Special Reports
Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina was a hurricane that at its peak had a strength classification of Category 5 before later being downgraded to a Category 4 at its second most significant landfall. Extensive and severe damage was caused by the hurricane across the Gulf Coast region of the southeastern United States, including Louisiana's largest city, New Orleans, on August 29, 2005.

Federal disaster declarations blanketed 90,000 square miles (233,000 km²) of the United States, an area almost as large as the United Kingdom. The hurricane left an estimated five million people without power, and it may be up to two months before all power is restored. Disaster relief plans are in operation in the affected areas.

Early in the morning of August 30, 2005 and as a direct result of Hurricane Katrina, breakages in the levee system in New Orleans caused a second and even greater disaster. Heavy flooding covered the entire city over a sustained period, forcing the total evacuation of over a million people. The city was now uninhabitable, due to its being below sea level meaning that the water had nowhere to go.

On September 3, 2005 US 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.

Katrina may be the deadliest hurricane in the United States since the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, which killed around 8,000 (possibly up to 12,000) people. As of 7 PM CDT September 1, 2005, more than 20,000 are still reported missing. New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin stated on August 31 that the death toll of Katrina may be "in the thousands", which was confirmed by emergency responders through a statement by Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco on September 1. Accurate numbers are not known. Damage was reported in at least 12 states.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) issued a statement on August 23 saying that Tropical Depression Twelve had formed over the southeastern Bahamas. 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 August 20, and there is no way to tell whether the remnants of T.D. Ten should be credited with this storm. (This is different from Hurricane Ivan in the 2004 season, when the NHC ruled that Ivan did indeed reform; the remnant of Ivan that regenerated in the Gulf of Mexico was a distinct system from the moment Ivan originally dissipated to the moment it regained tropical storm strength[1].)

The system was upgraded to Tropical Storm Katrina on the morning of August 24. Katrina became the fourth hurricane of the 2005 season on August 25 and made landfall later that day around 6:30 p.m. between Hallandale Beach and Aventura, Florida.

Katrina spent only a few hours over South Florida. Katrina was predicted to go across South and Southwest Florida. However, Katrina moved farther to the south than expected and soon regained hurricane strength after emerging into the Gulf of Mexico on the morning of August 26. Katrina then quickly strengthened to Category 2 and its pressure dropped to 971 mbar, which prompted a special update from the NHC at 11:30 a.m. EDT (1530 UTC). At 5:00 a.m. EDT (0900 UTC) on August 27, Katrina's pressure dropped to 945 mbar and it was upgraded to Category 3. The same day President Bush declared a state of emergency in Louisiana, two days before the hurricane made landfall [2].

At 12:40 a.m. CDT (0540 UTC) on August 28, Katrina was upgraded to Category 4. Later that morning, Katrina went through a period of rapid intensification, with its maximum sustained winds reaching as high as 175 mph (280 km/h) (well above the Category 5 threshold of 156 mph (250 km/h)) and a pressure of 906 mbar by 1:00 p.m. CDT. Nonetheless, on August 29 the system made landfall as a strong Category 4 hurricane at 6:15 a.m. CDT near Buras-Triumph, Louisiana with maximum sustained winds of 145 mph (235 km/h).

Katrina, which affected a very wide swath of land covering a good portion of eastern North America, was last seen in the eastern Great Lakes region. Before being absorbed by the frontal boundary, Katrina's last known position was over southeast Quebec and northern New Brunswick. Its lowest minimum pressure at landfall was 918 mbar, making it the third strongest hurricane on record to make landfall on the United States. A 15 to 30 foot (5 to 9 m) storm surge came ashore on virtually the entire coastline from Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama to Florida. The 30 foot (10 m) storm surge recorded at Biloxi, Mississippi is the highest ever observed in America.

At 11 p.m. EDT on August 31 (0300 UTC, September 1), 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 Canada, with no discernible circulation.

The Hydrometeorological Prediction Center's last public advisory on Katrina was at 11 p.m. EDT Wed 31 August 2005 and the Canadian Hurricane Centre's last public advisory on Katrina was at 8 a.m. EDT Wed 31 August 2005.

