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George Petras, Janet Loehrke and Javier Zarracina

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Maps track Hurricane Helene’s 800-mile path of destruction across southeastern US

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Dozens of deaths reported in six states as Helene’s high winds and heavy rains batter American Southeast

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What was Hurricane Katrina?

Who was Hurricane Katrina named after?

What were Hurricane Katrina's wind speeds?

Why did Hurricane Katrina lead to widespread flooding?

What was the impact of Hurricane Katrina on the New Orleans public education system?

Hurricane Katrina, tropical cyclone that struck the southeastern United States in late August 2005. The hurricane and its aftermath claimed more than 1,800 lives, and it ranked as the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history.

Development

The storm that would later become Hurricane Katrina surfaced on August 23, 2005, as a tropical depression over the Bahamas, approximately 350 miles (560 km) east of Miami. Over the next two days the weather system gathered strength, earning the designation Tropical Storm Katrina, and it made landfall between Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as a category 1 hurricane-a storm that, on the Saffir-Simpson scale, exhibits winds in the range of 74-95 miles (119-154 km) per hour. Sustained winds of 70 miles (115 km) per hour lashed the Florida peninsula, and rainfall totals of 5 inches (13 cm) were reported in some areas. The storm spent less than eight hours over land. It quickly intensified when it reached the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

On August 27 Katrina strengthened to a category 3 hurricane, with top winds exceeding 115 miles (185 km) per hour and a circulation that covered virtually the entire Gulf of Mexico. By the following afternoon Katrina had become one of the most powerful Atlantic storms on record, with winds in excess of 170 miles (275 km) per hour. On the morning of August 29, the storm made landfall as a category 4 hurricane at Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, approximately 45 miles (70 km) southeast of New Orleans. It continued on a course to the northeast, crossing the Mississippi Sound and making a second landfall later that morning near the mouth of the Pearl River. A storm surge more than 26 feet (8 metres) high slammed into the coastal cities of Gulfport and Biloxi, Mississippi, devastating homes and resorts along the beachfront.

Damage

In New Orleans, where much of the greater metropolitan area is below sea level, federal officials initially believed that the city had "dodged the bullet." While New Orleans had been spared a direct hit by the intense winds of the storm, the true threat was soon apparent. The levee system that held back the waters of Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne had been completely overwhelmed by 10 inches (25 cm) of rain and Katrina's storm surge. Some levees buttressing the Industrial Canal, the 17th Street Canal, and other areas were overtopped by the storm surge, and others were breached after these structures failed outright from the buildup of water pressure behind them. The area east of the Industrial Canal was the first part of the city to flood; by the afternoon of August 29, some 20 percent of the city was underwater.

Disasters of Historic Proportion

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin had ordered a mandatory evacuation of the city the previous day, and an estimated 1.2 million people left ahead of the storm. However, tens of thousands of residents could not or would not leave. They either remained in their homes or sought shelter at locations such as the New Orleans Convention Center or the Louisiana Superdome. As the already strained levee system continued to give way, the remaining residents of New Orleans were faced with a city that by August 30 was 80 percent underwater. Many local agencies found themselves unable to respond to the increasingly desperate situation, as their own headquarters and control centres were under 20 feet (6 metres) of water. With no relief in sight and in the absence of any organized effort to restore order, some neighbourhoods experienced substantial amounts of looting, and helicopters were used to rescue many people from rooftops in the flooded Ninth Ward.

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Hurricane Katrina | Deaths, Damage, & Facts

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Hurricane Katrina, tropical cyclone that struck the southeastern United States in August 2005, breaching levees and causing widespread death and damage. Ultimately, the storm caused more than $160 billion in damage, and it reduced the population of New Orleans by 29 percent between the fall of 2005 and 2011.

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Preparing for Hurricanes or Other Tropical Storms

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Before hurricane season each year, make sure you and your family are prepared by planning ahead.

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Perspectives on the Health Effects of Hurricanes: A Review and Challenges

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Hurricanes are devastating natural disasters which dramatically modify the physical landscape and alter the socio-physical and biochemical characteristics of the environment, thus exposing the affected communities to new environmental stressors,…

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A Community Approach to Disaster Preparedness and Response

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This paper is part of a series that will include specialized papers on civic engagement, community action, and other topics important to the development of community throughout Pennsylvania.

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Europe PMC is an archive of life sciences journal literature.

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(1) Defined by the National Flood Insurance Program as an event that produces at least 1,500 paid losses, since 1978. As of January 2025.