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{{Short description|Category 5 Atlantic hurricane in 2005}}
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{{Distinguish|Hurricane Catarina|Hurricane Karina}}
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{{Other hurricanes|List of storms named Katrina}}
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{{Use American English|date=September 2024}}
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{{Infobox weather event
| image = Katrina 2005-08-28 1700Z.jpg
| caption = Katrina at peak intensity in the ] on August 28
| formed = August 23, 2005
| extratropical = August 30, 2005
| dissipated = August 31, 2005
}}{{Infobox weather event/NWS
| winds = 150
| pressure = 902
}}{{Infobox weather event/Effects
| year = 2005
| fatalities = 1,392 total
| missing = 652
| damage = 125000000000
| damage-suffix = <br/>(])
| areas = {{flatlist|
* ]
* ] (especially ], ], and ])
* ]
* ]
* ]
}}
| refs =
}}{{Infobox weather event/Footer
| season = ]
}}
{{Katrina}}
'''Hurricane Katrina''' was a powerful and devastating ] that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125&nbsp;billion in late August&nbsp;2005, particularly in the city of ] and its surrounding area. It is tied with ] as being the ] in the ]. Katrina was the twelfth tropical cyclone, the fifth hurricane, and the third ] of the ]. It was also the fourth-most intense ] to make landfall in the ], gauged by barometric pressure.


Katrina formed on August&nbsp;23, 2005, with the merger of a ] and the remnants of ]. Early the following day, the depression intensified into a ] and headed generally westward toward Florida. On August&nbsp;25, two hours before making landfall at ], it strengthened into a hurricane. After briefly weakening to tropical storm strength over southern Florida, Katrina entered the ] on August&nbsp;26 and ]. The storm strengthened into a ] over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico before weakening to a high-end ] at its second landfall on August&nbsp;29 over southeast ] and ].
: ''This article is about the 2005 hurricane. For other storms with this name, see ].''


The largest loss of life in Hurricane Katrina was due to flooding caused by engineering flaws in the flood protection system, particularly the ]s around the city of New Orleans. 80% of the city, as well as large areas in neighboring ], were flooded for weeks. The flooding destroyed most of New Orleans's transportation and communication facilities, leaving tens of thousands of people who did or could not evacuate the city before landfall with little access to food, shelter, and other necessities. The ] 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 ], 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 ] in the ].
{{Infobox hurricane | name=Hurricane Katrina
| image location=Katrina2005-colorIR.GIF
| image name=Hurricane Katrina with winds of 160 mph (255 km/h) on ], ] at 0045 ].
| duration=] - ], ]
| highest winds=175 mph (280 km/h)
| total damages (USD)=$25-120 billion (Likely to be the costliest ] hurricane of all time)
| total fatalities=1,014 direct, 577 indirect (with estimates of up to 10,000)
| areas affected=], ], ] (especially ], ], ], ], most of eastern ]
| hurricane season=]
}}


The emergency response from federal, state, and local governments was widely criticized, leading to the resignation of ] (FEMA) director ] and ] (NOPD) superintendent ]. Many other government officials faced criticism for their responses, especially New Orleans mayor ], Louisiana governor ], and President ]. However, several agencies, such as the ] (USCG), ] (NHC), and ] (NWS), were commended for their actions, with the NHC being particularly praised for its accurate forecasts well in advance.<ref name="CongressInvestigation" /> Katrina was the earliest 11th named storm on record before being surpassed by ] on August 14, 2020. The destruction and loss of life caused by the storm prompted the name ''Katrina'' to be retired by the ] in April 2006.
'''Hurricane Katrina''', one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history, devastated the Gulf Coast of the ] from ] to ]. Katrina made landfall in the early morning of ], ]. The hurricane is believed to have killed thousands of people, and known to have displaced more than one million &mdash; a humanitarian crisis on a scale unseen in the U.S. since the ].


On January&nbsp;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.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Knabb |first1=Richard D. |last2=Rhome |first2=Jamie R. |last3=Brown |first3=Daniel P. |date=January 4, 2023 |title="Tropical Cyclone Report, Hurricane Katrina 23-30 August 2005" (PDF) |url=https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL122005_Katrina.pdf |website=NOAA.GOV}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Schleifstein |first=Mark |date=January 14, 2023 |title="How many people died in Hurricane Katrina? Toll reduce 17 years later" |url=https://www.nola.com/news/hurricane/how-many-people-died-in-katrina-toll-reduced-17-years-on/article_e3009e46-91ed-11ed-8f2a-a7b11e1e8d34.html |website=The New Orleans Advocate}}</ref>
], a ], developed from a ] about 175 miles east of ]. The hurricane strengthened to ] before making landfall on the ]/] county line in ] on ]. Katrina moved southwest across Florida and west into the ], where it intensified rapidly to ]. In the early morning of ], Katrina made its second landfall near ] as a ] storm featuring 145-mph winds, and its ] passed over the eastern edge of ] as the hurricane made its way to water once again. A few hours later, it made landfall for a third time near the ]/] border with 125-mph ] winds. Katrina weakened thereafter, losing "hurricane" status more than 100 miles inland, near ]. It was downgraded to a ] near ] and continued to race northward.
As the hurricane approached landfall near New Orleans, Mayor ] placed the city under a mandatory evacuation order. Many residents remained in the city. The vast majority of those who stayed were reported to have been unable to leave because they did not have vehicles, money for gas and other transportation. Also, many residents were unable to travel because they were elderly or infirm. As a result, the Louisiana ] was opened as a temporary shelter for those that were to stay in the city, though the ] (FEMA) failed to provide any provisions for those seeking shelter. ] disaster declarations blanketed 90,000 square miles (233,000 km²) of the United States, an area almost as large as the ]. The hurricane left an estimated five million people without power, and it may be up to two months before all power is restored. ] plans are in operation in the affected areas.


== Meteorological history ==
Early in the morning of ] ] and as a direct result of Hurricane Katrina, breaches in three places of the ] system on the Lake Pontchartrain side of ] caused a second and even greater disaster. ] covered almost the entire city over a sustained period, forcing the total evacuation of over a million people. Because 80% of the city's area is below ], all water that goes into the city must be directly pumped out--even water from an average rainstorm. Consequently, the city is now uninhabitable until the water is removed at the earliest.
{{Main|Meteorological history of Hurricane Katrina}}
{{For timeline}}
{{storm path|Katrina 2005 path.png|colors=new}}
Hurricane Katrina originated from the merger of a ] and the mid-level remnants of ] on August 19, 2005, near the ]. On August 23, the disturbance organized into Tropical Depression Twelve over the southeastern Bahamas. The storm strengthened into ] Katrina on the morning of August 24. The tropical storm moved towards Florida and became a hurricane only two hours before making ] between ] and ] 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 ], becoming the third ] of the season. An ] disrupted the intensification but caused the storm to nearly double in size.<ref name="KatrinaTCR">{{cite report|url={{NHC TCR url|id=AL122005_Katrina}}|title=Hurricane Katrina: August 23–30, 2005|author=Knabb, Richard D|author2=Rhome, Jamie R|date=December 20, 2005|publisher=United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Weather Service|author3=Brown, Daniel P|author4=National Hurricane Center|access-date=January 8, 2016|format=PDF|type=Tropical Cyclone Report}}</ref> Thereafter, Katrina ] over the "unusually warm" waters of the ], from a Category 3 hurricane to a Category 5 hurricane in just nine hours.<ref>{{cite web|author1=Leben, Robert |author2=Born, George |author3=Scott, Jim |url=http://www.colorado.edu/news/releases/2005/358.html|title=CU-Boulder Researchers Chart Katrina's Growth In Gulf Of Mexico|publisher=]|date=September 15, 2005|access-date=May 20, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090301014255/http://www.colorado.edu/news/releases/2005/358.html|archive-date=March 1, 2009}}</ref>


After attaining Category 5 hurricane status on the morning of August 28, Katrina reached its peak strength at 1800 ], with maximum sustained winds of {{convert|175|mph|km/h|-1|abbr=on}} and a minimum central ] of {{convert|902|mbar|inHg|abbr=on|lk=on}}. The pressure measurement made Katrina the fifth most intense Atlantic hurricane on record at the time, only to be surpassed by Hurricanes ] and ] later in the season; it was also the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the ] at the time, before Rita broke the record.<ref name="KatrinaTCR"/> 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 {{convert|125|mph|km/h|abbr=on}}, near ]. At landfall, hurricane-force winds extended outward {{convert|120|mi|km}} from the center and the storm's central pressure was {{convert|920|mbar|inHg|abbr=on}}. After moving over southeastern Louisiana and ], it made its third and final landfall near the Louisiana–Mississippi border with {{convert|120|mph|km/h|-1|abbr=on}} sustained winds, still at a mid-range Category 3 hurricane intensity.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://weather.com/storms/hurricane/news/atlantic-hurricane-category-five-history-0|title=Monsters of the Atlantic: The Basin's Category 5 Hurricanes|work=The Weather Channel|access-date=September 11, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170906093016/https://weather.com/storms/hurricane/news/atlantic-hurricane-category-five-history-0|archive-date=September 6, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> Katrina maintained strength well into Mississippi, finally losing hurricane strength more than {{convert|150|mi|km}} inland near ]. It was downgraded to a tropical depression near ]; its remnants were absorbed by a ] in the eastern ] region on August 31. The resulting ] storm moved rapidly to the northeast and affected eastern Canada.<ref name="KatrinaTCR"/>
On ] ] ] ] Secretary ] 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.


== Preparations ==
Hurricane Katrina may be the deadliest hurricane in the United States since the ], which killed around 8,000 (possibly up to 12,000) people. As of 7 PM ] ], ], more than 20,000 are still reported missing. Local mortuaries have been told to prepare for "up to 40,000 bodies" . New Orleans mayor ] stated on ] that the death toll of Katrina may be "in the thousands", an estimate also provided through a statement by Louisiana Governor ] on ]. Accurate numbers are not known. Damage was reported in at least 12 ]. Hurricane Katrina will be remembered for its vast devastation of the ] regions of ], ], and ]. The hurricane will also be remembered for the ineffective planning for hurricane preparedness, as well as the slow response on the part of federal, state and local governments to provide effective search and rescue and safe refuge for the storm's victims.


=== Federal government ===
]
], ], left, and Secretary of Defense ], President Bush meets with members of the Task Force on Hurricane Katrina Recovery on August 31, 2005.]]


The ] 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.<ref>{{cite news|title=Hurricane Katrina: How the Coast Guard Got it Right|first=Amanda|last=Ripley|date=October 23, 2005|newspaper=]|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1122007-2,00.html|access-date=July 6, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130521131513/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1122007-2,00.html|archive-date=May 21, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> Aircrews from the Aviation Training Center, in Mobile, staged rescue aircraft from Texas to Florida.<ref name="CG leadership">{{cite report |first1=Bruce |last1=Jones |first2=David |last2=Callahan |title=Leadership Talent Emerges During Hurricane Katrina Aviation Rescue Operations |url=http://www.uscg.mil/leadership/news/archive/fall05.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080923014800/http://www.uscg.mil/LEADERSHIP/news/archive/fall05.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 23, 2008 |publisher=] |access-date=July 6, 2014 |location=Mobile, Alabama}}
==Storm development==
{{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170428110950/http://waterdamagerestorationdallastexas.com/removal/ |date=April 28, 2017}}</ref> All aircraft were returning towards the Gulf of Mexico by the afternoon of August 29. ]s, 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.<ref name="WP Coast Guard">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/05/AR2005090501418.html|title=Coast Guard's Response to Katrina a Silver Lining in the Storm|first=Stephen|last=Barr|date=September 6, 2005|access-date=July 6, 2014|newspaper=]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140424091917/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/05/AR2005090501418.html|archive-date=April 24, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref>
{{katrina}}
The U.S. ] (NHC) made a lucid statement on ] saying that Tropical Depression Twelve had formed over the ]. The numbering of the system was debated, as Tropical Depression Twelve formed partially from the remains of Tropical Depression Ten. The naming and numbering rules at the NHC require a system to keep the same identity if it dies, then regenerates, which would normally have caused this storm to remain numbered Ten.
However, the NHC gave this storm a new number because a second disturbance merged with the remains of Tropical Depression Ten on ], and there is no way to tell whether the remnants of T.D. Ten should be credited with this storm. (This is different from ] in the ], when the NHC ruled that Ivan did indeed reform; the remnant of Ivan that regenerated in the ] was a distinct system from the moment Ivan originally dissipated to the moment it regained tropical storm strength.)
The system was upgraded to Tropical Storm Katrina on the morning of ]. Katrina became the fourth hurricane of the 2005 season on ] and made landfall later that day around 6:30 p.m. between ] and ], ].


] declared a state of emergency in selected regions of Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi on August 27.<ref>{{cite news|first=George W.|last=Bush|url=https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050827-1.html|title=Statement on Federal Emergency Assistance for Louisiana|publisher=]|date=August 27, 2005|access-date=July 6, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130507075732/http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050827-1.html|archive-date=May 7, 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> "On Sunday, August 28, President Bush spoke with Governor Blanco to encourage her to order a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans."<ref>{{cite report|url=http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CRPT-109srpt322/pdf/CRPT-109srpt322.pdf|title=Congressional Reports: S. Rpt. 109-322 – Hurricane Katrina: A Nation Still Unprepared|publisher=]|date=2006|access-date=July 6, 2014|page=235|location=Washington, D.C.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905092256/http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CRPT-109srpt322/pdf/CRPT-109srpt322.pdf|archive-date=September 5, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> However, during the testimony by former ] (FEMA) chief ] before a U.S. House subcommittee on September 26, Representative ] (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.<ref name="Brown testimony">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/27/national/nationalspecial/27text-brown.html?ei=5070&en=eda6637e28de37c1&ex=1188792000&pagewanted=all|title=Former FEMA Director Testifies Before Congress|date=September 27, 2005|access-date=July 6, 2014|newspaper=The New York Times |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005013330/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/27/national/nationalspecial/27text-brown.html?ei=5070&en=eda6637e28de37c1&ex=1188792000&pagewanted=all|archive-date=October 5, 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> The declaration actually did not include any of Louisiana's coastal parishes, whereas the coastal counties were included in the declarations for ] and ].<ref>{{cite news|first=George W.|last=Bush|url=https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050828.html|title=Statement on Federal Emergency Assistance for Mississippi|publisher=White House Office of the Press Secretary|date=August 28, 2005|access-date=July 6, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130507035330/http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050828.html|archive-date=May 7, 2013|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|first=George W.|last=Bush|url=https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050828-3.html|title=Statement on Federal Emergency Assistance for Alabama|publisher=White House Office of the Press Secretary|date=August 28, 2005|access-date=July 6, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130507105626/http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050828-3.html|archive-date=May 7, 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> Brown testified that this was because Louisiana ] 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 as specifically named 14 parishes, including Jefferson, Orleans, St. Bernard, and Plaquemines.<ref>{{cite report|first=Kathleen|last=Blanco|author-link=Kathleen Blanco|url=http://jjic.gov.state.la.us/Disaster%20Relief%20Request.pdf|title=Governor Blanco asks President to Declare an Emergency for the State of Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina|date=August 28, 2005|access-date=April 14, 2010|publisher=Government of the State of Louisiana|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120304155101/http://jjic.gov.state.la.us/Disaster%20Relief%20Request.pdf|archive-date=March 4, 2012|location=Baton Rouge, Louisiana}}</ref>
], ], near its peak intensity]]


Voluntary and mandatory evacuations were issued for large areas of southeast Louisiana as well as coastal Mississippi and Alabama. About 1.2&nbsp;million residents of the Gulf Coast were covered under a voluntary or mandatory evacuation order.<ref name="KatrinaTCR"/>
On ], the storm was upgraded to category 3 intensity (major hurricane) and at 12:40 a.m. CDT (0540 UTC) on ], Katrina was upgraded to Category 4. Later that morning, Katrina went through a period of rapid intensification, with its maximum sustained winds peaking at 175 mph (280 km/h) (well above the Category 5 threshold of 156 mph (250 km/h)), gusts of 215 mph (344 km/h) and central pressure of 906 mb by 1:00 p.m. CDT. It later reached a minimum pressure of 902 mb, making it the fourth most intense Atlantic Basin hurricane on record. The storm weakened just before landfall on ] as a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 145 mph at 6:10 a.m. CDT near ].


==== National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ====
Katrina, which affected a very wide swath of land covering a large portion of eastern ], was last seen in the eastern ] region on ]. Before being absorbed by the frontal boundary, Katrina's last known position was over southeast ] and northern ].
On the afternoon of August 26, the ] (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.<ref name="NHC disc 014">{{cite report|first=Stacy R.|last=Stewart|work=National Hurricane Center|publisher=National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration|title=Hurricane Katrina Discussion Number 14|date=August 26, 2005|access-date=July 6, 2014|url=http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/dis/al122005.discus.014.shtml?|location=Miami, Florida|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151002045708/http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/dis/al122005.discus.014.shtml|archive-date=October 2, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> The National Weather Service's New Orleans/Baton Rouge office issued a ] 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 ].<ref>{{cite report|url=http://www.srh.noaa.gov/data/warn_archive/LIX/NPW/0828_214001.txt|title=Urgent – Weather Message|work=]|publisher=National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration|date=August 28, 2005|access-date=July 30, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060301101418/http://www.srh.noaa.gov/data/warn_archive/LIX/NPW/0828_214001.txt|archive-date=March 1, 2006|location=New Orleans, Louisiana}}</ref> During video conferences involving the president later that day and on August 29, NHC director ] 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."<ref name="Levee Breach Warning">{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/03/02/fema.tapes/index.html|title=Transcripts, tape show Bush, Brown warned on Katrina|date=March 2, 2006|access-date=July 6, 2014|newspaper=]|location=Washington, D.C.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140701165301/http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/03/02/fema.tapes/index.html|archive-date=July 1, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref>


=== Gulf Coast ===
Its lowest minimum pressure at landfall was 918 mb, making it the third strongest hurricane on record to make landfall on the United States. A 15 to 30 foot (5 to 9 m) ] came ashore on virtually the entire coastline from Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama to Florida. The 30 foot (10 m) storm surge recorded at ] is the highest ever observed in America.
==== Florida ====
In Florida, Governor ] declared a ] on August 24 in advance of Hurricane Katrina's landfall.<ref name="Florida-preps">Staff writer. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060624012053/http://floridadisaster.org/eoc/eoc_activations/katrina05/reports/Sitrep_Katrina_082605_3.pdf |date=June 24, 2006}} ''Florida State Emergency Response Team''. August 26, 2005. Retrieved June 6, 2006.</ref> By the following day, Florida's Emergency Operations Center was activated in ] to monitor the progress of the hurricane.<ref>{{cite report|publisher=]|date=August 25, 2005|title=Officials Urge Preparedness As Katrina Intensifies|access-date=April 11, 2012|url=http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=18417|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100608050649/http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=18417|archive-date=June 8, 2010}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news|agency=Reuters |title=Hurricane Katrina drenches Florida |date=August 26, 2005 |publisher=Television New Zealand |access-date=April 10, 2012 |url=http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411319/606925 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131221000944/http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411319/606925 |archive-date=December 21, 2013}}</ref> 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 ] or in mobile homes were advised to leave their homes. Evacuation orders were issued for offshore islands in ], and for residents in mobile homes south of Lantana Road. Additionally, a mandatory evacuation was ordered for vulnerable housing in ].<ref name="Florida-preps"/> Shelters were opened across the region.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The New York Times|first=Shadi|last=Rahimi|title=Tropical Storm Becomes a Hurricane as it Nears Florida|date=August 25, 2005|access-date=April 10, 2012|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/25/national/24cnd-storm.html}}</ref> Officials closed the ],<ref name="afp827">{{cite news|agency=Agence France-Presse|newspaper=The New York Times|date=August 27, 2005|title=Reeling from hurricane, Florida braces for 2nd hit|access-date=April 10, 2012|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/26/travel/26iht-travel27.html}}</ref> ], ], and ] due to the storm. In Monroe and ] counties, schools were closed, and a shelter was opened in ].<ref name="nyt826">{{cite news|first1=Joseph B. |last1=Treaster |first2=Shadi |last2=Rahimi |title=Hurricane Moves Over Gulf After Soaking Southern Florida|newspaper=The New York Times|date=August 26, 2005|access-date=April 10, 2012|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/26/national/26cnd-katrina.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2}}</ref>


==== Alabama ====
At 11 p.m. EDT on ] (0300 UTC, ]), U.S. government weather officials announced that the center of the remnant low of what was Katrina had been completely absorbed by a frontal boundary in southeastern ], with no discernible circulation.
On August 28, Alabama Governor ] 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=3775450 |title=Riley declares state of emergency due to Katrina threat |access-date=October 8, 2006 |year=2005 |publisher=KATC, WorldNow |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928065227/http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=3775450 |archive-date=September 28, 2007}}</ref> The state of Mississippi activated its ] 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&nbsp;p.m. ] 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.<ref name="CongressInvestigation">{{cite book|author=United States Congress|date=February 19, 2006|title=A Failure of Initiative: Final Report of the Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina|publisher=]|location=Washington, DC|access-date=May 20, 2011|url=http://www.gpoaccess.gov/katrinareport/fullreport.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326065222/http://www.gpoaccess.gov/katrinareport/fullreport.pdf|archive-date=March 26, 2009|author-link=United States Congress}}</ref>
The ]'s last was at 11 p.m. EDT Wed ] ] and the ]'s last was at 8 a.m. EDT Wed ] ].