There were tornado reports near Adams and Cumberland counties, Pennsylvania also in Fauquier, Virginia and in Atlanta, Georgia; in White County, Georgia; at Helen, Georgia; and Mobile, Alabama.

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 Georgia. There was major damage in Helen, GA, destroying homes and a hotel.

Katrina was the third most intense hurricane to hit the United States in recorded history. In the Atlantic Basin it achieved the status of the fourth lowest central pressure ever recorded.

Many estimates predict that Katrina was the costliest storm in history to strike the United States, surpassing Hurricane Andrew which ravaged Miami-Dade County, Florida, in 1992.

By death toll

In terms of fatalities it was the second deadliest named storm to hit the US, and may be declared the deadliest after more casualties are discovered.

It is not yet known whether this storm will leave as many fatalities behind as the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 which killed an estimated 8,000–12,000, because New Orleans is still under water and may continue to be for several months. News reports initially claimed that Katrina would be the deadliest hurricane since Hurricane Camille (which killed 256) in 1969 [3]. Katrina has since far surpassed that number. The deadliest named storm in the United States prior to Katrina was Hurricane Audrey in 1957 which officially killed 390, although up to 160 more were never accounted for. Roughly 20,000 people are still believed to be missing as of September 1, so it is possible that this will be the most profound disaster of any kind in U.S. history.

For comparison. the deadliest named Atlantic storm was Hurricane Mitch, which killed over 18,000 people in Central America in 1998; the deadliest Atlantic storm on record was the Great Hurricane of 1780, which killed over 22,000; and the deadliest tropical cyclone on record anywhere is the 1970 Bhola cyclone, which killed at least 150,000 (some figures are closer to 500,000) people in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).

Other USA hurricanes

Katrina has been compared with Hurricane Camille in that the hurricane was also an intense Category 5 storm which made landfall in the same general area. Katrina has also drawn comparisons to Hurricane Betsy, because of its similar track and potential effects on New Orleans. In 1965, Betsy struck New Orleans after passing over the Florida Keys, causing over $1.5 billion USD 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, Betsy was only a fast-moving Category 3 hurricane, limiting its potential for devastation, while Katrina was a massive, slow-moving Category 4 storm. For Katrina, some potential damage estimates exceed the $36 billion damage (in current dollars) caused by Hurricane Andrew (previously the most destructive natural disaster to have hit the United States).

Other USA city devastations/disasters

Katrina also caused the first total devastation of a major American city since the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and subsequent fires.

Other disasters in New Orleans

This is the greatest disaster in New Orleans since its founding in 1700's.

Other levee disasters

There has been no other levee breach in the USA causing such a level of death or evacuation. There has been greater devastation by levee breaches in other parts of the world, however: the 1931 Huang He flood and following levee breaches killed millions.

Comparison to other evacuations/refugee crisis

Other cites which have been evacuated are. In 1999 the Kosovo War led to 800,000 refugees leaving Kosovo and being accommodated for up to 3 months in other parts of Europe. In September 1939, at the outset of the Second World War, London 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.

Florida had little advance warning when Katrina strengthened from a tropical storm to a hurricane in one day, and struck southern Florida later that same day, on August 25.

On August 27, after Katrina crossed southern Florida and strengthened to Category 3, the President declared a state of emergency in Louisiana, two days before the hurricane made landfall [4]. This declaration activated efforts by Federal Emergency Management Agency to position stockpiles of food, water and medical supplies throughout Louisiana and Mississippi more than a day before Katrina made landfall. On August 28 the National Weather Service issued a bulletin predicting "devastating" damage rivaling the intensity of Hurricane Camille. The risk of devastation from a direct hit, however, was well documented. The Times-Picayune newspaper did a series on it [Wall Street Journal Online, by Joe Hagan, 8-31-05, p. A5]. National Geographic Magazine ran a feature in October 2004. 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 .

