Hurricane Katrina (Blog Update #3)

These posts will be about extreme weather events that have taken place across the United States. I will offer information on them as well as some pictures and video.

Hurricane Katrina was a Category 5 hurricane that rapidly intensified in the Gulf of Mexico and struck the southeastern portions of the U.S. in 2005. At the time it was the costliest hurricane on record causing $125 billion in damage. It also lead to the deaths of over 1,800 people.

The city of New Orleans was devasted by this hurricane. Flooding was the reason for most of the loss of lives. There were fatal engineering flaws in the flood protection system around the city as levees broke completely flooding the city.

Map plotting the track and the intensity of the storm.

Much of the emergency response from federal, state and local governments were widely criticized and lead to the resignations of many people at all government levels in emergency management positions.

A video done by National Geographic walks you through day-by-day of the event of Hurricane Katrina.

Flooding of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina had passed.