By Sunday, August 28, most infrastructure along the Gulf Coast had been shut down, including all freight and ] rail traffic into the evacuation areas as well as the ]. Since Hurricane Katrina, Amtrak's ] service has never been restored past New Orleans.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/mobile-alabama-amtrak-service-restoration|title = Amtrak line to be restored to Gulf Coast by 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Amtrak/am2Copy/Simple_Copy_Popup&c=am2Copy&cid=1093554014709 |title=Service Alert: Hurricane Katrina Update – City of New Orleans, Crescent, Sunset Limited – Revised Service Information |date=September 1, 2005 |publisher=] |access-date=May 20, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080922031250/http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Amtrak%2Fam2Copy%2FSimple_Copy_Popup&c=am2Copy&cid=1093554014709 |archive-date=September 22, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
===Tornadoes===
] aircraft. Image taken on ], ], before the storm made landfall.]]


==== Louisiana ====
There were ] reports near ] and ] Counties in Pennsylvania, in ], in ], in ], in ], in ], in ], and in ].
{{See also|Hurricane preparedness in New Orleans}}
No deaths were reported from the tornadoes, but several injuries were reported in Georgia. 500,000 chickens were killed or set free after dozens of poultry houses were damaged in Carroll County, Georgia. There was major damage in Helen, Georgia, destroying homes and a hotel. It is the worst natural disaster ever to happen to the United States.
]
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.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=Louisiana Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness |title=Louisiana Citizen Awareness and Disaster Evacuation Guide |access-date=July 20, 2006 |url=http://www.ohsep.louisiana.gov/evacinfo/stateevacrtes.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060714152101/http://www.ohsep.louisiana.gov/evacinfo/stateevacrtes.htm |archive-date=July 14, 2006}}</ref> 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.<ref name="providermag">{{cite web|last1=Connole|first1=Patrick|title=Long Term Care Providers Tackle Disaster Preparedness In A Post-Katrina World|magazine=Provider Magazine |date=February 1, 2011|url=https://www.providermagazine.com/Monthly-Issue/2011/Pages/0211/Disaster-Preparedness-In-A-Post-Katrina-World.aspx|access-date=October 11, 2020}}</ref> Louisiana's Emergency Operations Plan Supplement 1C (Part II, Section II, Paragraph D) calls for use of school and other public buses in evacuations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://biotech.law.lsu.edu/blaw/DOD/manual/full%20text%20documents/State%20Authorities/La.%20EOP_Supplement1c.pdf|title=State Of Louisiana Emergency Operations Plan Supplement 1C|date=July 2000|access-date=May 20, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060909235959/http://biotech.law.lsu.edu/blaw/DOD/manual/full%20text%20documents/State%20Authorities/La.%20EOP_Supplement1c.pdf|archive-date=September 9, 2006}}</ref> Although buses that later flooded were available to transport those dependent on public transportation, not enough bus drivers were available to drive them since Governor Blanco did not sign an emergency waiver to allow any licensed driver to transport evacuees on school buses.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vtpi.org/katrina.pdf|first=Todd|last=Litman|publisher=Victoria Transport Policy Institute|date=April 13, 2006|access-date=May 20, 2011|title=Lessons From Katrina and Rita: What Major Disasters Can Teach Transportation Planners|page=5|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090325121112/http://vtpi.org/katrina.pdf|archive-date=March 25, 2009}}</ref>


By August 26, many of the computer models had shifted the potential path of Katrina {{convert|150|mi|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.<ref>. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060220192914/http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/prb/al122005.prblty.015.shtml |date=February 20, 2006}} and . {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060220192958/http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/prb/al122005.prblty.021.shtml |date=February 20, 2006}} ''National Hurricane Center''. August 26, 2005. Retrieved on June 5, 2006.</ref> 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 {{convert|28|ft|m|1}}, while the levees offered protection to {{convert|23|ft|m|1}}, emergency management officials in New Orleans feared that the storm surge could go over the tops of levees protecting the city, causing major flooding.<ref>Drye, Willie. . '']''. August 29, 2005. Retrieved on June 5, 2006.</ref>
== Historical context ==
===Comparisons===
====By hurricane intensity====


At a news conference at 10&nbsp;am. EDT on August 28, shortly after Katrina was upgraded to a Category 5 storm, New Orleans mayor ] ordered the first-ever ] of the city, calling Katrina "a storm that most of us have long feared".<ref>Staff Writer. . '']/]''. August 29, 2005. Retrieved on June 5, 2006.</ref> The city government also established several "refuges of last resort" for citizens who could not leave the city, including the massive ], which sheltered approximately 26,000 people and provided them with food and water for several days as the storm came ashore.<ref>Staff Writer. . {{webarchive|url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20051112032104/http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/2005_08_28.html |date=November 12, 2005}} ''Times-Picayune''. August 28, 2005. Retrieved on June 5, 2006.</ref><ref>''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.</ref> Some estimates claimed that 80% of the 1.3&nbsp;million residents of the greater New Orleans metropolitan area evacuated, leaving behind substantially fewer people than remained in the city during the ] evacuation.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0508/29/asb.01.html|title=Hurricane Katrina Pummels Three States|last=Brown|first=Aaron|date=August 29, 2005|publisher=CNN|access-date=May 20, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521230304/http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0508/29/asb.01.html|archive-date=May 21, 2011|url-status=live}}</ref>
Katrina was the third most intense hurricane to hit the United States in recorded history. In the ] it achieved the status of the fourth lowest central pressure ever recorded.

{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" align="center" style="margin: 0em 0em 0em 1em; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%; clear:right; float:right;"
== Impact ==
{| class="wikitable" style="float:right; margin:0 1em 0.5em;"
|+ Deaths by state
|-
| ] || 2
|-
| Florida || 14
|- |-
| ] || 2
! colspan=8 | '''Top four most intense Atlantic hurricanes since measurements began'''<br>
<small> Hurricane intensity is measured solely by central pressure, source:</small>
|- |-
| ] || 1
! colspan=4 | North Atlantic
! colspan=4 | Landfall U.S.
|- |-
| ] || 986–1,577*
! Rank
! Hurricane
! Year
! Pressure
! Rank
! Hurricane
! Year
! Pressure
|- |-
| ] || 238
| 1
| ]
| ]
| 88.8 kPa
| 1
| ]
| ]
| 89.2 kPa
|- |-
| ] || 2
| 2
| ]
| ]
| 89.2 kPa
| 2
| ]
| ]
| 90.9 kPa
|- |-
! Total !! 1,245–1,836<ref name="MWR 2005AHS">{{cite journal |first1=John L. II |last1=Beven |first2=Lixion A. |last2=Avila |first3=Eric S. |last3=Blake |first4=Daniel P. |last4=Brown |first5=James L. |last5=Franklin |first6=Richard D. |last6=Knabb |first7=Richard J. |last7=Pasch |first8=Jamie R. |last8=Rhome |first9=Stacy R. |last9=Stewart |date=March 2008 |title=Annual Summary: Atlantic Hurricane Season of 2005 |journal=] |volume=136 |issue=3 |pages=1131–1141 |access-date=July 6, 2014 |url=http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/general/lib/lib1/nhclib/mwreviews/2005.pdf |doi=10.1175/2007MWR2074.1 |bibcode=2008MWRv..136.1109B |citeseerx=10.1.1.212.8973 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080910002905/http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/general/lib/lib1/nhclib/mwreviews/2005.pdf |archive-date=September 10, 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="DHHLouisiana">{{cite journal|first1=Joan |last1=Brunkard |first2=Gonza |last2=Namulanda |first3=Raoult |last3=Ratard |journal=Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness |date=August 28, 2008 |title=Hurricane Katrina deaths, Louisiana, 2005 |doi=10.1097/DMP.0b013e31818aaf55 |volume=2 |issue=4 |pages=215–223 |pmid=18756175 |doi-access=free |issn = 1935-7893 }}</ref>
| 3
| ]
| ]
| 89.9 kPa
| 3
| '''Katrina'''
| ]
| 91.8 kPa
|- |-
| Missing || 652<ref name="louisiana1">{{cite report|url=http://www.dhh.louisiana.gov/offices/page.asp?ID=192&Detail=5248|title=Reports of Missing and Deceased|publisher=]|date=August 2, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120211020954/http://www.dhh.louisiana.gov/offices/page.asp?ID=192&Detail=5248|archive-date=February 11, 2012|location=Baton Rouge, Louisiana}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2005-09-21 |title=New Orleans: Prisoners Abandoned to Floodwaters {{!}} Human Rights Watch |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2005/09/21/new-orleans-prisoners-abandoned-floodwaters |access-date=2024-10-19 |language=en}}</ref>
| 4
| '''Katrina'''
| ]
| 90.2 kPa
| 4
| ]
| ]
| 92.2 kPa
|- |-
! colspan=4 | <small> Based on data from: </small> |colspan=2 | <small>*Includes out-of-state evacuees <br />counted by Louisiana</small>
! colspan=4 | <small> Based on data from: </small>
|} |}


On August 29, 2005, Katrina's ] 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 ] indicated that two-thirds of the flooding was caused by the multiple failures of the city's floodwalls.<ref name="ASCE HKERP report">{{cite report|url=http://www.asce.org/files/pdf/ERPreport.pdf|title=The New Orleans Hurricane Protection System: What Went Wrong and Why|first=Christine F.|last=Andersen|year=2007|publisher=] Hurricane Katrina External Review Panel|access-date=August 27, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070702194739/http://www.asce.org/files/pdf/ERPreport.pdf|archive-date=July 2, 2007|location=Reston, Virginia|display-authors=etal}}</ref> The storm surge also devastated the coasts of Mississippi and Alabama, making Katrina one of the most destructive hurricanes, the costliest ] in the history of the United States (tied with ] in 2017),<ref name="Costliest TC's">{{cite report|archive-date=January 27, 2018|url-status=live |date=January 12, 2018 |title=Costliest U.S. tropical cyclones tables update|access-date=January 12, 2018|publisher=United States National Hurricane Center|url=https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/news/UpdatedCostliest.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180127083930/https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/news/UpdatedCostliest.pdf}}</ref> and the deadliest hurricane since the ]. The total damage from Katrina is estimated at $125&nbsp;billion (2005 U.S. dollars).<ref name="KatrinaTCR"/><ref name="katreport">{{cite report|publisher=National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration |work=National Weather Service |title=Hurricane Katrina Service Assessment Report |date=June 2006 |access-date=July 6, 2014 |url=http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/assessments/pdfs/Katrina.pdf |location=Silver Spring, Maryland |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219105454/http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/assessments/pdfs/Katrina.pdf |archive-date=December 19, 2013}}</ref> However, in February 2021, ] struck the United States, causing a ] in Houston, which caused at least $195&nbsp;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.<ref name="Uri AAR">{{cite report|url=https://www.austintexas.gov/sites/default/files/files/HSEM/2021-Winter-Storm-Uri-AAR-Findings-Report.pdf|title=2021 Winter Storm Uri After-Action Review: Findings Report|author=|publisher=City of Austin & Travis County|date=November 4, 2021|accessdate=November 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211105210936/https://www.austintexas.gov/sites/default/files/files/HSEM/2021-Winter-Storm-Uri-AAR-Findings-Report.pdf|archive-date=November 5, 2021|url-status=live}}</ref>
====By cost====


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: one in ], two each in Alabama, ], and ], 14 in Florida, 238 in Mississippi, and 1,577 in Louisiana.<ref name="MWR 2005AHS"/><ref name="louisiana1"/> However, 135 people remain categorized as missing in Louisiana,<ref name="louisiana1"/> and many of the deaths are indirect, but it is almost impossible to determine the exact cause of some of the fatalities.<ref name="KatrinaTCR"/> A 2008 report by the Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness journal indicates that 966&nbsp;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&nbsp;evacuees, an upper-bound of 1,440 is noted in the paper.<ref name="DHHLouisiana"/> A follow-up study by the Louisiana Department of Health & Hospitals determined that the storm was directly responsible for 1,170&nbsp;fatalities in Louisiana.<ref name="DHHLouisiana2">{{cite web |first1=Poppy |last1=Markwell |first2=Raoult |last2=Ratard |publisher=Louisiana Department of Health & Hospitals |access-date=August 25, 2015 |title=Deaths Directly Caused by Hurricane Katrina |url=http://dhh.louisiana.gov/assets/oph/Center-PHCH/Center-CH/stepi/specialstudies/KatrinaDeath1.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160107162205/http://dhh.louisiana.gov/assets/oph/Center-PHCH/Center-CH/stepi/specialstudies/KatrinaDeath1.pdf |archive-date=January 7, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>
Many estimates predict that Katrina will be the costliest storm in history to strike the United States, surpassing Hurricane Andrew which ravaged ], in 1992.


Federal disaster declarations covered {{convert|90000|sqmi|km2}} 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, ] Secretary ] 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.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0509/03/cst.04.html|title=The Aftermath of Katrina|newspaper=CNN|date=September 3, 2005|access-date=July 6, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150425142259/http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0509/03/cst.04.html|archive-date=April 25, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>
====By death toll====
Katrina was the second-deadliest named storm to hit the US, and may be declared the deadliest when the final toll is known.
Other storms that killed many people in the US include:
*The ], which killed an estimated 8,000&ndash;12,000.
*The ], which killed at least 2,000 people in the US and 1,000+ in ].
*1957's ], which killed 390, with up to 160 more never accounted for.
*1969's ], which killed 256.
Other deadly storms include:
*], the deadliest tropical cyclone on record, which killed at least 95,000 and perhaps as many as half a million in ] (now ]).
*], which killed over 22,000;
*1998's ], the deadliest named Atlantic storm, which killed more than 18,000 people in Central America.


Even in 2010, debris remained in some coastal communities.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thesunnews.com/2010/06/27/1555968/spill-colors-fabric-of-gulf-coastal.html |title=Spill colors fabric of Gulf coastal life |newspaper=] |first=Lesley |last=Clark |date=June 20, 2010 |access-date=July 6, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100720121507/http://www.thesunnews.com/2010/06/27/1555968/spill-colors-fabric-of-gulf-coastal.html |archive-date=July 20, 2010}}</ref>
====Other USA hurricanes====


=== Bahamas and Cuba ===
Katrina has been compared with Hurricane Camille because both were major hurricanes which made landfall in the same general area. Katrina has also drawn comparisons to ], because of its similar track and potential ]. In 1965, Betsy struck New Orleans after passing over the Florida Keys, causing over $1.5 billion ] in damage in 1965 (over $9 billion in inflation-adjusted dollars), and the deaths of 75 people, earning it the nickname "Billion Dollar Betsy". However, although Betsy was nearly a Category 5 hurricane at landfall , it was fast moving limiting its potential for devastation, while Katrina was a slow-moving Category 4. For Katrina, some potential damage estimates exceed the $36 billion damage (in current dollars) caused by ] (previously the most costly natural disaster to have struck the United States).
Before striking South Florida, Katrina traversed the Bahamas as a tropical storm. However, minimal impact was reported, with only "fresh breezes" on various islands.<ref name="wmo">{{cite report|url=https://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/www/tcp/documents/FINAL-REPORT-HC-28.pdf|title=RA IV Hurricane Committee Twent-Eight Session|date=2006|publisher=]|pages=58|access-date=January 30, 2015|location=San Juan, Puerto Rico|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303184209/http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/www/tcp/documents/FINAL-REPORT-HC-28.pdf|archive-date=March 3, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>


Although Hurricane Katrina stayed well to the north of ], on August 28 it brought tropical-storm-force winds and rainfall of over {{convert|8|in|mm|abbr=on}} to western regions of the island. Telephone and power lines were damaged and around 8,000&nbsp;people were evacuated in the ]. According to Cuban television reports the coastal town of Surgidero de Batabanó was 90% underwater.<ref name="Cuba damage">Staff Writer. . {{Webarchive|url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20160521180357/http%3A//www.terradaily.com/2005/050828175451.y7y367k2.html |date=May 21, 2016}}</ref>
Hurricane Katrina is sure to be compared with the ]. Like Katrina, the Galveston Hurricane landed as a Category 4 storm and caused thousands of deaths.


=== United States ===
====Other USA city devastations/disasters====
{{main|Effects of Hurricane Katrina in the Southeastern United States}}
]


==== Florida ====
Katrina also caused the first substantial devastation of a major American city since the ] and subsequent fires.
] following Hurricane Katrina]]
Hurricane Katrina first made landfall between ] and ] on August 25. The storm dropped heavy rainfall in portions of the ], with a peak total of {{convert|16.43|in|mm|abbr=on}} in ]. As a result, local flooding occurred in ], damaging approximately 100&nbsp;homes. Farther south in the Florida Keys, a ] was spawned in ] on August 26. The tornado damaged a hangar at the airport there and caused an estimated $5&nbsp;million in damage.<ref name="Marathon Tornado">Devenas, Andy . ''] Forecast Office ]'' Retrieved on June 5, 2006.</ref> The rains caused flooding, and the combination of rains and winds downed trees and power lines, leaving 1.45&nbsp;million people without power. Damage in South Florida was estimated at $523&nbsp;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 ]. Although Katrina moved ashore in Louisiana and Mississippi, its outer periphery produced a {{convert|5.37|ft|m|abbr=on}} storm surge in ]. 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&nbsp;million in damage. There were two indirect fatalities from Katrina in ] as a result of a traffic accident.<ref name="KatrinaTCR"/> In the Florida Panhandle, 77,000&nbsp;customers lost power.<ref>Associated Press, "Katrina at a Glance" (August 31, 2005), page 4A, ''Mobile Register'', web: {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081001220638/http://www.al.com/mobileregister/pdf/register083105a.pdf |date=October 1, 2008}}.</ref> Overall, the hurricane killed 14&nbsp;people and caused at least $623&nbsp;million in damage.
====Other disasters in New Orleans====


==== Louisiana ====
This is the greatest disaster in New Orleans since its founding in 1718.
]]]
New Orleans has a known history of frequent and recurrent brushes with hurricanes. On average, New Orleans has been brushed every 3.94 years. Direct hurricane hits have occurred every 13.4 years.()
], where Katrina made landfall]]
On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall near ], with {{convert|125|mph|km/h|-1|abbr=on}} 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 ] indicated a storm tide in excess of {{convert|14|ft|m|1}}, and a {{convert|12|ft|m|1|adj=on}} storm surge was recorded in ]. The hurricane made its final landfall near the mouth of the ], with the eye straddling ], and ], on the morning of August 29 at about 9:45&nbsp;am. CDT.<ref name="KatrinaTCR"/>


Hurricane Katrina also brought heavy rain to Louisiana, with {{convert|8|-|10|in|mm}} falling on a wide swath of the eastern part of the state. In the area around ], the rainfall was even higher, and the highest rainfall recorded in the state was approximately {{convert|15|in|mm}}. As a result of the rainfall and storm surge the level of ] rose and caused significant flooding along its northeastern shore, affecting communities from Slidell to ]. Several bridges were destroyed, including the ] connecting Slidell to New Orleans.<ref name="KatrinaTCR"/> Almost 900,000 people in Louisiana lost power as a result of Hurricane Katrina.<ref name="Power failures">Staff Writer. . {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061108202531/http://www.oe.netl.doe.gov/docs/katrina/katrina_083005_1600.pdf |date=November 8, 2006}} ''Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE) ]''. August 30, 2005. Retrieved on June 5, 2006.</ref>
====Other levee and flood disasters====


Katrina's storm surge inundated all parishes surrounding Lake Pontchartrain, including ], Tangipahoa, ], and ] Parishes. St. Tammany Parish received a two-part storm surge. The first surge came as Lake Pontchartrain rose and the storm blew water from the Gulf of Mexico into the lake. The second came as the eye of Katrina passed, westerly winds pushed water into a bottleneck at the Rigolets Pass, forcing it farther inland. The range of surge levels in eastern St. Tammany Parish is estimated at {{convert|13|-|16|ft|m}}, not including wave action.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fema.gov/pdf/hazard/flood/recoverydata/katrina/katrina_la_overview-n.pdf |title=FEMA: Louisiana Katrina Surge Inundation Map, January 2006 |access-date=November 3, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111216044045/http://www.fema.gov/pdf/hazard/flood/recoverydata/katrina/katrina_la_overview-n.pdf |archive-date=December 16, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref>
No other levee breach in the USA has caused such a level of death or such an extensive evacuation. However, devastation in other parts of the world, caused by levee breaches, has been greater.


