destinations

7. Saguenay
Canada - 123 inches
Formed by a merging four cities La Baie, Laterriere, Chicoutimi and Jonquiere receives snowfall up to 123 inches and located about 120 miles north of Quebec Saguenay has a population of more than 144,000. However, due to its unfavorable environment, there are very few habitats exists near the city

8. Akita
Akita, Japan - 107 inches
Akita has a population of more than 320,000 residents, which experience a snowfall of about 107 inches in the first two months of the year over 90% of its average annual snowfall. Akita tends to experience heavy rainfall as well.

Struck by Wanderlust? Get best quotes on your favourite destinations

9. Rochester
Rochester, United States - 99 inches
Rochester is the place located near Canada which receives an average snowfall of 99 inches that occasionally leads to blizzards due to the large amount of snow. However, this snow even caused a disaster in the place and many people died due to high accumulation of snow which took 2 weeks to recover and remove all snow.

10. Buffalo

Due to the lake-effect snow in Buffalo has also experienced increased production of snow, with a 95-inch snowfall and even keep increasing the rate of snowfall in that location. Citizens of that place experience some of the heaviest blizzards, leading in several feet of snow, burying vehicles, and cancelling of activities in town.

Struck by Wanderlust? Get best quotes on your favourite destinations

11. Video of Snowiest places on Earth

Similar Reads Popular Stories Sponsored Stories

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Chat with agent Enquire for package Here is a list for you - 10 Snowiest Places On Earth Aomori City - 312 inches It is the snowiest place on the earth receives 312 inches of snowfall as it is located at the highest peak of the Hakkoda Mountains, receives 26 feet of snow per year, a 100 inch more than Sapporo, the next snowiest place.

# data[].attributes.location_name
Southern Plains Medical Center, West Iowa Avenue, Chickasha, OK, USA

# data[].attributes.headline
Southern Plains Medical Center, West Iowa Avenue, Chickasha, OK, USA

# data[].attributes.subject
Southern Plains Medical Center, West Iowa Avenue, Chickasha, OK, USA

# data[].attributes.body
the dust bowl

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Dust Bowl was the name given to the drought-stricken southern plains region of the United States, which suffered severe dust storms during a drought in the 1930s. As high winds and choking dust swept the region from Texas to Nebraska, people and livestock were killed and crops failed across the entire region. The Dust Bowl intensified the crushing economic impacts of the Great Depression and drove many farming families on a desperate migration in search of work and better living conditions.
WATCH: America: The Story of Us on HISTORY Vault
What Caused the Dust Bowl?

The Dust Bowl was caused by several economic and agricultural factors, including federal land policies, changes in regional weather, farm economics and other cultural factors. After the Civil War, a series of federal land acts coaxed pioneers westward by incentivizing farming in the Great Plains.

The Homestead Act of 1862, which provided settlers with 160 acres of public land, was followed by the Kinkaid Act of 1904 and the Enlarged Homestead Act of 1909. These acts led to a massive influx of new and inexperienced farmers across the Great Plains.

Many of these late nineteenth and early twentieth century settlers lived by the superstition "rain follows the plow." Emigrants, land speculators, politicians and even some scientists believed that homesteading and agriculture would permanently affect the climate of the semi-arid Great Plains region, making it more conducive to farming.

Manifest Destiny

This false belief was linked to Manifest Destiny -an attitude that Americans had a sacred duty to expand west. A series of wet years during the period created further misunderstanding of the region's ecology and led to the intensive cultivation of increasingly marginal lands that couldn't be reached by irrigation.

Rising wheat prices in the 1910s and 1920s and increased demand for wheat from Europe during World War I encouraged farmers to plow up millions of acres of native grassland to plant wheat, corn and other row crops. But as the United States entered the Great Depression, wheat prices plummeted. In desperation, farmers tore up even more grassland in an attempt to harvest a bumper crop and break even.

Crops began to fail with the onset of drought in 1931, exposing the bare, over-plowed farmland. Without deep-rooted prairie grasses to hold the soil in place, it began to blow away. Eroding soil led to massive dust storms and economic devastation-especially in the Southern Plains.

When Was the Dust Bowl?

The Dust Bowl, also known as "the Dirty Thirties," started in 1930 and lasted for about a decade, but its long-term economic impacts on the region lingered much longer.

Severe drought hit the Midwest and southern Great Plains in 1930. Massive dust storms began in 1931. A series of drought years followed, further exacerbating the environmental disaster.

