| |
Hurricane
Katrina was the costliest and one of the five
deadliest hurricanes in the history of the United States.[1]
It was the sixth-strongest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded
and the third-strongest hurricane on record that made
landfall in the United States. Katrina formed on August
23 during the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season and caused
devastation along much of the north-central Gulf Coast.
The most severe loss of life and property damage occurred
in New Orleans, Louisiana, which flooded as the levee
system catastrophically failed, in many cases hours after
the storm had moved inland. The hurricane caused severe
destruction across the entire Mississippi coast and into
Alabama, as far as 100 miles (160 km) from the storm's
center. Katrina was the eleventh tropical storm, fifth
hurricane, third major hurricane, and second Category
5 hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic season.
It formed
over the Bahamas on August 23, 2005, and crossed southern
Florida as a moderate Category 1 hurricane, causing some
deaths and flooding there, before strengthening rapidly
in the Gulf of Mexico and becoming one of the strongest
hurricanes on record while at sea. The storm weakened
before making its second and third landfalls as a Category
3 storm on the morning of August 29 in southeast Louisiana
and at the Louisiana/Mississippi state line, respectively.
The storm
surge caused severe damage along the Gulf Coast, devastating
the Mississippi cities of Waveland, Bay St. Louis, Pass
Christian, Long Beach, Gulfport, Biloxi, Ocean Springs,
and Pascagoula. In Louisiana, the federal flood protection
system in New Orleans failed in over 50 places. Nearly
every levee in metro New Orleans breached as Hurricane
Katrina passed east of the city, subsequently flooding
80% of the city and many areas of neighboring parishes
for weeks.
At least
1,836 people lost their lives in Hurricane Katrina and
in the subsequent floods, making it the deadliest U.S.
hurricane since the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane. The storm
is estimated to have been responsible for $81.2 billion
(2005 U.S. dollars) in damage, making it the costliest
natural disaster in U.S. history. The catastrophic failure
of the flood protection in New Orleans prompted immediate
review of the Army Corps of Engineers since the agency
has by congressional mandate sole responsibility for design
and construction of the flood protection. There was also
widespread criticism of the federal, state and local governments'
reaction to the storm and resulting in an investigation
by the U.S. Congress and the resignation of Federal Emergency
Management Agency director Michael D. Brown. Conversely,
the National Hurricane Center and National Weather Service
were widely commended for accurate forecasts and abundant
lead time.
Hurricane Katrina
From Wikipedia,
the free encyclopedia
My
Squidoo Pages
Los
Angeles Professional Services
|
|