Hard-hit ] was flooded because of breaching of the levees that contained a navigation channel called the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MR-GO) and the breach of the 40 Arpent canal levee that was designed and built by the ]. The search for the missing was undertaken by the St. Bernard Fire Department because of the assets of the ] being diverted to New Orleans. In the months after the storm, many of the missing were tracked down by searching flooded homes, tracking credit card records, and visiting homes of family and relatives.<ref>Cannizaro, Steve. . ''St. Bernard Parish Government (press release)''. December 17, 2005. Retrieved on June 5, 2006.</ref>
* The ] in 1889 killed 2,200 people when the ] burst, submerging the city of ].
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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.huduser.org/publications/pdf/GulfCoast_Hsngdmgest.pdf|title=Current Housing Unit Damage Estimates, Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma|publisher=U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development|date=February 12, 2006|access-date=June 7, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926231657/http://www.huduser.org/Publications/pdf/GulfCoast_HsngDmgEst.pdf|archive-date=September 26, 2007|url-status=live}}</ref>
* ] and following levee breaches killed millions.
* The ] along the Mississippi River in 1927&ndash;1928 killed 246 people, left approximately 700,000 homeless, and destroyed or damaged 137,000 buildings
* The ] along the Mississippi River killed 47 people, displaced approximately 74,000, and destroyed or damaged 47,650 buildings ().


In addition, the combined effect of Hurricanes Katrina and ] was the destruction of an estimated {{convert|562|km2|sqmi}} of coastal wetlands in Louisiana.<ref>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 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090306152944/http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg2/ar4-wg2-chapter1.pdf |date=March 6, 2009}}). p. 92. Accessed December 19, 2011.</ref>
====Comparison to other evacuations/refugee crises====


===== New Orleans =====
Other cities which have been evacuated are:
{{Main|Effects of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans|2005 levee failures in Greater New Orleans}}
* In 2002 severe flooding led to the evacuation of 50,000 residents of ], ], on ] , with a total of 200,000 Czechs during the second August week. . Also partially evacuated in the same week were the German city of ] (120,000 evacuees) and the town ] (16,000).
]
] and surrounding area of northwest New Orleans and Metairie, Louisiana]]
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 ] 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 ] (MR-GO) breached its levees in approximately 20 places, flooding much of eastern New Orleans, most of ] and the East Bank of ]. The major levee breaches in the city included breaches at the ] levee, the ], and the wide, navigable ], which left approximately 80% of the city flooded.<ref>Murphy, Verity. . {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061001094924/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4307972.stm |date=October 1, 2006}} '']'' October 4, 2005. Retrieved on June 5, 2006.</ref>
* In January 2002, 300,000 residents of the city of ] (]) were evacuated in 3 days due to the eruption of the volcano ].


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 ] 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 ] and the Crescent City Connection only carried emergency traffic.<ref>Gordon, Meghan. . {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303184141/http://www.nola.com/katrina/index.ssf/2005/08/causeway_closed_but_hardly_damaged.html |date=March 3, 2016}} ''Times Picayune''. August 31, 2005. Retrieved on June 5, 2006.</ref> 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.
* In 1999 the ] led to 800,000 refugees, not all of them urban residents, leaving Kosovo and being accommodated for up to 3 months in other parts of Europe.


On August 29, at 7:40&nbsp;am. CDT, it was reported that most of the windows on the north side of the ] had been blown out, and many other high rise buildings had extensive window damage.<ref>Transcript from, '']''. . {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140108154446/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/weather/july-dec05/katrina_8-29.html |date=January 8, 2014}} '']''. August 29, 2005. Retrieved on June 5, 2006.</ref> The ] was the most severely damaged hotel in the city, with beds reported to be flying out of the windows. Insulation tubes were exposed as the hotel's glass exterior was completely sheared off.<ref>Mowbray, Rebecca. . {{webarchive|url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090701215949/http://www.nola.com/hurricane/katrina/stories/083005_a15_hotels.html |date=July 1, 2009}} ''Times-Picayune''. August 30, 2005. Retrieved on June 5, 2006.</ref>
* In September 1939, at the outset of ], ] and major British cities were evacuated with 1.5 million displacements in the first 3 days of the official evacuation taking place reaching a final total of 3.75 million.


The ], which was sheltering many people who had not evacuated, sustained significant damage.<ref name="Gibson">{{cite news|last=Gibson|first=Christine|title=Our 10 Greatest Natural Disasters|publisher=American Heritage|date=August 1, 2006|access-date=February 22, 2016|url=http://www.americanheritage.com/content/our-10-greatest-natural-disasters|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304185615/http://www.americanheritage.com/content/our-10-greatest-natural-disasters|archive-date=March 4, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> Two sections of the Superdome's roof were compromised and the dome's waterproof membrane was essentially peeled off. ] was closed before the storm but did not flood. On August 30, it was reopened to humanitarian and rescue operations. Limited commercial passenger service resumed at the airport on September 13 and regular carrier operations resumed in early October.<ref name="New Orleans Airport">{{cite web|title=Hurricane Katrina from the Airport's Point of View |publisher=Web Archive of Fly MSY website |date=September 21, 2005 |access-date=February 22, 2016 |url=http://www.flymsy.com/Katrinastory.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060312180732/http://www.flymsy.com/Katrinastory.htm |archive-date=March 12, 2006}}</ref>
* In April of ] roughly 200,000 people were evacuated from Chernobyl following a nuclear meltdown at the ] ] in ] (then part of the ]).


Levee breaches in New Orleans also caused a significant number of deaths, with over 700 bodies recovered in New Orleans by October 23, 2005.<ref>Warner, Coleman; Travis, Robert. . ''Times-Picayune''. October 23, 2005. Retrieved on June 5, 2006.</ref> 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.<ref>O'Neill, Ann. . {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060901054457/http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/09/katrina.morgue/index.html |date=September 1, 2006}} ''CNN''. September 9, 2005. Retrieved on June 5, 2006.</ref>
* In November of ] the city of ] in ] was evacuated following a chlorine leak after a freight train derailed. 218,000 was displaced.


]
===Hurricane and flood preparedness===
The first deaths reported from the city were reported shortly before midnight on August 28, as three ] patients died during an evacuation to ], most likely from dehydration. An estimated 215 bodies were found in nursing homes and hospitals in New Orleans,<ref name="USA20051017">{{cite news |first1=Robert |last1=Davis |first2=Kevin |last2=Johnson |title=La. looks into 215 Katrina deaths – Inquiry includes euthanasia report |newspaper=USA Today |location=Arlington, VA |date=October 17, 2005}}</ref> the largest number being at ] where 45 corpses were recovered.<ref>{{cite news|last=Canfield|first=Sabrina|title=Hospital Settles Katrina Deaths Class Action|url=http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/03/24/35204.htm|access-date=March 4, 2014|newspaper=Courthouse News Service|date=March 24, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923210827/http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/03/24/35204.htm|archive-date=September 23, 2015}}</ref> Some 200 patients at ] were not evacuated until Friday, September 2, having been without power or fresh water for five days.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/09/03/katrina.hospitals/ |title=Patients finally rescued from Charity Hospital |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |website=cnn.com |publisher=Cable News Network |access-date=August 19, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160828021301/http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/09/03/katrina.hospitals/ |archive-date=August 28, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> 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 ], 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.<ref name="thevenot">Thevenot, Brian; Russell, Gordon. . {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051023070941/http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002520986_katmyth26.html |date=October 23, 2005}} ''Seattle Times''. September 26, 2005. Retrieved on June 5, 2006.</ref>
{{main|Hurricane preparedness for New Orleans}}
"It's only a matter of time before South Louisiana takes a direct hit from a major hurricane. Billions have been spent to protect us, but we grow more vulnerable every day." '']'' ] - ] ]


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".<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121204023801/http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2011/08/27/imprisoned-disaster-political-will-and-hurricane-katrina/ |date=December 4, 2012}}, ''The Society Pages'', August 27, 2011. Retrieved November 28, 2012.</ref><ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121028035429/http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/oct2005/katr-o01.shtml |date=October 28, 2012}}, ''World Socialist Web Site'', October 1, 2005. Retrieved November 28, 2012.</ref><ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160326051655/https://www.aclu.org/files/pdfs/prison/oppreport20060809.pdf|date=March 26, 2016}} ( {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150314210237/https://www.aclu.org/prisoners-rights/abandoned-and-abused|date=March 14, 2015}}), ''American Civil Liberties Union'', August 9, 2006. Retrieved November 28, 2012.</ref>
==Preparations and expectations before landfall==
<!-- please put current developments after landfall in "Impact" section, this section is only for predictions/preparations *before* landfall -->


==== Mississippi ====
===Previous short term preparations and expectations===
]'s Bay St. Louis Bridge on Pass Christian was destroyed as a result of Katrina.]]
====Advance weather forecasts====
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.<ref name=HBrecov>{{cite web|title=Information Relating to the Federal Appropriations for Katrina Recovery |date=January 6, 2006 |access-date=September 27, 2006 |first=Haley |last=Babour |publisher=Office of the Governor, Mississippi |url=http://www.governorbarbour.com/Recovery/news/2006/jan/information.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928025331/http://www.governorbarbour.com/Recovery/news/2006/jan/information.html |archive-date=September 28, 2007}}</ref> 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.<ref name=HBrecov/>
{{main|Hurricane preparedness for New Orleans}}
{{wikinewshas|several articles covering Hurricane Katrina|
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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 {{convert|120|mph|km/h|-1|abbr=on}}.<ref name="KatrinaTCR"/> Katrina's powerful right-front quadrant passed over the west and central Mississippi coast, causing a powerful {{convert|27|ft|m|1|adj=on}} storm surge, which penetrated {{convert|6|mi|km|0}} inland in many areas and up to {{convert|12|mi|km|0}} inland along bays and rivers; in some areas, the surge crossed ] for several miles.<ref name="KatrinaTCR"/> 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 {{convert|135|mph|km/h|abbr=on}} in ], in ].<ref name="KatrinaTCR"/>
Florida had little advance warning when Katrina strengthened from a ] to a ] in one day, and struck southern ] later that same day, on ].


] following Hurricane Katrina]]
By ] the possibility of "unprecedented cataclysm" was already being considered . Some computer models were putting New Orleans right in the center of their track probabilities, and the chances of a direct hit were forecast at nearly 10%.
The storm also brought heavy rains with {{convert|8|-|10|in|mm}} falling in southwestern Mississippi and rain in excess of {{convert|4|in|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.<ref name="KatrinaTCR"/>


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,<ref name="CBS Miss">Staff Writer. . {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060827100659/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/09/01/katrina/main810916.shtml |date=August 27, 2006}} '']''. September 1, 2005. Retrieved on June 5, 2006.</ref> and that storm surges traveled as much as {{convert|6|mi|km|0}} inland in portions of the state's coast.<ref name="katreport"/> 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.<ref name="CBS Miss"/>
] at 11 PM]]
On ], after Katrina crossed southern ] and strengthened to Category 3, ] declared a ] in Louisiana, two days before the hurricane made landfall
. This declaration activated efforts by ] to position stockpiles of food, water and medical supplies throughout Louisiana and Mississippi more than a day before Katrina made landfall. ] stated that he was "surprised they haven't ordered an evacuation of the city yet", as the chance of "a catastrophic hit that would completely flood the city of New Orleans probably 10%". Blogger ] questioned, "If you knew there was a 10 percent chance terrorists were going to set off a nuclear bomb in your city on Monday, would you stick around, or would you evacuate?"


A number of streets and bridges were washed away. On ] along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, two major bridges were completely destroyed: the Bay St. Louis–Pass Christian<ref name="KatrinaTCR"/> bridge, and the Biloxi–] bridge. In addition, the eastbound ] of the I-10 bridge over the ] 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.
On ] the ] issued a ] ] 10:11 AM CDT NOAA Bulletin|bulletin]] predicting "devastating" damage rivaling the intensity of ]. Mayor Nagin ordered a mandatory evacuation of the city.


]]]
====Transportation and infrastructure====
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 ], ], and ] counties were inundated by the storm surge, in all three cases affecting most of the populated areas.<ref>{{cite web | author = Federal Emergency Management Agency | title = Mississippi Hurricane Katrina Surge Inundation and Advisory Base Flood Elevation Map Panel Overview | date = November 2005 | access-date = July 16, 2006 | publisher = FEMA | url = http://www.fema.gov/pdf/hazard/flood/recoverydata/katrina/ms_overview.pdf | author-link = Federal Emergency Management Agency | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151120205158/http://www.fema.gov/pdf/hazard/flood/recoverydata/katrina/ms_overview.pdf | archive-date = November 20, 2015 | url-status = live}}</ref> Surge covered almost the entire lower half of Hancock County, destroying the coastal communities of ] and Waveland, much of Bay St. Louis, and flowed up the Jourdan River, flooding Diamondhead and ]. In Harrison County, ] 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. ], 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 ], 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 {{convert|75|mi|km|-1}} 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 ] was hard hit; Ocean Springs, ], Gautier and ] also suffered major surge damage.
].]]


Mississippi Emergency Management Agency officials also recorded deaths in ], ], ], and ] counties. Over 900,000 people throughout the state experienced power outages.<ref name="Power failures"/>
On Sunday, ], ] (CN) suspended all ] traffic on its lines south of ] (lines owned by its subsidiary ] that extend into ]), in anticipation of damage from the hurricane. To help ease the resumption of services after the storm passes, CN also issued an ] with the ] against all deliveries to points south of ] . ] also suspended service south of ] until further notice. The CSX (former ]) main line from Mobile to New Orleans is believed to have suffered extensive damage, especially in coastal Mississippi, but repair crews were not able to reach most parts of the line as of ].


==== Alabama ====
], America's rail passenger carrier, announced that the southbound '']'' ]s from ], on ] and through ] would terminate in ], rather than their usual destination of New Orleans; the corresponding northbound trains will also originate in Memphis. The southbound '']'' from ], for the same period terminated in ], with the corresponding northbound trains originating in Atlanta as well. Amtrak's westbound '']'' originated in ], rather than its normal origin point of ]. Amtrak announced that no alternate transportation options would be made available into or out of the affected area .
]'s federal courthouse.]]
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 {{convert|12|to(-)|16|ft|m}} around ],<ref name=KatrinaTCR/> with higher waves on top. Sustained winds of {{convert|67|mph|km/h|abbr=on}} were recorded in ], and the storm surge there was approximately {{convert|12|ft|m}}.<ref name="KatrinaTCR"/> The surge caused significant flooding several miles inland along Mobile Bay. Four tornadoes were also reported in Alabama.<ref name=KatrinaTCR/> Ships, oil rigs, boats and fishing ]s were washed ashore along Mobile Bay: the cargo ship M/V ''Caribbean Clipper'' and many fishing boats were grounded at ].


An ] under construction along the ] broke its moorings and floated {{convert|1.5|mi|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 ] 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.<ref name="KatrinaTCR"/> 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.<ref name="Power failures"/>
The ] was shut down on Sunday, ], before Katrina's arrival.


==== Other U.S. states ====
The State Departments of Transportation in the affected area, in conjunction with the Federal Highway Administration, have a huge job to rebuild the critical highways for access to the region. Interstate 10 seems, at first glance, to be the most critical to repair, especially the bridge over Lake Pontchartrain, which was destroyed. These are "lifelines" to the east, but assessing the damage, there will be no quick fix. These costs could run into many billions of dollars.
{{more citations needed section|date=August 2017}}
]: cargo ship and fishing boats were grounded]]
Northern and central ] were affected by heavy rains and strong winds from Hurricane Katrina as the storm moved inland, with more than {{convert|3|in|mm}} of rain falling in several areas. At least 18 tornadoes formed in Georgia on August 29, 2005, the most on record in that state for one day in August. The most serious of these tornadoes was an F2 tornado which affected ] and ]. This tornado caused three injuries and one fatality and damaged several houses. The other tornadoes caused significant damages to buildings and agricultural facilities. In addition to the fatality caused by the F2 tornado, there was another fatality in a traffic accident.<ref>Westbrook, Robby; WFO Peachtree City Staff. . '']''. December 1, 2005. Retrieved on April 14, 2010.</ref>


Eastern ] received light rain from the passage of Katrina.<ref name="rain">{{cite web|year=2005|title=Hurricane Katrina Rainfall Summary|publisher=]|access-date=November 4, 2006|url=http://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/tropical/rain/katrina2005.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514150939/http://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/tropical/rain/katrina2005.html|archive-date=May 14, 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> 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 ], primarily in the ] and ] areas.
===Previous long term preparations and expectations===
====Previous prevailing wisdom of likelihood of a category 4+ hurricane hitting New Orleans====


] area is not available.]]
The risk of devastation from a direct hit was well documented. The ''Times-Picayune'' newspaper ran a series on the risk (Wall Street Journal Online, by Joe Hagan, ] ], p. A5). '']'' ran a feature in October 2004 . '']'' covered the topic thoroughly in an October 2001 piece titled "Drowning New Orleans" . Walter Williams did a serious short feature on it called "New Orleans: The Natural History", in which an expert said a direct hit by a hurricane could damage the city for six months .
In ], rainfall from Katrina compounded flooding from a storm that had moved through during the previous weekend. A 10-year-old girl drowned in ]. Dozens of businesses were closed and several families evacuated due to rising floodwaters.<ref>Staff Writer. . {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070709155439/http://www.wave3.com/Global/story.asp?S=3782760 |date=July 9, 2007}} '']''. September 6, 2005. Retrieved on June 5, 2006.</ref> As a result of the flooding, Kentucky Governor ] declared three counties disaster areas and a statewide state of emergency.<ref>Staff Writer. . '']''. Accessed on April 18, 2006. Retrieved on April 14, 2010.</ref><ref>Blanton, Carla; Goins, Michael; Whitaker, Jodi. . ''Commonwealth of Kentucky'' (Press Release). August 30, 2005. Retrieved on April 14, 2010.</ref> Additionally, wind gusts up to {{convert|72|mph|km/h|abbr=on}} resulted in some damage. Downed trees and power lines were reported in several counties in western Kentucky, especially ] and ] counties. Overall, more than 10,000&nbsp;utility customers in western Kentucky experienced power outages. The remnants of Katrina spawned a tornado in ], damaging at least 13&nbsp;homes in ]. In addition, approximately 4,000&nbsp;people lost electricity. Over {{convert|3|in|mm|abbr=on}} of rain fell in portions of ], causing localized flooding in several counties. At least 103&nbsp;homes and 7&nbsp;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 {{convert|2|to|4|in|mm|abbr=on}}. Numerous streams and rivers overflowed their banks, forcing the closure of several roads, including ] in ]. Two deaths occurred due to a flood-related automobile accident in ]. Additionally, hundreds of homes and businesses suffered flood damage.