By 1934, an estimated 35 million acres of formerly cultivated land had been rendered useless for farming, while another 125 million acres-an area roughly three-quarters the size of Texas-was rapidly losing its topsoil.

Regular rainfall returned to the region by the end of 1939, bringing the Dust Bowl years to a close. The economic effects, however, persisted. Population declines in the worst-hit counties-where the agricultural value of the land failed to recover-continued well into the 1950s.

'Black Blizzards' Strike America

During the Dust Bowl period, severe dust storms, often called "black blizzards," swept the Great Plains. Some of these carried topsoil from Texas and Oklahoma as far east as Washington, D.C. and New York City, and coated ships in the Atlantic Ocean with dust.

Billowing clouds of dust would darken the sky, sometimes for days at a time. In many places, the dust drifted like snow and residents had to clear it with shovels. Dust worked its way through the cracks of even well-sealed homes, leaving a coating on food, skin and furniture.

Some people developed "dust pneumonia" and experienced chest pain and difficulty breathing. It's unclear exactly how many people may have died from the condition. Estimates range from hundreds to several thousand people.

On May 11, 1934, a massive dust storm two miles high traveled 2,000 miles to the East Coast, blotting out monuments such as the Statue of Liberty and the U.S. Capitol.

The worst dust storm occurred on April 14, 1935. News reports called the event Black Sunday. A wall of blowing sand and dust started in the Oklahoma Panhandle and spread east. As many as three million tons of topsoil are estimated to have blown off the Great Plains during Black Sunday.

An Associated Press news report coined the term "Dust Bowl" after the Black Sunday dust storm.

New Deal Programs

President Franklin D. Roosevelt established a number of measures to help alleviate the plight of poor and displaced farmers. He also addressed the environmental degradation that had led to the Dust Bowl in the first place.
WATCH: How Artists Helped End the Great Depression
As part of Roosevelt's New Deal, Congress established the Soil Erosion Service and the Prairie States Forestry Project in 1935. These programs put local farmers to work planting trees as windbreaks on farms across the Great Plains. The Soil Erosion Service, now called the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) developed and promoted new farming techniques to combat the problem of soil erosion.

Okie Migration

Roughly 2.5 million people left the Dust Bowl states- Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma-during the 1930s. It was one of the largest migrations in American history.

Oklahoma alone lost 440,000 people to migration. Many of them, poverty-stricken, traveled west looking for work. From 1935 to 1940, roughly 250,000 Oklahoma migrants moved to California. A third settled in the state's agriculturally rich San Joaquin Valley.

These Dust Bowl refugees were called "Okies." Okies faced discrimination, menial labor and pitiable wages upon reaching California. Many of them lived in shantytowns and tents along irrigation ditches. "Okie" soon became a term of disdain used to refer to any poor Dust Bowl migrant, regardless of their state of origin.
READ MORE: How the Dust Bowl Made Americans Refugees in Their Own Country

Dust Bowl in Arts and Culture

The Dust Bowl, and the suffering endured by those who survived it, captured the hearts and imaginations of the nation's artists, musicians and writers.

John Steinbeck memorialized the plight of the Okies in his 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath. Photographer Dorothea Lange documented rural poverty with a series of photographs for FDR's Farm Securities Administration, and artist Alexandre Hogue achieved renown with his Dust Bowl landscapes.

Folk musician Woody Guthrie, and his semi-autobiographical first album Dust Bowl Ballads of 1940, told stories of economic hardship faced by Okies in California. Guthrie, an Oklahoma native, left his home state with thousands of others looking for work during the Dust Bowl.

Sources

FDR and the New Deal Response to an Environmental Catastrophe. Roosevelt Institute.
About The Dust Bowl. English Department; University of Illinois.
Dust Bowl Migration. University of California at Davis.
The Great Okie Migration. Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Okie Migrations. Oklahoma Historical Society.
What we learned from the Dust Bowl: lessons in science, policy, and adaptation. Population and Environment.
The Dust Bowl. Library of Congress.
Dust Bowl Ballads: Woody Guthrie. Smithsonian Folkways Recordings.
The Dust Bowl. Ken Burns; PBS.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Dust Bowl was the name given to the drought-stricken southern plains region of the United States, which suffered severe dust storms during a drought in the 1930s. As high winds and choking dust swept the region from Texas to Nebraska, people and livestock were killed and crops failed across the entire region.