The city of New Orleans was considered to be particularly at risk since most of it is below sea level and it was likely that the expected storm surge would flood the city after topping the surrounding levees.

At a news conference 10 a.m. on August 28, shortly after Katrina was upgraded to a Category 5 storm, New Orleans mayor C. Ray Nagin, calling Katrina "a storm that most of us have long feared", ordered the first ever mandatory evacuation of the city. With roughly one-quarter of the city's residents without access to cars and 23.7% of families living below the poverty line, they lacked transportation or the means to pay for it. Many others who had transportation chose to stay with some rationalizing that since they had been through prior hurricanes okay, that they expected a similar outcome (this same thought process occurred in Mississippi where citizens there had survived Hurricane Camille and assumed they could to the same for Katrina). Their decision to stay would further compound the situation. It is not yet known how many of those trapped in New Orleans were 1) poor or 2) able-bodied (i.e. had a car) yet chose to stay. Future analysis of Motor Vehicle Registration, Census and Social Security Information, and Death Certificates may help to clarify these numbers. Nagin established several "refuges of last resort" for citizens who could not leave the city, including the massive Louisiana Superdome, which housed over 9,000 people along with 550 National Guard troops when Katrina came ashore . A National Guard official said on Thursday, September 1 that as many as 60,000 people had gathered at the Superdome for evacuation, having remained there in increasingly difficult circumstances .

Mandatory evacuations were also ordered for Assumption, Jefferson (Kenner, Metairie, as well as Grand Isle and other low lying areas), Lafourche (outside the floodgates), Plaquemines, St. Charles and St. James parishes and parts of Tangipahoa and Terrebonne parishes in Louisiana.

In Alabama, evacuations were ordered for parts of Mobile and Baldwin counties (including Gulf Shores). In Mississippi, evacuations were ordered for parts of Hancock, Harrison and Jackson counties.

On Sunday, August 28, Canadian National Railway (CN) suspended all rail traffic on its lines south of McComb, Mississippi (lines owned by its subsidiary Illinois Central Railroad that extend into New Orleans, Louisiana), in anticipation of damage from the hurricane. To help ease the resumption of services after the storm passes, CN also issued an embargo with the Association of American Railroads against all deliveries to points south of Osyka, Mississippi [11]. CSX Transportation also suspended service south of Montgomery, Alabama until further notice. The CSX (former Louisville and Nashville Railroad) 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 August 30.

Amtrak, America's rail passenger carrier, announced that the southbound City of New Orleans passenger trains from Chicago, Illinois, on August 29 and through September 3 will terminate in Memphis, Tennessee, rather than their usual destination of New Orleans; the corresponding northbound trains will also originate in Memphis. The southbound Crescent from New York, New York, for the same period will terminate in Atlanta, Georgia, with the corresponding northbound trains originating in Atlanta as well. Amtrak's westbound Sunset Limited will originate in San Antonio, Texas, rather than its normal origin point of Orlando, Florida. Amtrak announced that no alternate transportation options will be made available into or out of the affected area during this time.

The Waterford nuclear power plant was shut down on Sunday, August 28, before Katrina's arrival.

The frigates USS Stephen W. Groves and USS John L. Hall sailed from their home port of Pascagoula to avoid the path of the storm. Aircraft stationed at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi (ironically home to the Air Force's fleet of WC-130 Hurricane Hunter aircraft), Pensacola and Whiting Field Naval Air Stations near Pensacola, Florida, and at Eglin Air Force Base and Hurlburt Field near Fort Walton Beach, Florida, were also evacuated.

Areas affected include southern Florida, Louisiana (especially the Greater New Orleans area), Mississippi, Alabama, the western Florida Panhandle, western and north Georgia were affected by tornadoes, the Tennessee Valley and Ohio Valley regions, the eastern Great Lakes region and the length of the western Appalachians. Over 300 deaths have been reported in seven states, a number which is expected to rise as casualty reports come in from areas currently inaccessible. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin 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

Those most affected, stranded or dead are predominantly poor people, the sick and the elderly as those groups didn't have the means or ability to evacuate before the storm hit.