Katrina spawned five tornadoes in ], though none resulted in significant damage. Up to {{convert|5|in|mm|abbr=on}} of rain fell in western New York. Gusty winds also left approximately 4,500&nbsp;people in ] without electricity. The remnants of Katrina brought {{convert|3|to|6|in|mm|abbr=on}} of rain to portions of Massachusetts, causing flash flooding in ] and ] counties. Several roads were closed due to floodwater inundation in ], ], ], and ], including ] in New Bedford. Very minimal impact was reported in ], with winds downing a tree and two electrical poles in the city of ]. In ], {{convert|2.5|in|mm|abbr=on}} of rain in ] caused cars to hydroplane on ], resulting in many automobile accidents. The storm brought {{convert|3|to|5|in|mm|abbr=on}} of precipitation to isolated areas of Maine and up to {{convert|9|in|mm|abbr=on}} near ]. Several roads were inundated or washed out by overflowing brooks and streams, including sections of ] and Maine ] and ]. Several structures and one parked vehicle were also affected by the waters. Wind gusts up to {{convert|60|mph|km/h|abbr=on}} also impacted parts of Maine, felling trees and causing power outages in ], ], ], ], and ].
The city of ] was considered to be particularly at risk since most of it is below sea level and it was likely that storm surge from a hurricane passing over the city would flood the city after topping the surrounding levees.


=== Canada ===
====Previous FEMA contingency plans for a category 4+ hurricane====
In Canada, the remnants of Katrina brought rainfall amounts in excess of {{convert|3.94|in|mm|abbr=on}} to many locations between the ] and the ] valley.<ref>{{cite report|url=http://www.ec.gc.ca/ouragans-hurricanes/default.asp?lang=en&n=3DB833A6-1|title=Canadian Tropical Cyclone Season Summary for 2005|date=January 15, 2014|publisher=]|access-date=January 31, 2015|location=]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150220231001/http://www.ec.gc.ca/ouragans-hurricanes/default.asp?lang=en&n=3DB833A6-1|archive-date=February 20, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> Severe local flooding occurred in ], 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 ] along the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River, ] north of ], and ] near ] left several communities isolated for at least a week.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/rain-from-katrina-washes-out-quebec-north-shore-roads-1.553266|title=Rain from Katrina washes out Quebec north shore roads|date=September 1, 2005|newspaper=]|access-date=January 31, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150222025710/http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/rain-from-katrina-washes-out-quebec-north-shore-roads-1.553266|archive-date=February 22, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>
Stub


== Aftermath ==
====Previous efforts to prepare New Orleans levy system for a category 4+ hurricane====
{{See also|Social effects of Hurricane Katrina|Political effects of Hurricane Katrina|Hurricane Katrina disaster relief|Displacement after Hurricane Katrina}}


=== Economic effects ===
While no detailed proposals had yet been made to augment the New Orleans levy system to be capable of withstanding a category 4+ hurricane in the immediate future, still in October of 2004, senior US Army Corps of Engineers project manager, Al Naomi submitted a proposal before congress requesting 4 million dollars to fund a preliminary study for such a plan. Congress tabled the proposal, never addressing it on the floor, citing budgetary concerns resulting from the Iraq War. Naomi's off-hand estimate was that this project would require approximately $1 billion dollars and would take 20 years. Naomi had stated,
{{Main|Economic effects of Hurricane Katrina}}
:''"It's possible to protect New Orleans from a Category 5 hurricane.... we've got to start. To do nothing is tantamount to negligence."''
{{Costliest U.S. Atlantic hurricanes|align=right}}


The economic effects of the storm reached high levels. The ] sought $105&nbsp;billion for repairs and reconstruction in the region,<ref>St. Onge, Jeff; Epstein, Victor. . {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304064250/http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/04/01/ex_chief_says_fema_readiness_even_worse/ |date=March 4, 2016}} ''Boston.com''. April 1, 2006. Retrieved on June 5, 2006.</ref> which did not account for damage to the economy caused by potential interruption of the ] supply, destruction of the Gulf Coast's highway infrastructure, and exports of commodities such as grain. Katrina damaged or destroyed 30 ]s and caused the closure of nine ];<ref name="katreport"/> 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%.<ref>Fagot, Caryl; Winbush, Debra. . {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060510213820/http://www.mms.gov/ooc/press/2006/press0222.htm |date=May 10, 2006}} . {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051126001158/http://www.mms.gov/ |date=November 26, 2005}} February 22, 2006. Retrieved on June 5, 2006.</ref> The forestry industry in Mississippi was also affected, as {{convert|1.3|e6acre|km2}} of forest lands were destroyed.<ref name="CRS environment">{{cite web
From 2003 through 2005 the Bush administration slashed a total of approximately 60 million dollars from various levee augmentation budget proposals, apparently in its drive to divert funding into its Iraq War effort. As of Katrina's impact on Aug. 29, 2005, Naomi had stated that he believed at least six crucial levee augmentation projects had been critically underfunded by the Bush administration's apparent decision to divert these funds into its Iraq War effort.
|last=Sheikh
|first=Pervaze A.
|date=October 18, 2005
|url=http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/RL33117_20051018.pdf
|title=The Impact of Hurricane Katrina on Biological Resources
|publisher=]
|access-date=April 14, 2010
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080624185025/http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/RL33117_20051018.pdf
|archive-date=June 24, 2008
|url-status=dead
}}</ref> The total loss to the forestry industry from Katrina is calculated to rise to about $5&nbsp;billion.<ref name="CRS environment"/> 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&nbsp;billion.<ref>Burton, Mark L.; Hicks, Michael J. . {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051017133300/http://www.marshall.edu/cber/research/katrina/Katrina-Estimates.pdf |date=October 17, 2005}} '']: Center for Business and Economic Research''. September 2005. Retrieved on June 5, 2006.</ref> Forensic accountants were involved in the assessment of economic damages resulting from this catastrophe.<ref>Insurance Institute. {{cite web|url=http://documents.insuranceinstitute.ca/english/localchapters/manitoba/BusinessInterruptionFormIIMA.pdf |title=Business Interruption |access-date=May 20, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140521031743/http://documents.insuranceinstitute.ca/english/localchapters/manitoba/BusinessInterruptionFormIIMA.pdf |archive-date=May 21, 2014}} Retrieved on May 17, 2014.</ref>


Katrina displaced over one million people from the central Gulf Coast to elsewhere across the United States, becoming the largest ] in the history of the United States.<ref>Anthony E. Ladd, John Marszalek, and Duane A. Gill. Retrieved on April 14, 2010.</ref> ], Texas, had an increase of 35,000 people; ], gained over 24,000; Baton Rouge, Louisiana, over 15,000; and ], received over 10,000, nearly doubling its size. Chicago, Illinois received over 6,000 people, the most of any non-southern city.<ref>{{cite news | url = http://chicagodefender.com/page/local.cfm?ArticleID=6776 | title = Katrina evacuees at home in Chicago | first = Mema | last = Ayi | newspaper = ] | date = August 30, 2006 | access-date = April 14, 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071212040739/http://chicagodefender.com/page/local.cfm?ArticleID=6776 |archive-date = December 12, 2007}}</ref> By late January 2006, about 200,000 people were once again living in New Orleans, less than half of the pre-storm population.<ref name="popestimate">{{cite web|first1=Greg |last1=Stone |first2=Tim |last2=Grant |first3=Nathaniel |last3=Weaver |year=2006 |title=Rapid Population Estimate Project: January 28–29, 2006 Survey Report |publisher=Emergency Operations Center, City of New Orleans |access-date=April 14, 2010 |url=http://katrina.lsu.edu/downloads/research/NOLAPopEstimate.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100707170953/http://katrina.lsu.edu/downloads/research/NOLAPopEstimate.pdf |archive-date=July 7, 2010}}</ref> By July 1, 2006, when new population estimates were calculated by the ], the state of Louisiana showed a population decline of 219,563 or 4.87%.<ref name="popdecline">Christie, Les. . {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070106133918/http://money.cnn.com/2006/12/22/real_estate/fastest_growing_states/index.htm?postversion=2006122209 |date=January 6, 2007}} ''CNN''. December 22, 2006. Retrieved on December 22, 2006.</ref> Additionally, some ] 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.<ref>Staff Writer. . {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061015003101/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/05/28/eveningnews/main1663142.shtml |date=October 15, 2006}} ''CBS News''. May 28, 2006. Retrieved on June 5, 2006.</ref>
For further information about levee funding issues see


{{clear}}
==Evacuation==
At a news conference 10 a.m. on ], shortly after Katrina was upgraded to a Category 5 storm, New Orleans mayor ], calling Katrina "a storm that most of us have long feared", ordered the first ever ] of the city. Roughly 150,000 people did not obey the order to evacuate. It is likely that a significant percentage of those who did not evacuate were unable, rather than unwilling, to do so, as about one fifth of the population does not own a car. Future analysis of ], ] and ] Information, and ]s may help to provide more clarity. During the ] evacuation, 600,000 people remained in the city.


=== Environmental effects ===
Mandatory evacuations were also ordered for ], ] (Kenner, Metairie, as well as Grand Isle and other low lying areas), ] (outside the ]s), ], ] and ] parishes and parts of ] and ] parishes in Louisiana.
{{See also|Murphy Oil USA refinery spill}}

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:92%; float:right; margin-top:0; margin-left:10px; margin-right:0;"
In ], evacuations were ordered for parts of ] and ] counties (including ]). In ], evacuations were ordered for parts of ], ] and ] counties.

===Louisiana Superdome===

{{main|Effect of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans#Superdome refuge}}

Nagin established several "refuges of last resort" for citizens who could not leave the city, including the massive ], which housed over 9,000 people along with 550 ] troops when Katrina came ashore . A National Guard official said on Thursday, ] that as many as 60,000 people had gathered at the Superdome for evacuation, having remained there in increasingly difficult circumstances , , . Air conditioning, electricity, and running water all failed, making for very unsanitary and uncomfortable conditions. There have been reports of suicide, rape, and crack dealing from in the Superdome. On ], ], it was announced that refugees would be moved to the ] in ].

===New Orleans Convention Center===
{{main|Effect of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans#The New Orleans Convention Center}}

The New Orleans Convention Center was also opened up to evacuees, but by Thursday, ], the facility, like the Superdome, was overwhelmed and declared unsafe and unsanitary. Reports indicated that up to 20,000 people had gathered at the Convention Center, many dropped off after rescue from flooded areas of the city. Others were directed to the center by police as a possible refuge. However, even though there were thousands of evacuees at the center, FEMA claimed to have no "factual" knowledge of the use of the Convention Center as a shelter until the afternoon of ]. The Convention Center was evacuated with the rest of the city and was completely evacuated by ].

===Reliant Astrodome===
{{main|Effect of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans#Evacuation efforts}}

On ], ], the ] Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management and the State of ] came to an agreement to allow at least 25,000 refugees from ], especially those who were sheltered in the ], to move to the Astrodome until they could return home. The evacuation began on ].

However, as of ], officials declared that the Reliant Astrodome is full and cannot accept additional hurricane refugees from the disaster. The Reliant Astrodome was reopened a few hours later, and it was announced that the ] would have all events cancelled through December so as to open the building to ~11,000 additional refugees. The ] was announced as an additional shelter site at the same time, but was not opened for use until ]. As of ] it is estimated there are roughly 139,000 evacuees in official shelters in the state of ].

==Local effects and aftermath==
{{main2|Hurricane Katrina effects by region|Effect of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans}}

]
Areas affected include southern ], ] (especially the ] area), ], ], the western ], western and north ] were affected by tornadoes, the ] and ] regions, the eastern ] region and the length of the western ]. Over 300 deaths have been reported in seven ]s, a number which is expected to rise as casualty reports come in from areas currently inaccessible. New Orleans Mayor ] estimates hundreds, and as many as thousands, are feared dead. Two levees in New Orleans gave way, and eighty percent of the city is now under water, which in some places is 20 to 25 feet (7 or 8 meters) deep .

By ], NOAA had published satellite photography of many of the affected regions.
Hurricane Katrina will go down in history as the most devastating hurricane ever to hit the United States, surpassing the devastation of ].

===Death toll (summary)===
<!-- Please keep this section for summary on current casualty status only -->
{| class="toccolours" border="1" cellpadding="0" align="right" style="margin: 0 0 1em 1em; width: 30%; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%; clear: right; float:right;"
|- style="background: #efefef; vertical-align: top;"
! scope="col" | State
! scope="col" | Location <br> (county/parish)
! scope="col" | Deaths
! scope="col" | Direct <br> deaths
|- |-
! colspan=3 style="background:#ccf;" | '''Large oil spills caused by Hurricane Katrina'''<br /><small>Spills exceeding {{convert|10000|USgal|L|lk=on}}</small><ref name="msnbcspills"/>
! rowspan="3" scope="row" | ]
| ]
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 6
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 3
|- |-
! rowspan = 2 | Spill Location
| ]
! colspan = 2 | Quantity
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 4
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 3
|- |-
! <small>(US gal)</small> !! <small>(L)</small>
| ]
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 3
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 1
|- |-
| Bass Enterprises (Cox Bay) || style="text-align:right;"| 3,780,000 || style="text-align:right;"| {{convert|3780000|USgal|L|disp=output number only}}
! rowspan="8" scope="row" | ]
| ]
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 3
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 0
|- |-
| Shell (])|| style="text-align:right;"| 1,050,000 || style="text-align:right;"| {{convert|1050000|USgal|L|disp=output number only}}
| ]
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 200
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 5
|- |-
| Chevron (])|| style="text-align:right;"| 991,000 || style="text-align:right;"| {{convert|991000|USgal|L|disp=output number only}}
| ]
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 1
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 1
|- |-
| Murphy Oil (] and ])|| style="text-align:right;"| 819,000 || style="text-align:right;"| {{convert|819000|USgal|L|disp=output number only}}
| ]
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 1000+
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 71
|- |-
| Bass Enterprises (])|| style="text-align:right;"| 461,000 || style="text-align:right;"| {{convert|461000|USgal|L|disp=output number only}}
| ]
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 130
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 52
|- |-
| Chevron (])|| style="text-align:right;"| 53,000 || style="text-align:right;"| {{convert|53000|USgal|L|disp=output number only}}
| ]
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 1
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 0
|- |-
| Venice Energy Services (])|| style="text-align:right;"| 25,000 || style="text-align:right;"|{{convert|25000|USgal|L|disp=output number only}}
| ]
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 13
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 9
|- |-
| Shell Pipeline Oil (Nairn)|| style="text-align:right;"| 13,440 || style="text-align:right;"| {{convert|13440|USgal|L|disp=output number only}}
| ]
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 8
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 0?
|- |-
| Sundown Energy (West Potash)|| style="text-align:right;"| 13,000 || style="text-align:right;"| {{convert|13000|USgal|L|disp=output number only}}
! rowspan="13" scope="row" | ]
| ]
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" |2
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" |2
|-
| ]
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" |10
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" |10
|-
| ]
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 426
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 426
|-
| ]
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 85
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 85
|-
| ]
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 1
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 1
|-
| ]
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 15
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 15
|-
| ]
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 6
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 6
|-
| ]
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 1
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 1
|-
| ]
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 1
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 1
|-
| ]
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 17
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 17
|-
| ]
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 1
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 1
|-
| ]
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" |1
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" |1
|-
| ]
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 1
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 1
|-
! rowspan="1" scope="row" | ]
| ]
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 2
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 0
|-
! rowspan="1" scope="row" | ]
| ]
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 2
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 1
|-
! rowspan="1" scope="row" | ]
| ]
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 1
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 1
|-
! rowspan="1" scope="row" | ]
| ]
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 2
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em;" | 0
|-
! colspan="2" scope="row" | Total
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em; font-weight: bolder;" | 1,014+
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 0.5em; font-weight: bolder;" | 1,591+
|-
! colspan="2" scope="row" | Number Missing
! colspan="2" scope="row" style="text-align: center" | '''35,000+'''
|} |}
Katrina also had a profound impact on the environment. The storm surge caused substantial ], in some cases completely devastating coastal areas. In Dauphin Island (a ]), approximately {{convert|90|mi|km|abbr=on}} to the east of the point where the hurricane made landfall, the sand that comprised the island was transported across the island into the ], pushing the island towards land.<ref>{{cite web | author = United States Geological Survey | date = September 14, 2005 | url = http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/hurricanes/katrina/lidar/dauphin-island.html | title = Daupin Island – Pre- and Post-Storm 3D Topography | website = Hurricane Katrina Impact Studies | publisher = ] | access-date = June 5, 2006 | author-link = United States Geological Survey | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150312144109/http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/hurricanes/katrina/lidar/dauphin-island.html | archive-date = March 12, 2015 | url-status = live}}</ref> The storm surge and waves from Katrina also severely damaged the ], which had been affected by Hurricane Ivan the previous year.<ref>{{cite web |author=United States Geological Survey |date=September 14, 2005 |url=http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/hurricanes/katrina/photo-comparisons/chandeleur.html |title=Before and After Photo Comparisons: Chandeleur Islands |website=Hurricane Katrina Impact Studies |publisher=USGS |access-date=June 5, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060614070836/http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/hurricanes/katrina/photo-comparisons/chandeleur.html |archive-date=June 14, 2006 |url-status=live}}</ref> The US Geological Survey has estimated {{convert|217|sqmi|km2|abbr=on}} of land was transformed to water by the hurricanes Katrina and Rita.<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513083524/http://www.nwrc.usgs.gov/releases/pr06_002.htm |date=May 13, 2008}}, accessed May 7, 2008.</ref> Before the storm, ] and ] caused loss of land in the Louisiana wetlands and ]s. This, along with the canals built in the area, let Katrina keep more of its intensity when it struck.<ref>{{cite book|page=|first=Mike|last=Tidwell|title=The Ravaging Tide: Strange Weather, Future Katrinas, and the Coming Death of America's Coastal Cities|publisher=Free Press|year=2006|isbn=978-0-7432-9470-6|access-date=April 14, 2010|url=https://archive.org/details/ravagingtide00mike|url-access=registration|quote=The Ravaging Tide: Strange Weather, Future Katrinas, and the Coming Death of America's Coastal Cities book.}}</ref> The lands that were lost were breeding grounds for marine mammals, brown ]s, turtles, and fish, and migratory species such as ]s.<ref name="CRS environment"/> Overall, about 20% of the local ]es were permanently overrun by water as a result of the storm.<ref name="CRS environment"/>


The damage from Katrina forced the closure of 16 ]s. Breton National Wildlife Refuge lost half its area in the storm.<ref name="FWS impact">{{cite web | author = United States Fish and Wildlife Service | date = September 9, 2005 | url = http://www.fws.gov/southeast/news/2005/r05-088.html | title = U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Conducting Initial Damage Assessments to Wildlife and National Wildlife Refuges | publisher = ] | access-date = June 5, 2006 | author-link = United States Fish and Wildlife Service | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20051029213935/http://www.fws.gov/southeast/news/2005/r05-088.html | archive-date = October 29, 2005 | url-status = live}}</ref> As a result, the hurricane affected the habitats of ]s, Mississippi ]s, ]s, and ].<ref name="FWS impact"/>
The unconfirmed death toll reported in various regions is given in the chart to the right. These are confirmed deaths from local news agencies.
Direct deaths indicate those caused by the direct effects of the ], ]ing, ] or ]ic effects of Katrina. Indirect deaths indicate those caused by hurricane-related accidents (including ] accidents), ]s or other incidents, as well as clean-up incidents and health issues.