# data[].attributes.body
record coldest breaking temp (-128.6 degress F)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has recognized a temperature reading of -69.6 degrees Celsius (-93.3 degrees Fahrenheit) from 30 years ago as the lowest ever recorded in the Northern Hemisphere.

The measurement was taken by an automatic weather station at a remote site named Klinck close to the summit of the Greenland Ice Sheet - the second largest body of ice in the world - on December 22, 1991, according to an assessment published in the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society.

The fact that record has only just been uncovered three decades after the measurement was taken is the result of an investigation by "climate detectives" from the WMO Archive of Weather and Climate Extremes.

These climate historians analyze and verify long overlooked meteorological data, occasionally uncovering new records, as was the case with the weather station at Klinck.

The station-which was located at an altitude of nearly 10,200 feet-operated in the early 1990s, before the WMO began evaluating global weather extremes.

WMO researchers confirmed the new record after tracking down the scientists who were once in charge of the weather station-from the the University of Wisconsin-Madison-and conducting an analysis of the scientific equipment and observation practices used, as well as weather conditions in December 1991.

"This investigation highlights the ability of today's climate scientists to not only identify modern climate records but to play 'climate detective' and uncover important past climate records-thereby creating a high-quality long-term record of climate for climate-sensitive regions of the world," Randall Cerveny, Rapporteur of Climate and Weather Extremes for WMO, said in a statement.

The new record is nearly 2 C (3.6 F) colder than the previous record-a reading of -67.8 C (-90.04 F) measured at the Russian sites of Verkhoyansk and Oimekon in February, 1892, and January, 1933, respectively.

The lowest temperature ever recorded on Earth was a reading of -89.2 C (-128.6 F) measured at the Vostok weather station in Antarctica on July 21, 1983.

Earlier this year, Verkhoyansk-which lies north of the Arctic circle in Siberia-made headlines around the world after a weather station there recorded a temperature of 38 C (100.4 F) during a prolonged heat wave. The WMO is currently verifying whether this was a new record high temperature for the region north of the Arctic Circle.

"In the era of climate change, much attention focuses on new heat records. This newly recognized cold record is an important reminder about the stark contrasts that exist on this planet," WMO Secretary-General Professor Petteri Taalas said in a statement.

"It is testimony to the dedication of climate scientists and weather historians that we are now able to investigate many of these older records and secure a better global understanding of not only current, but also historical, climate extremes," Taalas said.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Coldest temperature ever recorded in Northern Hemisphere uncovered by "climate detectives"

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has recognized a temperature reading of -69.6 degrees Celsius (-93.3 degrees Fahrenheit) from 30 years ago as the lowest ever recorded in the Northern Hemisphere.

# data[].attributes.location_name
C-A-L Ranch Stores, East Florence Boulevard, Casa Grande, AZ, USA

# data[].attributes.headline
C-A-L Ranch Stores, East Florence Boulevard, Casa Grande, AZ, USA

# data[].attributes.subject
C-A-L Ranch Stores, East Florence Boulevard, Casa Grande, AZ, USA

# data[].attributes.body
highest record breaking temp 56.7 degrees c (134.1 degrees F)

# data[].attributes.body
5.5in of snow in 2020

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
First off as always, a BIG Thanks to those who made donations so far this season. I truly appreciate them and they help out a lot PayPal does accept most credit cards and Please let me know where you are from in the description box at Pay Pal OK, end of begging and stay safe this snowy season
The first number is the current place the city is on the snow mountain. The second number is where the city was at on the last update. Just to give an idea of how the snowiest city is doing normally, within a weeks time.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Golden Snow Globe National Snow Contest Snowiest US City Pop 100,000+

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
First off as always, a BIG Thanks to those who made donations so far this season. I truly appreciate them and they help out a lot PayPal does accept most credit cards and Please let me know where you are from in the description box at Pay Pal OK, end of begging and stay safe this snowy season The first number is the current place the city is on the snow mountain.

# data[].attributes.body
8in. piece of hail falls in vivian SD in 2010.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
hailstone the size of a football in argentina may have smashed a world record - cnn

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Hailstone the size of a football in Argentina may have smashed a world record

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Once upon a time in a town in central Argentina, hailstones the size of footballs were so big that researchers needed a new category to describe them.

# data[].attributes.body
high tempeture of 130 F on August 16 2020

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
dozens of heat records set to be broken this week and  - cnn

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Dozens of heat records set to be broken this week as Western heat wave continues

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Western US and southwest Canada are bracing for another week of extreme heat as dozens of temperature records are expected to be broken.