By September 2, NOAA had published satellite photography of many of the affected regions.

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 winds, flooding, storm surge or oceanic effects of Katrina. Indirect deaths indicate those caused by hurricane-related accidents (including car accidents), fires or other incidents, as well as clean-up incidents and health issues.

However, the projected death toll may be much higher especially in New Orleans, but efforts are focusing on rescue and restoring order, rather than recovery of the dead. On 31 August, the Mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin told reporters that the hurricane probably killed thousands of people in the city.

This view was confirmed on September 1 by U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu who said "We understand there are thousands of dead people".

In a press conference broadcast live on 4WWL at 1915 UTC on September 1 Governor Kathleen Blanco 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.

On September 3 US Senator David Vitter 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.

Aside from the lack of water, food, shelter, 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 dehydration and food poisoning, there is also a potential for West Nile virus, St. Louis Encephalitis, tuberculosis, hepatitis A, cholera and typhoid fever, 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 Secretary of Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt announced that the DHHS 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 asthma, will have health complications due to toxic mold and airborne irritants. In Gulfport, Mississippi, 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.

Hundreds of reports have poured into Louisiana (and other) authorities regarding "price gouging" on products like gasoline and bottled water, or of hotels dishonoring reservations in favor of accepting larger offers for rooms by desperate travellers. The three major U.S. TV networks' nightly news programs have shown images of a BP gas station selling gasoline for over $6.00 per US gallon ($1.59/L). Another BP station in Stockbridge, Georgia, south of Atlanta, was selling gas at $5.87 per US 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 US gallon ($0.66/L). During this time the average price of gas per gallon has reached a new all time high.

Many critics have noted that while the local government gave a mandatory evacuation order on August 28, before the storm hit, they did not make provisions to evacuate the large numbers of homeless, low-income people, the elderly, the infirm or car-less households. Evacuation was mainly left up to individual citizens to find their own way out of the city. Officials knew that many residents of New Orleans lack cars. A 2000 census revealed that 27% of New Orleans households, amounting to approximately 120,000 people, were without privately-owned transportation. Officials also did not take into account the fact that New Orleans has one of the highest poverty rates in the United States at about 38%. These factors 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.

The question of demographics has been raised in the media as news media video and photographs showed primarily black citizens stranded in New Orleans. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus, Black Leadership Forum, National Conference of State Legislators, National Urban League and the NAACP held a news conference expressing anger and charging that the response was slow because those most affected are poor and black.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 "refugees".

On September 2, while presenting on the NBC Concert for Hurricane Relief, rapper Kanye West strayed from his script and addressed what he perceived as the racism of both the government and of the media, finally stating: "George Bush doesn't care about black people." and called for the media to stop labelling African-Americans as the only ones responsible for the chaos in New Orleans. (West's commments 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 a denouncement of the comments.) In addition, the media has been saturated with apocalyptic-type messages in reference to the hurricane which, in itself, can contribute to the victim's sense of trauma, isolation, and abandonment.

Conservative commentator Lou Dobbs of CNN stated, "We should put in context, it seems to me also, that the city of New Orleans is 70% black, its mayor is black, its principal power structure is black, and if there is a failure to the black Americans, who live in poverty and in the city of New Orleans, those officials have to bear much of the responsibility."

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates the 2004 New Orleans population to be 20.0% white and 67.9% black.


President George W. Bush and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin September 2, 2005.Criticism of local and national government response is widespread in the media, as reports continued to show hunger, deaths and lack of aid.About 6,200 Army and Air National Guard troops were on duty in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida when Katrina struck, and by Wednesday the 31st, 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 National Guard 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.

Media reports have also criticized the fact that National Guard units are short staffed in Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama because they are currently on a tour of duty in Iraq, including 3,000 members of the Louisiana National Guard's 256th Brigade.The failure to immediately evacuate or re-supply New Orleans area hospitals, and the lack of a visible FEMA presence in the city and surrounding area as raised concerns in the press.

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 Corps 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. 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.