Katrina produced massive tree loss along the Gulf Coast, particularly in Louisiana's ] and among ]s. 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.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Chapman|first=Elise|year=2008|title=Hurricane Katrina Impacts on Forest Trees of Louisiana's Pearl River Basin|journal=Forest Ecology and Management|volume=256|issue=5|pages=883–889|doi=10.1016/j.foreco.2008.05.057|bibcode=2008ForEM.256..883C }}</ref> Delayed mortality as an effect of the storm continued with rates up to 5% until 2011.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Henkel|first=Theryn|year=2016|title=Delayed Tree Mortality and Chinese Tallow Explosion in Louisiana Bottomland Hardwood Forest Following Hurricane Katrina|url=http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/6kh4k7vb|journal=Forest Ecology and Management|volume=378|pages=222–232|doi=10.1016/j.foreco.2016.07.036|doi-access=free}}</ref> This significant loss in ] 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. ] in forest trees.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Hurricane Katrina's Carbon Footprint on U.S. Gulf Coast Forests|first1=Jeffrey Q.|last1=Chambers|first2=Jeremy I.|last2=Fisher|first3=Hongcheng|last3=Zeng|first4=Elise L.|last4=Chapman|first5=David B.|last5=Baker|first6=George C.|last6=Hurtt|date=January 1, 2007|journal=Science|volume=318|issue=5853|pages=1107|doi=10.1126/science.1148913|pmid=18006740|jstor=20051600|bibcode=2007Sci...318.1107C|s2cid=477946}}</ref>
However, the projected death toll may be much higher especially in New Orleans. But efforts are presently focused on rescue and restoring order, rather than recovery of the dead. On ], New Orleans Mayor ] told reporters that the hurricane probably killed thousands of people in the city .
], before Katrina (left) and after (right), showing the impact of the storm along coastal areas.]]
The storm caused ]s from 44 facilities throughout southeastern Louisiana, which resulted in over {{convert|7|e6USgal|m3}} 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 ] refinery, for example, 1,800&nbsp;homes were oiled in the towns of ] and ].<ref name="msnbcspills">{{cite news | first=Miguel | last=Llanos | title=44 oil spills found in southeast Louisiana | work=NBC News | url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna9365607 | publisher=NBC News | date=September 19, 2005 | access-date=June 15, 2006 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131104013837/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/9365607/ | archive-date=November 4, 2013 | url-status=live}}</ref> Unlike ], no offshore oil spills were officially reported after Hurricane Katrina. However, Skytruth reported some signs of surface oil in the Gulf of Mexico.<ref name="msnbcspills"/>


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.<ref name="katreport"/> These residual waters contained a mix of raw ], bacteria, ], ]s, toxic chemicals, and oil, which sparked fears in the scientific community of massive numbers of fish dying.<ref name="CRS environment"/> The toxic floodwaters were also a danger for New Orleans, due to the presence of petrochemical chemicals and industrial toxins close to the city. Thomas La Point, director of the Institute of Applied Sciences at the ], stated that " toxic soup would be a good way to describe the situation".<ref>{{Cite web |author=ABC News |title=Katrina Creates a 'Toxic Soup' |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/HurricaneKatrina/story?id=1081623&page=1 |access-date=April 14, 2024 |website=ABC News |language=en}}</ref>
This view was confirmed on ] by U.S. Senator ] who said "We understand there are thousands of dead people" .


=== Reestablishing governance ===
In a press conference broadcast live on 4WWL at 1915 UTC on ] Governor ] said that thousands of deaths were believed to have occurred in New Orleans. The FEMA representative said that they have brought in a deployable morgue.
{{further|Effects of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans#Civil disturbances}}
On ] US ] ] (R-LA) said that the death toll from Hurricane Katrina could top 10,000 in Louisiana alone. "My guess is that it will start at 10,000, but that is only a guess," Vitter said.
]
] Special Response Team searches a hotel room-by-room in New Orleans in response to Hurricane Katrina.]]
Shortly after the hurricane moved away on August 30, 2005, some residents of New Orleans who remained in the city began ] 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.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=]|url=<!-- http://community.fox16.com/photos/story_in_pictures--_hurricane_katrina/picture807981.asp -->|title=Hurricane Katrina : Aug 31: Looting in Mississippi|location=Little Rock, Arkansas|date=August 31, 2005}}</ref> Additionally, there were reports of ], 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.<ref>{{cite news|first1=Sarah|last1=Rosenblatt|first2=James|last2=Rainey|title=Rita's Aftermath; Katrina Takes a Toll on Truth, News Accuracy|page=A16|newspaper=]|date=September 27, 2005|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/902682211.html?dids=902682211:902682211&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Sep+27%2C+2005&author=Susannah+Rosenblatt+and+James+Rainey&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&edition=&startpage=A.16&desc=RITA%27S+AFTERMATH%3B+Katrina+Takes+a+Toll+on+Truth%2C+News+Accuracy%3B+Rumors+supplanted+accurate+information+and+media+magnified+the+problem.+Rapes%2C+violence+and+estimates+of+the+dead+were+wrong|access-date=October 29, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130308042758/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/902682211.html?dids=902682211:902682211&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Sep+27%2C+2005&author=Susannah+Rosenblatt+and+James+Rainey&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&edition=&startpage=A.16&desc=RITA%27S+AFTERMATH%3B+Katrina+Takes+a+Toll+on+Truth%2C+News+Accuracy%3B+Rumors+supplanted+accurate+information+and+media+magnified+the+problem.+Rapes%2C+violence+and+estimates+of+the+dead+were+wrong|archive-date=March 8, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>


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 ] and are locked and loaded. These troops know how to shoot and kill and I expect they will", Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco said.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4207202.stm|title=New Orleans rocked by huge blasts|date=September 2, 2005|newspaper=BBC|access-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080726183529/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4207202.stm|archive-date=July 26, 2008|url-status=live}}</ref> Congressman ] told ]: "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."<ref>{{cite news|first=Jake|last=Tapper|url=https://www.abcnews.go.com/US/HurricaneKatrina/story?id=1123495&page=1|title=Amid Katrina Chaos, Congressman Used National Guard to Visit Home|newspaper=]|date=September 13, 2005|access-date=July 6, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060426011116/http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/HurricaneKatrina/story?id=1123495&page=1|archive-date=April 26, 2006|url-status=dead}}</ref> Several shootings occurred between police and New Orleans residents, some involving ]; including ] where police officers killed two unarmed civilians and seriously injured four others at ].<ref name="Grimm1">{{Cite news |last=Grimm |first=Andy |date=July 18, 2019 |orig-date=September 5, 2015 |title=A decade after Danziger Bridge shooting, killings still cast a shadow |url=https://www.nola.com/news/crime_police/article_00bb8d39-aa35-5959-b613-873905a4e734.html |access-date=January 31, 2022 |work=The Times-Picayune |location=New Orleans, Louisiana |language=en}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://edition.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/12/01/louisiana.katrina.shootings/| title=Ex-cop gets 8 years for role in post-Katrina shootings| publisher=CNN| date=December 2, 2010| access-date=December 2, 2010| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206221527/http://edition.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/12/01/louisiana.katrina.shootings/| archive-date=December 6, 2010| url-status=live}}</ref>
===Health concerns===
Aside from the lack of ], ], ], and sanitation facilities, there is growing concern that the prolonged flooding will lead to an outbreak of health problems for those who remain in hurricane-affected areas. In addition to ] and ], there is also a potential for communicable disease outbreaks of diarrhea and respiratory illness, all related to the growing contamination of food and drinking water supplies in the area. The longer these people are stranded in the searing heat the more will perish from the aforementioned causes. President Bush has declared a public health emergency for the entire Gulf Coast and ] ] announced that the ] will be setting up a network of 40 medical shelters to speed the relief efforts. There is concern the chemical plants and refineries in the area could have released their contents into the flood waters. People who suffer from allergies or lung disorders, such as ], will have health complications due to ] and airborne irritants. In ], several hundred tons of chicken and uncooked shrimp were washed out of their containers at the nearby harbor and could have contaminated the water table. On ], ] it was reported that ] had been detected in the waters that flooded ]. Although infectious diseases are a frightening prospect, widespread outbreaks of ] after hurricanes are not common in the United States. Rare and deadly exotic diseases, such as ] or ], do not suddenly break out after hurricanes and floods in areas where such diseases do not naturally occur.


Overall, a number of ] were made throughout the affected area, including some near the New Orleans Convention Center. A ] was constructed of chain link cages in the ], the city's main train station.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.komonews.com/news/archive/4163081.html |title=At the Train Station, New Orleans' Newest Jail is Open For Business |newspaper=] |date=September 6, 2005 |access-date=July 6, 2014 |location=New Orleans, Louisiana |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141119182853/http://www.komonews.com/news/archive/4163081.html |archive-date=November 19, 2014}}</ref> On September 30, the New Orleans Police Department confirmed that 12 police officers were participating in looting and property theft.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/09/30/nopd.looting/|title=Witnesses: New Orleans cops took Rolex watches, jewelry|work=CNN|accessdate=March 13, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/09/29/nopd.looting/index.html|title=Witnesses: New Orleans cops among looters|work=CNN|accessdate=March 13, 2024}}</ref>
===Animal concerns===
Many families in the affected area refused to evacuate without their pets. Some field hospitals allowed pets to enter with their patients. However those who were evacuated from the Astrodome were not allowed to take their pets with them.


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.<ref name="WBOY WV records">{{cite news|first=Elizabeth|last=Schubert|url=http://www.wboy.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=5266|title=Some Katrina Evacuees at Camp Dawson Have Criminal Records|agency=Associated Press|newspaper=]|date=September 18, 2005|access-date=June 5, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928203933/http://www.wboy.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=5266|archive-date=September 28, 2011}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite journal|url = http://docs.rwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1026&context=sjs_fp|title = A Tale of Three Cities: Crime and Displacement after Hurricane Katrina|last = Verano|first = Paul|date = January 1, 2010|journal = Journal of Criminal Justice|volume = 38|pages = 42–50|doi = 10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2009.11.006|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150913003431/http://docs.rwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1026&context=sjs_fp|archive-date = September 13, 2015|url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|title = Crime in post-Katrina Houston: the effects of moral panic on emergency planning|last1 = Settles|first1 = Tanya|date = August 23, 2010|journal = Disasters|doi = 10.1111/j.1467-7717.2010.01200.x|pmid = 20735458|last2 = Lindsay|first2 = Bruce|volume=35|issue = 1|pages=200–219}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title = New Orleans gang wars spill into Houston area|date = January 28, 2006|url = https://www.chron.com/news/hurricanes/article/New-Orleans-gang-wars-spill-into-Houston-area-1885064.php|access-date = September 18, 2015|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150906054646/http://www.chron.com/news/hurricanes/article/New-Orleans-gang-wars-spill-into-Houston-area-1885064.php|archive-date = September 6, 2015|url-status = live}}</ref>
Rescue teams were set up in the worst-hit regions in response to desperate pleas from pet owners. Horses posed a particular problem, as they are easily stranded and cannot stand up in water for great lengths of time. Rescue agencies are setting up shelters and finding homes to adopt pets who were lost by their owners. Rescue centers were becoming overwhelmed in the days immediately following the hurricane.


=== Government response ===
The response of the American public is unprecedented. The Humane Society (HSUS) had received $3.5 million in donations just a week after the hurricane occured.
] after Hurricane Katrina]]
], ], and ] during a press conference from the ], regarding the devastation along the Gulf Coast caused by Katrina.]]


Within the United States and as delineated in the ], 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.<ref name="usgovwh"/>
===Price gouging===
Hundreds of reports have poured into Louisiana (and other) authorities regarding ] on products like gasoline and bottled water, or of hotels dishonoring reservations in favor of accepting larger offers for rooms by desperate travellers. The ] nightly news programs have shown images of a ] gas station selling gasoline for over $6 per ] ($1.59/L). Another BP station in ], south of Atlanta, was selling gas at $5.87 per gallon ($1.55/L) within a day after Katrina hit. Gas prices in the U.S. just prior to Katrina were in the range of $2.50 per gallon ($0.66/L). During this time the average price of gas per gallon has reached a new all time high. The rapid price increase exacerbated the ].


Some ] response to Katrina began before the storm, with the ] (FEMA) preparations that ranged from logistical supply deployments to a ] team with refrigerated trucks. A network of volunteers began rendering assistance to local residents and residents emerging from New Orleans and surrounding parishes as soon as the storm made landfall (even though many were directed to not enter the area), and continued for more than six months after the storm<ref name="usgovwh">{{cite web | url=https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/reports/katrina-lessons-learned/ | title=The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned | publisher=The White House | date=January 20, 2009 | access-date=June 7, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150525104449/http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/reports/katrina-lessons-learned/ | archive-date=May 25, 2015 | url-status=live}}</ref>
==Effects outside the affected region==
===Economic effects===
{{main|Economic effects of Hurricane Katrina}}


Of the 60,000 people stranded in New Orleans, the Coast Guard rescued more than 33,500.<ref name="GAO-06-903">{{cite book | author = United States Government Accountability Office | author-link = Government Accountability Office | url = http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06903.pdf | title = Coast Guard: Observations on the Preparation, Response, and Recovery Missions Related to Hurricane Katrina | access-date = August 27, 2006 | date = July 2006 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060901040345/http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06903.pdf | archive-date = September 1, 2006 | url-status = live}}</ref> Congress recognized the Coast Guard's response with an official entry in the Congressional Record,<ref name="S. 246">{{cite book | author = United States Congress | title = Senate Resolution 246: To express the sense of the Senate regarding the missions and performance of the United States Coast Guard in responding to Hurricane Katrina | date = September 21, 2005 | access-date = August 27, 2006 | publisher = Government Printing Office | url = http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=109_cong_bills&docid=f:sr246ats.txt.pdf | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110109102603/http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=109_cong_bills&docid=f:sr246ats.txt.pdf | archive-date = January 9, 2011 | url-status = live}}</ref> and the ] was awarded the ].<ref>{{cite web| title = USCG Message Traffic: Award of the Presidential Unit Citation to the Coast Guard| date = May 25, 2006| access-date = November 15, 2008| url = http://www.uscg.mil/hq/cg3/cg3pcx/publications/alcoast/alcoast-317-06.asp| publisher = United States Coast Guard| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080924111023/http://www.uscg.mil/hq/cg3/cg3pcx/publications/alcoast/alcoast-317-06.asp| archive-date = September 24, 2008| url-status = live}}</ref>
Most experts anticipate that Katrina will be the costliest natural disaster in ] history. Some early predictions in damages exceeded $100 billion, not accounting for potential catastrophic damage inland due to flooding (which would increase the total even more), or damage to the economy caused by interruption of ] supply (much of the U.S. ] operations are in the Gulf Coast region), and exports of commodities such as grain. Other predictions placed the minimum insured damage at around $12.5 billion (the insured figure is normally doubled to account for uninsured damages in the final cost). There are also effects on ocean shipping, the casino industry and tourism.


The ] established ] based out of ], Mississippi, to act as the military's on-scene response on Sunday, August 28, with Lieutenant General ] as commander.<ref>"". '']''. News Transcript. September 1, 2005. Retrieved on April 14, 2010.</ref> Approximately 58,000 National Guard personnel were activated to deal with the storm's aftermath, with troops coming from all 50 states.<ref>Phillips, Kyra. . {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061017174609/http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0509/06/se.01.html |date=October 17, 2006}} ''CNN''. September 6, 2005. Retrieved on June 5, 2006.</ref> The ] also activated volunteer members of the ].
International oil prices are rising. In the UK pump prices for unleaded petrol (gas) have hit £1 per litre ($7 per US gallon) for the first time in a significant number of places (averaging about 95p), a rise of about 3% since Katrine made landfall. Wholesale prices are up 5% as of ].


Michael Chertoff, ] of the ], decided to take over the federal, state, and local operations officially on August 30, 2005, citing the National Response Plan.<ref>California Political Desk. . {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061027034249/http://www.californiachronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=5916 |date=October 27, 2006}} ''California Chronicle''. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060617134855/http://www.californiachronicle.com/ |date=June 17, 2006}} February 15, 2006. Retrieved on June 5, 2006.</ref> This was refused by Governor Blanco, who indicated that her National Guard could manage. Early in September, Congress authorized a total of $62.3&nbsp;billion in aid for victims.<ref>Baker, Peter; Goldstein, Amy. . {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170909140905/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/08/AR2005090801081.html |date=September 9, 2017}} '']''. September 9, 2005. Retrieved on June 5, 2006.</ref> Additionally, President Bush enlisted the help of former presidents ] and ] to raise additional voluntary contributions, much as they did after the ] and ].<ref>Bush, George W. . {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170712034929/https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2005/09/20050901-3.html |date=July 12, 2017}} ''White House'', Press Release. September 1, 2005. Retrieved on June 5, 2006.</ref> ] were also ordered to be ] from September 2, 2005, to September 20, 2005, in honor of the victims.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2005/09/20050904-2.html |title=Proclamation by the President: Honoring the Memory of the Victims of Hurricane Katrina |publisher=Whitehouse.gov |access-date=October 27, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100114005420/http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2005/09/20050904-2.html |archive-date=January 14, 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref>
===Space Shuttle program===
The hurricane has passed over the ] and materially interrupted the production of ] for the ], leading to a further interruption of the shuttle flights . Evan McCollum, a ] spokesman in ] has reported that "there is water leakage and potential water damage in the buildings, but there's no way to tell how much at this point" .


FEMA provided housing assistance (rental assistance, ], 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.<ref>''Times-Picayune'', September 26, 2005, page A-12. Retrieved on June 5, 2006.</ref> 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.<ref>Foster, Mary. . {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061206190958/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/13/katrina/main1311616.shtml |date=December 6, 2006}} '']''. February 13, 2006. Retrieved on June 5, 2006.</ref> As of March 30, 2010, there were still 260 families living in FEMA-provided trailers in Louisiana and Mississippi.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wlox.com/Global/story.asp?S=12230906|title=Hancock Co. woman struggles to get out of FEMA trailer|first=Al|last=Showers|publisher=WLOX Channel 13|date=March 30, 2010|access-date=April 14, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120228204125/http://www.wlox.com/Global/story.asp?S=12230906|archive-date=February 28, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>
The ] will remain closed until at least ]. Plans to ship three tanks -- including the one for NASA's next mission -- back to Michoud for retrofitting are on indefinite hold. The next Shuttle flight, ], could be postponed to May or later during the second half of 2006 .


Law enforcement and public safety agencies, from across the United States, provided a "]" 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, ], ], New York, and ]. This response was welcomed by local Louisiana authorities as their staff were either becoming fatigued, stretched too thin, or even quitting from the job.<ref>{{cite news | last = Treaster | first = Joseph B. | title = Law Officers, Overwhelmed, Are Quitting the Force | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/04/national/nationalspecial/04police.html?ei=5090&en=8bf8550c348bbc33&ex=1283486400&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=print | newspaper = The New York Times | date = September 4, 2005 | access-date = June 24, 2006 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060617021730/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/04/national/nationalspecial/04police.html?ei=5090&en=8bf8550c348bbc33&ex=1283486400&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=print | archive-date = June 17, 2006 | url-status = live}}</ref>
===Internet===
Technology for All is setting up technology centers for Internet access in the Astrodome. There are also reports that ] and ] are installing and providing free ] access in the Astrodome. Cisco, Vonage, and SBC are providing similar services at the Dallas Convention Center and Reunion Arena where another 8,000 evacuees are sheltered.


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 {{convert|250|mi|km}}, but 240,000 households went to Houston and other cities over {{convert|250|mi|km}} away and another 60,000 households went over {{convert|750|mi|km|-2}} away.<ref>{{cite web|last=Quigley |first=Bill |title=Six Months After Katrina: Who Was Left Behind Then and Who is Being Left Behind Now? |url=http://www.cwsworkshop.org/katrinareader/node/162 |date=February 21, 2006 |access-date=November 15, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090309165717/http://www.cwsworkshop.org/katrinareader/node/162 |archive-date=March 9, 2009}}</ref>
] , run by Intercosmos Media Group, is one of the largest domain name registrars and is based out of New Orleans. They are still up and running through the use of diesel power generators and have made several arrangements to resupply fuel to their generator. They are currently running a that is documenting things that are happening around them, including pictures of the New Orleans aftermath, with a link to a webcam showing part of the Central Business District on Poydras St. A LiveJournal community, ] has been started for those who have been commenting in this blog. It includes FAQs about the actions of the DirectNIC team in setting up Outpost Crystal.


