One of the deadliest hurricanes to hit the United States, Katrina began on August 23, 2005, as a tropical cyclone over the Bahamas and then moved toward southeastern Florida.
In no time, the tropical storm transformed into a category 1 hurricane and was getting closer to Miami.
NHC weather officials announced that Katrina had transformed into a category 3 storm as it moved closer to the center of the Gulf of Mexico; then it grew into a category 5 storm, putting the coasts of Louisiana, Alabama, and western Florida under real threat.
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin announced a mandatory evacuation; some people couldn’t leave, and others didn’t want to. Soon the storm cut the power and destroyed homes all along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
The intense wind wasn’t the only danger New Orleans faced; the levee system that held back the waters of Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne was another major threat, and soon 80 percent of the city was flooded.
In a 2006 federal report, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers admitted that the flood-control system surrounding the city was insufficient and improperly maintained. “The hurricane protection system in New Orleans and southeast Louisiana was a system in name only,” per the report.
As the storm calmed, around 30,000 people were looking for shelter, food and water quickly became an issue, and people staying in the damaged Superdome and Convention Center were moved to the Astrodome in Houston after another mandatory evacuation. It wasn’t until the day after that Military convoys and the National Guard arrived with supplies and tried to restore control as problems escalated.
Katrina caused more than 1,400 deaths and around $200 billion in damage.
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