THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Katrina’s Waters Raged, Devastating New Orleans

Remembering Hurricane Katrina 19 years ago

One of the houses in the 9th Ward in New Orleans. Photo by author

On this day in 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans head-on with 175 mile winds causing 1,392 fatalities and over $190 billion in damage.

Katrina was the third named hurricane of the season. It quickly formed and strengthened, hitting Hallandale Beach, Florida. It bounced off Florida and blew across warm water in the Gulf of Mexico gaining steam again to be classified as a Category 5 hurricane.

When it hit Louisiana, it pushed the water up (storm surge,) into the city of New Orleans. The immense power of the water broke New Orleans’ levees, concrete walls designed to hold the water back from neighborhoods and infrastructure. Eighty percent of the city was flooded for weeks.

The massive flooding caused by the storm made it one of history’s worst natural disasters in America, as the city’s infrastructure, electrical grid and emergency response crumbled. Neighborhoods, like the 9th Ward, were under water with people waiting for rescue for days. Thousands of people lost their homes.

Those who could make it to emergency shelters found conditions deplorable. Thirty thousand people poured into the Louisiana Superdome for refuge, causing a…