==== Criticism ====
The effects of the storm disrupted the ] ] ] link between Houston and Atlanta, as well as some of DirectNIC's many high-speed connections. The staff on site are working to restore more upstream connectivity, as well as Internet access to local municipal organizations.
{{Main|Criticism of the government response to Hurricane Katrina}}
] takes on supplies at ], en route to the Gulf Coast.]]
The criticisms of the government's response to Hurricane Katrina primarily consisted of criticism of ] and lack of ] 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.<ref name="thevenot" /> The ] ''Katrina]'' was coined to refer to this controversy, and was a runner-up for "2005 word of the year".<ref>Clark, Heather. . ''ABC News''. January 6, 2006. Retrieved on April 14, 2010.</ref>


Within days of Katrina's August 29 landfall, public debate arose about the local, state and federal governments' role in the ] 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 ], food, or shelter. Deaths from ], ] 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 ], class, and other factors could have contributed to delays in government response. For example, during '']'', a benefit concert for victims of the hurricane, rapper ] veered off script and harshly criticized the government's response to the crisis, stating that "George Bush doesn't care about ]."<ref>{{cite news|last=de Moraes|first=Lisa|title=Kanye West's Torrent of Criticism, Live on NBC|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/03/AR2005090300165.html|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=September 3, 2005|access-date=September 1, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080806153052/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/03/AR2005090300165.html|archive-date=August 6, 2008|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/kanye-west-said-george-bush-doesnt-care-about-black-people-on-this-day-in-2005-130006321.html|title=Kanye West said, 'George Bush doesn't care about Black people' on this day in 2005|work=Yahoo Entretaiment|date=September 2, 2023 |accessdate=March 5, 2024}}</ref>
As of ] ], Sans Infocon is reporting code green for Internet attacks. Keynote Internet Health Report is reporting code green for select Internet networks. The Internet Traffic Report was reporting code yellow for ]. ] network status reports that ] is unavailable in ]. Perhaps one of the more interesting sets of status information is ] New Orleans and checking the reachability of the top 20 websites. On ], 25% were unreachable, 20% were impaired, and 55% remained reachable. The NO Visitor's Bureau reports "There is virtually total internet disruption as well, as locally hosted servers and routers have gone down with the loss of primary and backup power. Only those hotels with corporate housed servers in other cities have any internet possibility."


In accordance with federal law, President George W. Bush directed the ], Michael Chertoff, to coordinate the Federal response. Chertoff designated ], 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.<ref>{{cite news |first1=David |last1=Kirkpatrick |first2=Scott |last2=Shane |title=Ex-FEMA Chief Tells of Frustration and Chaos |date=September 15, 2005 |access-date=May 13, 2010 |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/15/national/nationalspecial/15brown.html?pagewanted=all |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111015052650/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/15/national/nationalspecial/15brown.html?pagewanted=all |archive-date=October 15, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref> Eight days later, Brown was recalled to Washington and Coast Guard Vice Admiral ] replaced him as chief of hurricane relief operations.<ref>Meserve, Jeanne; Barrett, Ted. . {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061222162611/http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/09/09/katrina.washington/index.html |date=December 22, 2006}} ''CNN''. September 9, 2005. Retrieved on June 5, 2006.</ref> Three days after the recall, Michael D. Brown resigned as director of FEMA in spite of having received recent praise from President Bush.<ref>{{cite web | author = Office of the Press Secretary | title = President Arrives in Alabama, Briefed on Hurricane Katrina | date = September 2, 2005 | access-date = July 19, 2006 | publisher = The White House | url = https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2005/09/20050902-2.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110521182702/http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2005/09/20050902-2.html | archive-date = May 21, 2011 | url-status = live}}</ref>
Cybertelecom.org has established a webpage to collect data on the status of and impact on the Internet. .


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.<ref name="CongressInvestigation"/>
==Disaster relief response ==
<!-- Please keep this a SUMMARY!! expand detail in the main article listed below -->
{{main|Hurricane Katrina disaster relief}}
]
]


The destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina raised other, more general public policy issues about ], ], poverty, and unemployment. The discussion of both the immediate response and of the broader public policy issues may have affected ] and legislation enacted at various ]. 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.<ref name="CongressInvestigation"/> 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.<ref name="abcnewspoll">Langer, Gary. . {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061104094924/http://abcnews.go.com/US/HurricaneKatrina/story?id=1094262&page=1 |date=November 4, 2006}} ''ABC News''. September 12, 2005. Retrieved on July 15, 2006.</ref> A later ]/]/] 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.<ref name="cnnpoll">Staff Writer. . {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130908050709/http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/09/07/katrina.poll/ |date=September 8, 2013}} ''CNN''. September 8, 2005. Retrieved on July 15, 2006.</ref>
Some ] response to Katrina began before the storm, with ] preparations that ranged from logistical supply deployments to a ] team with refrigerated trucks.


=== International response ===
President George W. Bush asked Secretary ] of the Department of Homeland Security to coordinate the Federal response. Chertoff designated ], head of the ] as the Principal Federal Official to lead the deployment and coordination of all federal response resources and forces in the Gulf Coast region.
{{Main|International response to Hurricane Katrina}}
] personnel unload Canadian relief supplies from a ] transport aircraft in ].]]


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&nbsp;million, several mobile hospitals, water treatment plants, canned food, ], heating oil, 1,100 doctors and 26.4 metric tons of medicine, though this aid was rejected by the U.S. government.<ref>. ], September 7, 2005. Retrieved on April 14, 2010.</ref><ref>. ], Volume 1, Issue 4. Retrieved on April 14, 2010.</ref><ref>. ], September 10, 2005. Retrieved on April 14, 2010.</ref><ref>. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110211010746/http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-09-02-katrinaworldhelps_x.htm |date=February 11, 2011}} '']'', September 2, 2005. Retrieved on August 5, 2007.</ref> Kuwait made the largest single pledge, $500&nbsp;million; other large donations were made by Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (each $100&nbsp;million), South Korea ($30&nbsp;million), Australia ($10&nbsp;million), India, China (both $5&nbsp;million), New Zealand ($2&nbsp;million),<ref>{{cite press release |url=http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0509/S00159.htm |title=Scoop: Further NZ assistance in wake of Hurricane Katrina |publisher=Scoop.co.nz |date=September 6, 2005 |author=New Zealand Government |access-date=October 27, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090309085157/http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0509/S00159.htm |archive-date=March 9, 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref> Pakistan ($1.5&nbsp;million),<ref>Staff Writer. . Embassy of the United States. September 8, 2005. Retrieved on April 14, 2010.</ref> Norway ($1.8&nbsp;million),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.regjeringen.no/nb/dokumentarkiv/Regjeringen-Bondevik-II/smk/Nyheter-og-pressemeldinger/2005/katastroferammede_i_usa_far_hjelp.html?id=257645|title=Katastroferammede i USA får hjelp fra Norge på 10 millioner kroner|date=October 24, 2006|access-date=November 16, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140103025556/http://www.regjeringen.no/nb/dokumentarkiv/Regjeringen-Bondevik-II/smk/Nyheter-og-pressemeldinger/2005/katastroferammede_i_usa_far_hjelp.html?id=257645|archive-date=January 3, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> and Bangladesh ($1&nbsp;million).<ref>Staff Writer. . {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050908064210/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4215820.stm |date=September 8, 2005}} ''BBC News''. September 5, 2005. Retrieved on June 5, 2006.</ref>
] established Joint Task Force (JTF) Katrina based out of ], ] to act as the military's on-scene command. Lieutenant General ] of the ] in ], ], is the commander.


India sent tarps, blankets, and hygiene kits. An ] IL-76 aircraft delivered 25 tonnes of relief supplies for the Hurricane Katrina victims at the ], Arkansas, on September 13, 2005.
The U.S. Senate approved a bill authorizing $10.5 billion in aid for victims on ] ]. The U.S. House of Representatives voted and approved on the measure Friday, ] ] without any debate; Bush signed it into law an hour later. This is said to be only the initial aid package.


Israel sent an ] delegation to New Orleans to transport aid equipment including 80 tons of food, disposable diapers, beds, blankets, generators and additional equipment which were donated from different governmental institutions, civilian institutions, and the IDF.<ref>Ministry of Foreign Affairs. . {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060820035007/http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About+the+Ministry/MFA+Spokesman/2005/Israeli+aid+to+Hurricane+Katrina+victims+5-Sep-2005.htm |date=August 20, 2006}} '']''. September 5, 2005. Retrieved on December 17, 2006.</ref> The Bush administration announced in mid-September that it did not need Israeli divers and physicians to come to the United States for search and rescue missions, but a small team landed in New Orleans on September 10 to give assistance to operations already underway. The team administered first aid to survivors, rescued ] and discovered hurricane victims.<ref>Jewish Virtual Library. . {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906125044/http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Politics/Katrianaid.html |date=September 6, 2015}} '']''.</ref>
In addition to asking for federal funds, President Bush has enlisted the help of former presidents ] and ] to raise additional voluntary contributions, much as they did after the ] and ].
On ], Governor Blanco hired ], the well-regarded FEMA director during the ], to oversee recovery efforts in Louisiana .


Countries like Sri Lanka, which was still recovering from a ], also offered to help. ], ], ], and Germany sent supplies, relief personnel (like ]), 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 ].<ref>Staff Writer. . {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070319174856/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4344168.stm |date=March 19, 2007}} ''BBC News''. October 15, 2005.</ref>
===U.S. states respond===
<!-- {{main|US states respond to Hurricane Katrina}} -->
More than twenty other U.S. states are sheltering refugees displaced by the storm including ], ], ], ], ],], ], ], ] and places as far away as ], ], ], ] , ] , ], and The majority of the evacuees from this crisis have been taken to Texas, with over 230,000 persons being sheltered in Texas by Labor Day, ] ] as reported by the American Red Cross. The majority of this burden is being borne by the cities of ], ]/]/], and ] with over 25,000 persons each. As Texas has filled to capacity, it has become a waypoint for the other evacuees still leaving the area of crisis. From Texas these thousands of more evacuees are being dispersed to other states via buses, trains, and airplanes.


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.<ref>Staff Writer. . {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060513192039/http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/09/04/katrina.world.aid/ |date=May 13, 2006}} ''CNN''. September 4, 2005. Retrieved on June 5, 2006.</ref>
The affected states themselves have also absorbed tens of thousands of evacuees, with one city alone, ], taking in 250,000 short term evacuees, effectively doubling the size of the community.


=== Non-governmental organization response ===
An estimate of over 100,000 New Orleans college and university students have been displaced as a result of Hurricane Katrina. Higher institutions from across the U.S. have opened their doors to enroll these students as "special visiting students." Several Internet lists of schools offering emergency acceptances have also been created as a direct response to help displaced students. See .
] and being helped by the Red Cross and other agencies and associations.]]
The ], America's Second Harvest (now known as ]), ], ], ], ], ],<ref name="sfbg">{{cite news | first=Steven T. | last=Jones | url=http://www.sfbg.com/40/21/cover_katrina.html | title=From here to Katrina | work=San Francisco Bay Guardian | date=February 22, 2006 | access-date=May 18, 2006 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060526233911/http://www.sfbg.com/40/21/cover_katrina.html | archive-date=May 26, 2006 | url-status=live}}</ref> ], ], ], ], Service International, "A River of Hope", ],<ref>{{cite web|publisher=]|title=Church Providing Relief to Hurricane Katrina Victims|url=https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/church-providing-relief-to-hurricane-katrina-victims|date=September 1, 2005|access-date=January 15, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190629003054/https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/church-providing-relief-to-hurricane-katrina-victims|archive-date=June 29, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Latter-day Saints to Mobilize Another 4,000 Volunteers in Chainsaw Brigade's Second Wave|publisher=]|url=https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/latter-day-saints-to-mobilize-another-4,000-volunteers-in-chainsaw-brigade-s-second-wave|date=September 16, 2005|access-date=January 18, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190628150606/https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/latter-day-saints-to-mobilize-another-4,000-volunteers-in-chainsaw-brigade-s-second-wave|archive-date=June 28, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://ldsmag.com/article-1-662/ | title=Mormon Helping Hands Make a Difference | magazine=Meridian Magazine | date=October 20, 2005 | access-date=June 7, 2015 | first=Jared | last=Johnson | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160421024517/http://ldsmag.com/article-1-662/ | archive-date=April 21, 2016 | url-status=live}}</ref> 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&nbsp;billion in donations from the public, with the Red Cross receiving over half of these donations.<ref name = "Charity Navigator report">{{cite web | author = Staff writer | publisher = ] | title = Where Did The Money Go? | year = 2006 | access-date = August 5, 2006 | website = Hurricane Katrina: One Year Later | url = http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm/bay/katrina.main.htm | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060813170224/http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm/bay/katrina.main.htm | archive-date = August 13, 2006 | url-status = live}}</ref> Some smaller organizations and individuals ignored the access restrictions and provided early relief. For example, two privately chartered planes from ] evacuated 200 patients from Charity Hospital in New Orleans.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/2005/09/09/al-gore-airlifts-evacuees.html |title=Al Gore Airlifts Evacuees |publisher=FOXnews.com |date=September 9, 2005 |access-date=February 19, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070420195422/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0%2C2933%2C168978%2C00.html |archive-date=April 20, 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref>


Volunteers from the ] provided communications in areas where the communications infrastructure had been damaged or totally destroyed, relaying everything from 911 traffic to messages home.<ref>{{cite report|author=Staff Writer|url=http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter?issue=2005-09-16|title=ARRL President Submits Congressional Testimony on Hams' Katrina Response|publisher=American Radio Relay League|access-date=April 14, 2010|date=September 16, 2005|volume=24|issue=36|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101221033732/http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter?issue=2005-09-16|archive-date=December 21, 2010|url-status=live}}</ref> In Hancock County, Mississippi, ham radio operators provided the only communications into or out of the area and even served as 911 dispatchers.<ref>Rick Palm. . {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120121220834/http://www.arrl.org/ares-el?issue=2005-09-22 |date=January 21, 2012}} ''The American Radio Relay League''. September 22, 2005. Retrieved on April 14, 2010.</ref>
=== International response ===
{{main|International response to Hurricane Katrina}}
<!-- detailed list moved to main article above --><!--mardus sez: I added a few commas and a reference to the 2004 Tsunami regarding Sri Lanka-->
Over 50 countries have pledged money or other assistance to recovery from the hurricane, including inter alia<!--should lating text be italicised?--> Cuba and Venezuela, despite differences with Washington; Sri Lanka, which is still recovering from the ]; Russia, whose initial offer to send a relief plane and a helicopter was declined by the U.S. State Department; and Dominica, one of the smallest countries in the world by any measure. Countries and organizations offering to send aid mentioned by the State Department are ], ], ], ], ], ], the ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], the ], ], ], the ], ], ], the ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], the ], the ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], the ], ], ], ], ], the ], ], ], ], ], the ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], the ], the ], the ], the ], ] and the ]. Other countries not on this list have also offered aid, but the State Department mentioned that they had not been asked. Later, the US State Department said all offers were being examined.


Many private corporations also contributed to relief efforts. On September 13, 2005, it was reported that corporate donations amounted to $409&nbsp;million, and were expected to exceed $1&nbsp;billion.<ref>. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070107142543/http://money.cnn.com/2005/09/13/news/fortune500/katrina_donations/ |date=January 7, 2007}} ''CNN''. September 13, 2005. Retrieved on June 5, 2006.</ref>
The United States is currently accepting foreign aid. Canada is sending three warships and one coast guard vessel to the US Gulf Coast to assist in the relief and reconstruction effort. Also several hundred crisis ] workers will be flown in on military planes.


During and after the Hurricanes Katrina, ] and ], the American Red Cross had opened 1,470 shelters and registered 3.8&nbsp;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 used 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&nbsp;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&nbsp;million families. Hurricane Katrina was the first natural disaster in the United States in which the American Red Cross used its "Safe and Well" family location website.<ref name="ARC 1 yr">{{cite web|publisher=] |title=A Year of Healing |date=September 29, 2006 |url=http://www.redcross.org/images/pdfs/Katrina_OneYearReport.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120121200321/http://www.redcross.org/images/pdfs/Katrina_OneYearReport.pdf |archive-date=January 21, 2012}}</ref><ref name = "ARC 2005AHS facts">{{cite web | publisher = American Red Cross | title = Hurricane Season 2005: Facts and Figures|date = September 29, 2006 | url = http://www.redcross.org/news/ds/hurricanes/2005/facts.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060501000858/http://www.redcross.org/news/ds/hurricanes/2005/facts.html|archive-date=May 1, 2006 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
Many citizens across the United States and the international community, some outraged over the seemingly slow Federal response in the days immediately following Katrina, did what they could to help. The "]" exploded with an assortment of blogs to assist and provide comfort to those in need, including blogs posted by local newspapers in the affected areas, national media organizations and private citizens, including even a blog of poems written by, for and about the victims of Hurricane Katrina, called "Hellicane" at .


Direct Relief provided a major response in the Gulf states so health providers could treat the local patients and evacuees. Direct Relief furnished $10&nbsp;million in medical material aid and cash grants to support clinics and health centers in the area.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.directrelief.org/emergency/hurricane-katrina/|title=Hurricane Katrina Relief|date=April 25, 2018|website=Direct Relief |access-date=March 22, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190322143644/https://www.directrelief.org/emergency/hurricane-katrina/|archive-date=March 22, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>
Bloggers from around the world also organized an unprecedented "Blog for Relief Weekend" held from Thursday, ] through Monday, ]. Each blog was asked to select a recognized charity to encourage its readers to consider supporting toward the Katrina relief effort:


In the year following Katrina's strike on the Gulf Coast, The Salvation Army allocated donations of more than $365&nbsp;million to serve more than 1.7&nbsp;million people in nearly every state. The organization's immediate response to Hurricane Katrina included more than 5.7&nbsp;million hot meals and about 8.3&nbsp;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.<ref name="Salvation Army">{{cite web | url = http://www.salvationist.org/intnews.nsf/vw_web_articles/80D873B8CDAC8607802571D9003FDDEF?opendocument | title = Salvation Army Reflects on Largest Disaster Response Ever at One-Year Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina | access-date = April 14, 2010 | date = August 28, 2006 | publisher = ] | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110727001251/http://www.salvationist.org/intnews.nsf/vw_web_articles/80D873B8CDAC8607802571D9003FDDEF?opendocument | archive-date = July 27, 2011 | url-status = live}}</ref>
== Political effects ==
{{main|Political effects of Hurricane Katrina}}


=== Analysis of New Orleans levee failures ===
Despite high profile news coverage to the contrary, in general the American public blames local and state government more than President Bush or the Federal Government for failures to perform their responsibilities in hurricane preparedness, Hurricane Katrina planning, and Hurricane Katrina aftermath accoring to a Washington Post/ABC News Poll. This may be due to the fact the greatest problems - failure to evacuate, the looting, the improperly equipped evacuation center and the failure of the 17th Street levee - are usually viewed as local or state issues, only the delay in providing follow on support is viewed as a federal issue.
{{Main|2005 levee failures in Greater New Orleans}}
]
According to a modeling exercise conducted by the ] (USACE), two-thirds of the deaths in ] were due to levee and ] failure.<ref>Charles F. Anderson, Jurjen A. Battjes; et al. (2007). "The New Orleans Hurricane Protection System: What Went Wrong and Why" {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304061810/http://biotech.law.lsu.edu/katrina/reports/ERPreport.pdf |date=March 4, 2016}}. American Society of Civil Engineers. Retrieved July 25, 2016.</ref> 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 ], ] 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."<ref>Staff Writers . '']''. September 29, 2005. Retrieved on April 14, 2010.</ref>


A June 2007 report released by the ] 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.<ref name="ASCE HKERP report"/> The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had been federally mandated in the ] 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.<ref name="Robertson">{{cite news|last=Robertson|first=Campbell|title=Decade after Katrina pointing finger more firmly at Army Corps|newspaper=The New York Times|date=May 23, 2015|access-date=October 31, 2015|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/24/us/decade-after-katrina-pointing-finger-more-firmly-at-army-corps.html?_r=3|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151001212201/http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/24/us/decade-after-katrina-pointing-finger-more-firmly-at-army-corps.html?_r=3|archive-date=October 1, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> According to a report published in August 2015 in the official journal of the ], 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 {{convert|17|ft|0}} instead of between {{convert|31|and|46|ft|0}}. That decision saved approximately US$100&nbsp;million, but significantly reduced overall engineering reliability.<ref>{{cite news |page=707 |author1=J. David Rogers |author2=G. Paul Kemp |title=Interaction between the US Army Corps of Engineers and the Orleans Levee Board preceding the drainage canal wall failures and catastrophic flooding of New Orleans in 2005 |publisher=Water Policy |year=2015 |access-date=January 28, 2017 |url=http://wp.iwaponline.com/content/17/4/707 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170203220852/http://wp.iwaponline.com/content/17/4/707 |archive-date=February 3, 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref>
===Evacuation issues===
]
Many critics have noted that while the local government gave a mandatory evacuation order on ], before the storm hit, they did not make sufficent provisions to evacuate the homeless, the poor, the elderly, the infirm, or the ]-less households. Foreign nationals without transport claimed that the police refused to evacuate them, giving bus places only to American citizens.


In January 2008, Judge ] of the U.S. District Court ruled that despite the Corps' role in the flooding, the agency<ref name="Nossiter">{{cite news|last=Nossiter|first=Adam|title=In Court Ruling on Floods, More Pain for New Orleans|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/01/us/01corps.html?_r=2&ref=us|date=February 1, 2008|access-date=February 22, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151104173946/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/01/us/01corps.html?_r=2&ref=us|archive-date=November 4, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> could not be held financially liable because of ] in the ]. 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".<ref>{{cite news|last=Stoltz|first=Mary Helen|title=Flood damage after Katrina could have been prevented, S&T expert says|publisher=Missouri S&T|date=August 24, 2015|access-date=February 22, 2016|url=http://news.mst.edu/2015/08/flood-damage-after-katrina-could-have-been-prevented-st-expert-says/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160220034916/http://news.mst.edu/2015/08/flood-damage-after-katrina-could-have-been-prevented-st-expert-says/|archive-date=February 20, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>
Evacuation was mainly left up to individual citizens to find their own way out of the city. It was known that many residents of New Orleans lacked cars. It is also believed that many citizens, having survived previous hurricanes, did not anticipate the impending catastrophe and chose to ride out the storm. Even so, a 2000 census revealed that 27% of New Orleans households, amounting to approximately 120,000 people, were without privately-owned transportation. Additionally, New Orleans has one of the highest ] rates in the United States at about 38%. These factors may have prevented many people from being able to evacuate on their own. Consequentially most of those stranded in the city are the poor, the elderly, and the sick.


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 ] to become "the perfect shortcut for salt-water intrusion", which damaged buffering cypress forests and wetlands that historically had protected New Orleans from storm surge.<ref>{{cite book|page=120|author1=Freudenburg, William R.|first2=Robert|last2=Gramling|title=Catastrophe in the Making|publisher=Island Press|year=2009|access-date=October 15, 2015|url=https://www.islandpress.org/book/catastrophe-in-the-making|display-authors=etal|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160105121505/https://www.islandpress.org/book/catastrophe-in-the-making|archive-date=January 5, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> The Army Corps of Engineers built and maintained the canal. Furthermore, according to storm surge researcher Hassan Mashriqui:
The city had parked school buses on low ground where they would be easily flooded with storm water and then later by the levee flooding making their use impossible in the emergency evacuation after the rupture of the levee. Many supporters of Mayor Nagin's evacuation efforts note that Nagin had sent ]es to help shelter those that stayed behind. These buses were intended to bring the remaining people to the Superdome for a last haven and for relief, but the dome was stocked with few relief supplies. Many supporters also note that school buses, while powerful, can be difficult to control in normally high windspeed of 50-80 mph (80-120 km/h). Additionally, drivers of the ]es must own and maintain a class D commercial license or better depending on the exact size and weight of the bus, and therefore availability of drivers would ultimately have limited the use of these vehicles.


{{blockquote|Storm surge pushing across shallow ] 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.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZNroiySUreQC|title=The Storm: What Went Wrong and Why During Hurricane Katrina&nbsp;– the Inside Story from One Louisiana Scientist|first1=Ivor van|last1=Heerden|first2=Mike|last2=Bryan|date=May 18, 2006|publisher=Penguin|via=Google Books|isbn=9781101201701|access-date=October 30, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160428000452/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZNroiySUreQC|archive-date=April 28, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>}}
In spite of these risks and his lack of formal training or government-issued licenses, 20-year-old ] commandeered a New Orleans school bus and rescued 70 people from the rising flood waters before making the 13-hour drive to Houston, arriving on Wednesday evening. A day later a licensed driver's commercial bus filled with refugees flipped, resulting in one death and many injuries.


]
Some evacuees report that the drive from New Orleans to Baton Rouge took anywhere from 5 hours to 9 hours; this drive usually takes up to an hour. Reports from the Associated Press state that 80% of the near 500,000 had evacuated safely from New Orleans prior to the hurricane's landfall. Even if licensed drivers had been available and the available buses had been used to evacuate the remaining approximately 150,000 people, they may not have made it to safety before landfall.
The Corps of Engineers disputes these causalities.<ref>Warrick, Joby; Grunwald, Michael. . {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161125035439/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/23/AR2005102301200_pf.html |date=November 25, 2016}} ''The Washington Post''. October 24, 2005. Retrieved on June 5, 2006.</ref> 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.<ref name=Walls>{{cite news | first=Matt | last=Crenson | agency=Associated Press | url=http://www.constructionequipmentguide.com/story.asp?story=6589 | title=Levee Repairs to Be Finished By First Day of Hurricane Season | date=February 2, 2006 | access-date=May 12, 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060207184213/http://www.constructionequipmentguide.com/story.asp?story=6589 | archive-date=February 7, 2006 | url-status=live}}</ref>
===Race and class issues===


Funding battles continue over the remaining levee improvements. In February 2008, the Bush administration requested that the state of Louisiana pay about $1.5&nbsp;billion of an estimated $7.2&nbsp;billion for Corps of Engineers levee work (in accordance with the principles of local cost-sharing required by Congress as early as the ]), a proposal which angered many Louisiana leaders.<ref name=funding>{{cite news | title=White House Budget for Levee Work Riles Many Louisiana Elected Officials | agency=Associated Press | first=Cain | last=Burdeau | url=http://www.cegltd.com/story.asp?story=10045 | archive-url=https://archive.today/20130119020438/http://www.cegltd.com/story.asp?story=10045 | url-status=dead | archive-date=January 19, 2013 | date=February 12, 2008 | access-date=May 12, 2008 }}</ref> On May 2, 2008, Louisiana Governor ] used a speech to The National Press Club to request that President Bush free up money to complete work on Louisiana's levees. Bush promised to include the levee funding in his 2009 budget but rejected the idea of including the funding in a war bill, which would pass sooner.<ref name=BushJindal>{{cite web | url=http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/18539869.html | title=Jindal asks Bush for levee cash | publisher=2theadvocate.com | first=Gerard | last=Shields | date=May 3, 2008 | access-date=May 12, 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080506102615/http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/18539869.html | archive-date=May 6, 2008 | url-status=live}}</ref>
:''See also: ] .''


=== Media involvement ===
The question of demographics has been raised in the media as news video and photographs showed primarily black citizens stranded in New Orleans. The ] estimates the 2004 New Orleans population to be 20.0% white and 67.9% black.
{{Main|Media coverage of Hurricane Katrina}}
The city is also within the ] region. More than 25% live at or below the ]. Within the city itself, the poorest tended to live in the lowest parts that are most vulnerable to flooding.
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 ] of ] tearfully pleaded for authorities to either send help or evacuate the thousands of evacuees stranded at the ].<ref>{{cite web|title=Geraldo Rivera & Shepard Smith Unleashed |url=http://www.spike.com/video-clips/gmidjv/geraldo-rivera-shepard-smith-unleashed |website=Spike.com |access-date=January 4, 2016 |date=September 5, 2005 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314143006/http://www.spike.com/video-clips/gmidjv/geraldo-rivera-shepard-smith-unleashed |archive-date=March 14, 2016}}</ref> 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, ] was one of the few area radio stations in the area remaining on the air. This emergency service, simulcasted on shortwave outlet ], was named "]". Their ongoing nighttime broadcasts continued to be available up to {{convert|500|mi|km|abbr=on}} away. Announcers continued to broadcast from improvised studio facilities after the storm damaged their main studios.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://radio.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=radio&cdn=gadgets&tm=58&f=00&su=p504.1.336.ip_&tt=2&bt=0&bts=0&st=23&zu=http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001052023|title=Local Media Outlets Struggle to Carry On Post Katrina|date=August 31, 2005|access-date=April 14, 2010|first1=Katy|last1=Bachman|first2=Tony|last2=Sanders|magazine=Billboard Radio Monitor}}{{dead link|date=September 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> 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 ] and ]. One example was the effort of ''NOLA.com'', the web affiliate of New Orleans's '']''. A group of reporters were awarded the Breaking News ]<ref name="Pulitzer BN">{{cite web | author = The Pulitzer Board | title = 2006 Pulitzer Prize Winners – Breaking News Reporting | year = 2006 | access-date = November 15, 2008 | url = http://www.pulitzer.org/citation/2006,Breaking+News+Reporting | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090110190152/http://www.pulitzer.org/citation/2006,Breaking+News+Reporting | archive-date = January 10, 2009 | url-status = live}}</ref> and shared the Public Service Pulitzer with the Biloxi-based '']''.<ref name="Pulitzer PS">{{cite web | author = The Pulitzer Board | title = 2006 Pulitzer Prize Winners – Public Service | year = 2006 | access-date = November 15, 2008 | url = http://www.pulitzer.org/citation/2006,Public+Service | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081219132758/http://www.pulitzer.org/citation/2006,Public+Service | archive-date = December 19, 2008 | url-status = live}}</ref> 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.<ref name="OJR NOLA">{{cite web|first=Mark |last=Glaser |title=NOLA.com blogs and forums help save lives after Katrina |date=September 13, 2005 |publisher=Online Journalism Review |access-date=August 2, 2006 |url=http://www.ojr.org/ojr/stories/050913glaser/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060720085133/http://www.ojr.org/ojr/stories/050913glaser/ |archive-date=July 20, 2006}}</ref> In the wake of these online-only efforts, the Pulitzer Committee for the first time opened all its categories to online entries.<ref name="Pulitzer speech">{{cite web | first = Paul | last = Steiger | title = Remarks at Pulitzer Prize luncheon | date = May 22, 2006 | access-date = November 15, 2008 | publisher = The Pulitzer Board | url = http://www.pulitzer.org/2006_luncheon_steiger | author-link = Paul Steiger | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090110190421/http://www.pulitzer.org/2006_luncheon_steiger | archive-date = January 10, 2009 | url-status = live}}</ref>
Members of the ], ], ], ] and the ] held a news conference expressing anger and charging that the response was slow because those most affected are poor, black looters . This has led to city officials being accused of racism, with critics saying they didn't bother to formulate an evacuation plan for those who cannot afford private transportation. These groups were also very displeased that the citizens in New Orleans were being referred to as "looters."


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 ] and obtained a temporary ] against the ban. The next day the government backed down and reversed the ban.<ref name="Media Ban">Staff Writer. . {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050918060917/http://edition.cnn.com/2005/LAW/09/10/katrina.media/ |date=September 18, 2005}} ''CNN'' September 11, 2005. Retrieved on June 5, 2006.</ref>
On ], while presenting on the ] ], music producer and rapper ] strayed from his script and addressed what he perceived as the racism of both the government and of the media, stating: "George Bush doesn't care about black people", and called for the media to stop labelling African-American families as “looters” while white families were depicted as “looking for food.” During these comments NBC cut filming on West and footage resumed with ]. (West's comments were heard in the entirety in the eastern U.S., where the telecast was shown live; NBC later removed a portion of the comments on the tape-delayed telecast shown in the west. NBC also issued an apology for the comments.)


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...."<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 27, 2022 |title="Hurricane Tropical Guide". AP Stylebook The Associated Press. |url=https://apstylebook.com/hurricane-ian-test |website=The Associated Press}}</ref>
===Government response issues===
<!-- please keep this section a SUMMARY, expand detail in ] -->
] and New Orleans Mayor ] ], ].]]


=== Studies concerning post-Katrina victims ===
The media is reporting widespread criticism of the inadequate response by local, state and federal authorities to the hunger, death and lack of aid to the hurricane's victims. About 6,200 Army and Air National Guard troops were on duty in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida when Katrina struck , and by ], that number climbed to 11,000 Army and Air National Guard members from around the nation and 7,200 active-duty troops, mostly Navy. 10,000 more National Guard troops are expected to join the effort within the following 48 hours . However more than two and a half days after the hurricane struck, police, health care and other emergency workers voice concerns, in the media, about the absence of ] troops in the city for search and rescue missions and to control looting. It was not until Friday that the military arrived in New Orleans in sufficient numbers to ease the suffering of the storm survivors.
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.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=King|first1=Richard V.|last2=Polatin|first2=Peter B.|last3=Hogan|first3=David|last4=Downs|first4=Dana L.|last5=North|first5=Carol S.|date=January 1, 2016|title=Needs Assessment of Hurricane Katrina Evacuees Residing Temporarily in Dallas|journal=Community Mental Health Journal|volume=52|issue=1|pages=18–24|doi=10.1007/s10597-015-9938-5|issn=1573-2789|pmid=26507550|s2cid=9817578}}</ref>


In a study published in '']'', 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.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Harville|first1=Emily W.|last2=Giarratano|first2=Gloria|last3=Savage|first3=Jane|last4=Barcelona de Mendoza|first4=Veronica|last5=Zotkiewicz|first5=TrezMarie|date=November 1, 2015|title=Birth Outcomes in a Disaster Recovery Environment: New Orleans Women After Katrina|journal=Maternal and Child Health Journal|volume=19|issue=11|pages=2512–2522|doi=10.1007/s10995-015-1772-4|issn=1573-6628|pmc=4596760|pmid=26122255}}</ref>
Media reports have also proposed National Guard units are short staffed in ], ] and ] because they are currently on a tour of duty in Iraq, including 3,000 members of the Louisiana National Guard's 256th Brigade. The ] denied that there was a problem noting that over 300,000 Guard troops are in the United States and available if needed. However, even though there were states ready and willing to send National Guard troops to the rescue in New Orleans they were not sent until days after the storm struck. The delay is likely to be investigated by Congress. While President Bush had the legal authority to order the National Guard to the disaster area himself, presidents of both parties traditionally defer to governors to deploy their own National Guardsmen and request help from other states when it comes to natural disasters.


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.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Kamo|first1=Yoshinori|last2=Henderson|first2=Tammy L.|last3=Roberto|first3=Karen A.|last4=Peabody|first4=Kimberly L.|last5=White|first5=Jamikka K.|date=August 2, 2015|title=Perceptions of Older Adults in a Community Accepting Displaced Survivors of Hurricane Katrina|journal=Current Psychology |volume=34|issue=3|pages=551–563|doi=10.1007/s12144-015-9356-4|s2cid=146488181|issn=1046-1310|doi-access=free}}</ref>
Nevertheless, the failure to immediately evacuate or re-supply flooded New Orleans area hospitals and the lack of a visible ] presence in the city and surrounding area in the hurricane's immediate aftermath have also been criticized by members of the press. In addition, the federal government did not activate the ], a major air support plan under a pre-existing contract with airlines that lets the government quickly put private cargo and passenger planes into service.


=== Retirement ===
The 2004 hurricane season was the worst in decades. In spite of that, the federal government came back in the spring of 2005 with the steepest reduction in hurricane and flood-control funding for New Orleans in history. Because of the proposed cuts, the Army Corps of Engineers office there imposed a hiring freeze. Officials said that money targeted for the SELA project was reduced to $10.4 million, down from $36.5 million.
{{See also|List of retired Atlantic hurricane names}}
Some of the money would have gone into funding studies about the feasibility of upgrading the current levees to withstand Category 4 and 5 Hurricanes instead of just Category 3, although such studies would certainly not have been completed in time for Katrina even with the requested amount of funding.
Because of the high death toll and widespread property destruction along the U.S. Gulf Coast, the name Katrina was retired from the ] in April 2006 by the ]. The name will never again be used for another tropical cyclone in the Atlantic basin. It was replaced with Katia for the ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2006/s2607.htm|title=Dennis, Katrina, Rita, Stan, and Wilma "Retired" from List of Storm Names|access-date=April 12, 2024|date=April 6, 2006|publisher=NOAA|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171224105328/http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2006/s2607.htm|archive-date=December 24, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite report|url=https://www.preventionweb.net/files/1533_entirenhop06.pdf|page=3{{hyphen}}8|publisher=] Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorological Services and Supporting Research|location=Washington, D.C.|title=National Hurricane Operations Plan|date=May 2006|access-date=April 12, 2024|archive-date=January 19, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240119200543/https://www.preventionweb.net/files/1533_entirenhop06.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>


== Reconstruction ==
:''See also: ].''
{{Main|Reconstruction of New Orleans}}
] in New Orleans, January 2006]]
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.<ref name="The LACPR Home Page">{{cite web|url=http://www.lacpr.usace.army.mil/ |title=The LACPR Home Page |author=United States Army Corps of Engineers |publisher=] |year=2009 |access-date=August 9, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090825084458/http://www.lacpr.usace.army.mil/ |archive-date=August 25, 2009 |author-link=United States Army Corps of Engineers}}</ref>


The Technical Report includes:
===Environmental issues===
* 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.
A direct environmental factor has been the destruction of wetlands in the affected regions, which traditionally have a mitigating effect on hurricane damage acting as a sponge to slow floodwaters.


== Records ==
Sewage, decomposing bodies and toxic chemicals, from the city's many factories, have mixed into the floodwaters creating a potentially toxic cesspool throughout New Orleans. Experts fear it will pose a serious threat to residents now and into the future. An immediate challenge is how to safely dispose of the vast quantities of polluted water inside New Orleans. News reports state that the water inside New Orleans will simply be pumped straight back into Lake Pontchartrain and the Gulf of Mexico, which could cause serious environmental problems given the likely levels of pollution.
Katrina is the costliest tropical cyclone on record, tying with ] in ].<ref name="Costliest TC's" /> The storm was the fourth-most intense ] on record to make landfall in the ], behind the ], ] in 1969, and ] in 2018.<ref name="US hurricanes">{{cite web |url=http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/hurdat/UShurrs_detailed.html |title=Continental United States Hurricanes (Detailed Description)|date=June 2020 |publisher=United States Hurricane Research Division|access-date=January 5, 2021}}</ref> Katrina was also the earliest eleventh named storm in the Atlantic until ] surpassed it on August 14, 2020, beating Katrina by 10 days.<ref name=kyle1>{{cite web|url=https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2020/al12/al122020.discus.001.shtml?|title=Tropical Storm Kyle Discussion Number 1|website=nhc.noaa.gov|author=David Zelinsky|publisher=National Hurricane Center|location=Miami, Florida|date=August 14, 2020|access-date=August 14, 2020|archive-date=September 13, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200913023929/https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2020/al12/al122020.discus.001.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref>


==Media involvement== == See also ==
* ]
Many representatives of the ] reporting on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina became directly involved in the unfolding events, instead of simply reporting. Due to 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. In some instances, the lack of communication made the situation seem more dire as days-old information continued to circulate, making recovery efforts seem non-existent.
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* '']''
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]


'''Other similar tropical cyclones:'''
Several reporters for various ] located groups of stranded victims, and reported their location via ]. Authorities, who monitored the network news broadcasts, would then attempt to coordinate rescue efforts based on the news reports. This was best illustrated when ] and ] of ], among others, reported thousands of evacuees stranded at the ]. Rivera tearfully pleaded for authorities to either send help or let the evacuees leave.
* ] (1965) – Category 4 hurricane which had a similar track in the Gulf to Katrina; the first billion-dollar hurricane on record.
* ] (1969) – Category 5 hurricane that made the second-strongest U.S. landfall on record; impacted similar areas to Katrina.
* ] (1992) - Category 5 hurricane that took a similar track and devastated similar areas.
* ] (2005) – Category 5 hurricane which struck the Gulf Coast of the United States at Category 3 intensity just a month after Katrina impacted Louisiana.
* ] (2017) – Category 4 hurricane that made landfall in Texas and is the wettest cyclone in U.S. history; tied with Katrina as the costliest tropical cyclone on record
* ] (2020) – Category 4 hurricane which struck near Cameron, Louisiana at peak intensity just one day prior to Katrina's 15th anniversary.
* ] (2021) – Category 4 hurricane which made landfall in Louisiana at peak intensity on the same day of Katrina's 16th anniversary.


== Notes ==
The news media, both traditional and Internet, also played a role in helping families locate missing loved ones. Many family members, unable to contact local authorities in the affected areas, discovered the fate of a loved one via an online photo or television video clip. In one instance, a family in ], ] discovered their mother was still alive in ] after seeing a photo of her on TampaBayStart.com, a regional news site.
{{reflist|group=nb}}


==See also== == References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}
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== Further reading ==
'''General topics'''
{{refbegin|30em}}
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* {{cite web |last=Augustson |first=Alan |date=August 31, 2008 |editor-last=Bernstein |editor-first=Jonathan |url=https://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/newsletter/crisis-manager-080831.html |title=Katrina: Three Years Later, The Lessons We Haven't Learned |website=Crisis Manager |publisher=Bernstein Crisis Management |issn=1528-3836 |access-date=June 3, 2017 |ref=cmu}}
*]
* {{Cite book |last=Brennan |first=Virginia |year=2009 |title=Natural Disasters and Public Health: Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma |location=Baltimore |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-8018-9199-1}}
*]
* {{Cite book |editor=Center for Public Integrity |year=2007 |title=City Adrift: New Orleans Before and After Katrina |location=Baton Rouge |publisher=LSU Press |isbn=978-0-8071-3284-5 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/cityadriftneworl0000unse}}
*]
* {{Cite book |last=Dyson |first=Michael Eric |author-link=Michael Eric Dyson |year=2006 |title=Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster |location=New York |publisher=Perseus Books Group |isbn=978-0-465-01761-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/comehellorhighwa00dyso}}
* {{Cite book |last=Eggers |first=Dave |author-link=Dave Eggers |year=2009 |title=Zeitoun |location=San Francisco |publisher=McSweeney's Books |isbn=978-1-934781-63-0|title-link=Zeitoun (book)}}
* {{Cite book |last=Eyerman |first=Ron |year=2015 |title=Is This America? Katrina as Cultural Trauma |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TjQKCgAAQBAJ |series=The Katrina Bookshelf |location=Austin|publisher=University of Texas Press |isbn=9781477303689 |oclc=900609113}}
* {{Cite book |last=Harris |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Harris (author) |year=2008 |title=Diary From the Dome |location=New York |publisher=Vantage Press |asin=B003M69KSC|title-link=Diary From the Dome}}
* {{Cite book |editor1-last=Hartman |editor1-first=Chester |editor2-last=Squires |editor2-first=Gregory D. |year=2006|title=There Is No Such Thing as a Natural Disaster: Race, Class, and Hurricane Katrina |publisher=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.
* {{Cite journal |last=Burd |first=Camden |date=2021 |title=How To Plan A Disaster: Politics, Nature, and Hurricane Katrina |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/796683 |journal=Reviews in American History |language=en |volume=49 |issue=2 |pages=304–309 |doi=10.1353/rah.2021.0030 |issn=1080-6628}}
* 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 .
*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.
* {{Cite book |last=Saint-Saens |first=Alain |year=2010 |title=Ordeal at the Superdome. Escaping Katrina's Wrath |location=New Orleans |publisher=University Press of the South |isbn=978-1-889431-87-1}}
* {{Cite book |last=Scott |first=Cathy |author-link=Cathy Scott |year=2008 |title=Pawprints of Katrina: Pets Saved and Lessons Learned |location=Hoboken |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-470-22851-7|title-link=Pawprints of Katrina}}
* {{Cite book |last=Spielman |first=David G. |year=2007 |title=Katrinaville Chronicles: Images and Observations from a New Orleans Photographer |location=Baton Rouge |publisher=LSU Press |isbn=978-0-8071-3252-4}}
* {{Cite book |editor1-last=Taylor |editor1-first=William M. |display-authors=etal |year=2015 |title=The "Katrina Effect": On the Nature of Catastrophe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EayFCAAAQBAJ |location=London; New York |publisher=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.


{{refend}}
'''Katrina-specific topics'''
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==External links and sources== == External links ==
{{Commons|Category:Hurricane Katrina}}
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<!-- ATTENTION NEWCOMERS! If you would like to contribute, please contribute by adding information to the article or one of the many other Hurricane Katrina–related articles, rather than adding more external links. See the page WP:NOT on information why Misplaced Pages is not the right place to list lots of links. Please do not convert the boldface to subsection headers, or add any subsections to the external links, as it will prevent people from seeing this notice. -->
'''Disaster recovery'''
{{Sister project links|Hurricane Katrina}}
*
* National Hurricane Center's
<!-- This is the ONLY donation link that should be inserted in the article, if any at all. There are a lot of fraud sites out there right now, see the talk page. -->
* ]'s
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* {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070904113536/http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/h2005_katrina.html |date=September 4, 2007 }}
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* Louisiana Geological Survey publication on Hurricane Katrina
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* {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200618075836/http://hnoc.minisisinc.com/thnoc/catalog/3/7931 |date=June 18, 2020 }} at
*
* - Disaster recovery wiki.


'''Government''' '''Disaster recovery:'''
* *
* {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929092804/http://www.city-journal.org/html/16_2_houston.html |date=September 29, 2007 }} – An article in the '']''
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* from '']'' magazine
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* {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191013224853/http://www.hurricane-katrina.org/ |date=October 13, 2019}}
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* * - 10th anniversary podcast


'''Images:'''
'''Live streaming local coverage'''
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The status of the following news feeds is subject to change.
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{{Hurricane Katrina series}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Katrina (2005)}}
* from WLBT 3 (NBC) news helicopter, surveying damage over coastal MS from Gulfport to Biloxi. ] ], approx 4:00 p.m. Central. MMS link to video: mms://a1250.m.akastream.net/7/1250/12206/v001/worldnowwlbt.download.akamai.com/12206/WLBT_20050830112530.wmv

* ''' from WWLTV.com's forums detailing webstreaming statuses of various Gulf Coast TV and radio stations - this list includes local scanner coverage of police, ], and ] communications in the affected areas.

* live webcam of downtown's Central Business District, looking East from 650 Poydras towards Camp St. A map is at krioni.100free.com/interdictor.html

{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;"
! Station !! Ntwk !! Home city !! Broadcast from !! URL !! Status !! as of
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!colspan="7"|Direct (mms:) Windows Media URL
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| NBC
| N.O.
| Jackson MS (WAPT), Orlando FL (WESH)
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| 2005/09/03T1334EDT
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|colspan="7"| mms://a845.l1291238844.c12912.g.lm.akamaistream.net/D/845/12912/v0001/reflector:38844
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|colspan="7"| WDSU anchors at WAPT and WESH; alternating orig; simulcasting MSNBC overnight; local simulcast on WPXL-49 New Orleans; channel 6 transmitter apparently flooded out
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| CBS
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| 2005/09/03T1345EDT
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|colspan="7"| mms://beloint.wm.llnwd.net/beloint_wwltv --
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|colspan="7"| broadcasting from transmitter; newsgathering at KLPB
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| ''''''
| CBS
| Mobile AL
| own studio
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| '''working'''
| 2005/09/03T1345EDT
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|colspan="7"| mms://wmbcast.mgeneral.speedera.net/wmbcast.mgeneral/wmbcast_mgeneral_aug262005_1435_95518
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|colspan="7"| on-air from own studio, apparently
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| ''''''
| ABC
| Biloxi MS
| ''Off-air''
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| 2005/09/02T1636EDT
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|colspan="7"| mms://a432.l1243132943.c12431.n.lm.akamaistream.net/D/432/12431/v0001/reflector:32943
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|colspan="7"| major damage to station; off-air completely
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(The ''mms:'' URLs are links to the direct streams, provided for users of other operating systems than Microsoft Windows, though windows users can utilize them as well, using Windows Media Player's "Open URL" menu item. Linux users can use the ] ] to play these streams.)

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Latest revision as of 20:18, 24 December 2024

Category 5 Atlantic hurricane in 2005 Not to be confused with Hurricane Catarina or Hurricane Karina. For other storms of the same name, see List of storms named Katrina.

Hurricane Katrina
Katrina at peak intensity in the Gulf of Mexico on August 28
Meteorological history
FormedAugust 23, 2005
ExtratropicalAugust 30, 2005
DissipatedAugust 31, 2005
Category 5 major hurricane
1-minute sustained (SSHWS/NWS)
Highest winds175 mph (280 km/h)
Lowest pressure902 mbar (hPa); 26.64 inHg
Overall effects
Fatalities1,392 total
Missing652
Damage$125 billion (2005 USD)
(Tied as the costliest tropical cyclone on record)
Areas affected
IBTrACSEdit this at Wikidata

Part of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season
Hurricane Katrina
2005 Atlantic hurricane season
General
Impact
Relief
Analysis
External links

Hurricane Katrina was a powerful and devastating tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. It is tied with Hurricane Harvey as being the costliest tropical cyclone in the Atlantic basin. 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 formed 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 levees around the city of New Orleans. 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 or could not evacuate the city before landfall with little access to food, shelter, and other 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.

Meteorological history

Main article: Meteorological history of Hurricane Katrina For a chronological guide, see Timeline of Hurricane Katrina.
Map plotting the storm's track and intensity, according to the Saffir–Simpson scale
Map key Saffir–Simpson scale   Tropical depression (≤38 mph, ≤62 km/h)
  Tropical storm (39–73 mph, 63–118 km/h)
  Category 1 (74–95 mph, 119–153 km/h)
  Category 2 (96–110 mph, 154–177 km/h)
  Category 3 (111–129 mph, 178–208 km/h)
  Category 4 (130–156 mph, 209–251 km/h)
  Category 5 (≥157 mph, ≥252 km/h)
  Unknown Storm type circle Tropical cyclone square Subtropical cyclone triangle Extratropical cyclone, remnant low, tropical disturbance, or monsoon depression

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 as specifically named 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."

Gulf Coast

Florida

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.

Alabama

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 p.m. 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.

Louisiana

See also: Hurricane preparedness in 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 on public transportation, not enough bus drivers were available to drive them since 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 am. 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.

Impact

Deaths by state
Alabama 2
Florida 14
Georgia 2
Kentucky 1
Louisiana 986–1,577*
Mississippi 238
Ohio 2
Total 1,245–1,836
Missing 652
*Includes out-of-state evacuees
counted by Louisiana

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: one in Kentucky, two 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) 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.

Bahamas and Cuba

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.

United States

Main article: Effects of Hurricane Katrina in the Southeastern United States
Hurricane Katrina was one of the largest-diameter US Gulf Coast hurricanes. Though large size does not imply strength—which is based on sustained wind measurements—it can mean that more people are exposed to its hazards.

Florida

Damage to a mobile home in Davie, Florida following Hurricane Katrina

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.

Louisiana

Flooding in Venice, Louisiana
A fallen water tower in Buras-Triumph, Louisiana, where Katrina made landfall

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. CDT.

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.

Katrina's storm surge inundated all parishes surrounding Lake Pontchartrain, including St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, St. John the Baptist, and St. Charles Parishes. St. Tammany Parish received a two-part storm surge. The first surge came as Lake Pontchartrain rose and the storm blew water from the Gulf of Mexico into the lake. The second came as the eye of Katrina passed, westerly winds pushed water into a bottleneck at the Rigolets Pass, forcing it farther inland. The range of surge levels in eastern St. Tammany Parish is estimated at 13–16 feet (4.0–4.9 m), not including wave action.

Hard-hit St. Bernard Parish was flooded because of breaching of the levees that contained a navigation channel called the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MR-GO) and the breach of the 40 Arpent canal levee that was designed and built by the Orleans Levee Board. The search for the missing was undertaken by the St. Bernard Fire Department because of the assets of the United States Coast Guard being diverted to New Orleans. In the months after the storm, many of the missing were tracked down by searching flooded homes, tracking credit card records, and visiting homes of family and relatives. 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
Main articles: Effects of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and 2005 levee failures in Greater New Orleans
Hurricane Katrina making landfall in the Louisiana-Mississippi border.
Flooded I-10/I-610/West End Blvd interchange and surrounding area of northwest New Orleans and Metairie, Louisiana

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.

On August 29, at 7:40 am. CDT, it was reported that most of the windows on the north side of the Hyatt Regency New Orleans had been blown out, and many other high rise buildings had extensive window damage. The Hyatt was the most severely damaged hotel in the city, with beds reported to be flying out of the windows. Insulation tubes were exposed as the hotel's glass exterior was completely sheared off.

The Superdome, which was sheltering many people who had not evacuated, sustained significant damage. Two sections of the Superdome's roof were compromised and the dome's waterproof membrane was essentially peeled off. Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport was closed before the storm but did not flood. On August 30, it was reopened to humanitarian and rescue operations. Limited commercial passenger service resumed at the airport on September 13 and regular carrier operations resumed in early October.

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

U.S. Route 90's Bay St. Louis Bridge on Pass Christian was destroyed as a result of Katrina.

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.

Damage to Long Beach, Mississippi following Hurricane Katrina

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.

Surge damage in Pascagoula, Mississippi

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.

Alabama

Flood waters come up the steps of Mobile's federal courthouse.

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.

Other U.S. states

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Bayou La Batre: cargo ship and fishing boats were grounded

Northern and central Georgia were affected by heavy rains and strong winds from Hurricane Katrina as the storm moved inland, with more than 3 inches (76 mm) of rain falling in several areas. At least 18 tornadoes formed in Georgia on August 29, 2005, the most on record in that state for one day in August. The most serious of these tornadoes was an F2 tornado which affected Heard County and Carroll County. This tornado caused three injuries and one fatality and damaged several houses. The other tornadoes caused significant damages to buildings and agricultural facilities. In addition to the fatality caused by the F2 tornado, there was another fatality in a traffic accident.

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.

Total rainfall from Katrina in the United States. Data for the New Orleans area is not available.

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.

Canada

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.

Aftermath

See also: Social effects of Hurricane Katrina, Political effects of Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Katrina disaster relief, and Displacement after Hurricane Katrina

Economic effects

Main article: Economic effects of Hurricane Katrina
Costliest U.S. Atlantic hurricanes
Rank Hurricane Season Damage
1  3  Katrina 2005 $125 billion
 4  Harvey 2017
3  4  Helene 2024 $124 billion
4  4  Ian 2022 $113 billion
5  4  Maria 2017 $90 billion
6  3  Milton 2024 $85 billion
7  4  Ida 2021 $75 billion
8  ET  Sandy 2012 $65 billion
9  4  Irma 2017 $52.1 billion
10  2  Ike 2008 $30 billion

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) 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

See also: Murphy Oil USA refinery spill
Large oil spills caused by Hurricane Katrina
Spills exceeding 10,000 US gallons (38,000 L)
Spill Location Quantity
(US gal) (L)
Bass Enterprises (Cox Bay) 3,780,000 14,300,000
Shell (Pilot Town) 1,050,000 4,000,000
Chevron (Empire) 991,000 3,750,000
Murphy Oil (Meraux and Chalmette) 819,000 3,100,000
Bass Enterprises (Pointe à la Hache) 461,000 1,750,000
Chevron (Port Fourchon) 53,000 200,000
Venice Energy Services (Venice) 25,000 95,000
Shell Pipeline Oil (Nairn) 13,440 50,900
Sundown Energy (West Potash) 13,000 49,000

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) 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 Chandeleur Islands, before Katrina (left) and after (right), showing the impact of the storm along coastal areas.

The storm caused oil spills from 44 facilities throughout southeastern Louisiana, which resulted in over 7 million US gallons (26,000 m) 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. The toxic floodwaters were also a danger for New Orleans, due to the presence of petrochemical chemicals and industrial toxins close to the city. Thomas La Point, director of the Institute of Applied Sciences at the University of North Texas, stated that " toxic soup would be a good way to describe the situation".

Reestablishing governance

Further information: Effects of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans § Civil disturbances
U.S. Army Infantry on patrol in New Orleans in an area previously underwater, September 2005.
A Border Patrol Special Response Team searches a hotel room-by-room in New Orleans in response to Hurricane Katrina.

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. On September 30, the New Orleans Police Department confirmed that 12 police officers were participating in looting and property theft.

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

Chart showing some common uses of the FEMA marking system in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina
President Bush stands with Donald Rumsfeld, Elaine Chao, and 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.

Some disaster relief response to Katrina began before the storm, with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) preparations that ranged from logistical supply deployments to a mortuary team with refrigerated trucks. A network of volunteers began rendering assistance to local residents and residents emerging from New Orleans and surrounding parishes as soon as the storm made landfall (even though many were directed to not enter the area), and continued for more than six months after the storm

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 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

Main article: Criticism of the government response to Hurricane Katrina
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

Main article: International response to Hurricane Katrina
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.

Israel sent an IDF delegation to New Orleans to transport aid equipment including 80 tons of food, disposable diapers, beds, blankets, generators and additional equipment which were donated from different governmental institutions, civilian institutions, and the IDF. The Bush administration announced in mid-September that it did not need Israeli divers and physicians to come to the United States for search and rescue missions, but a small team landed in New Orleans on September 10 to give assistance to operations already underway. The team administered first aid to survivors, rescued abandoned pets and discovered hurricane victims.

Countries like Sri Lanka, which was still recovering from a tsunami last year, 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

Residents of Louisiana, who had to flee their homes because of Hurricane Katrina, are inside the Houston Astrodome and being helped by the Red Cross and other agencies and associations.

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 used 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 used 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

Main article: 2005 levee failures in Greater New Orleans
A map of levee breaches in New Orleans

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 that 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.

Funding battles continue over the remaining levee improvements. In February 2008, the Bush administration requested that the state of Louisiana pay about $1.5 billion of an estimated $7.2 billion for Corps of Engineers levee work (in accordance with the principles of local cost-sharing required by Congress as early as the Flood Control Act of 1928), a proposal which angered many Louisiana leaders. On May 2, 2008, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal used a speech to The National Press Club to request that President Bush free up money to complete work on Louisiana's levees. Bush promised to include the levee funding in his 2009 budget but rejected the idea of including the funding in a war bill, which would pass sooner.

Media involvement

Main article: Media coverage of Hurricane Katrina

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 Sun Herald. 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...."

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.

Retirement

See also: List of retired Atlantic hurricane names

Because of the high death toll and widespread property destruction along the U.S. Gulf Coast, the name Katrina was retired from the Atlantic hurricane naming lists in April 2006 by the World Meteorological Organization. The name will never again be used for another tropical cyclone in the Atlantic basin. It was replaced with Katia for the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season.

Reconstruction

Main article: Reconstruction of New Orleans
Volunteers from AmeriCorps in New Orleans, January 2006

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.

Records

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.

See also

Other similar tropical cyclones:

  • Hurricane Betsy (1965) – Category 4 hurricane which had a similar track in the Gulf to Katrina; the first billion-dollar hurricane on record.
  • Hurricane Camille (1969) – Category 5 hurricane that made the second-strongest U.S. landfall on record; impacted similar areas to Katrina.
  • Hurricane Andrew (1992) - Category 5 hurricane that took a similar track and devastated similar areas.
  • Hurricane Rita (2005) – Category 5 hurricane which struck the Gulf Coast of the United States at Category 3 intensity just a month after Katrina impacted Louisiana.
  • Hurricane Harvey (2017) – Category 4 hurricane that made landfall in Texas and is the wettest cyclone in U.S. history; tied with Katrina as the costliest tropical cyclone on record
  • Hurricane Laura (2020) – Category 4 hurricane which struck near Cameron, Louisiana at peak intensity just one day prior to Katrina's 15th anniversary.
  • Hurricane Ida (2021) – Category 4 hurricane which made landfall in Louisiana at peak intensity on the same day of Katrina's 16th anniversary.

Notes

  1. The storm category color indicates the intensity of the hurricane when landfalling in the U.S.

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