Hurricane Katrin Powerful Storm Turned Deadly Catastrophe

Hurricane Katrina: Powerful Storm Turned Deadly Catastrophe On the morning of August 29, 2005, New Orleans, Louisiana became the site of one of the worst natural disasters in United States history – Hurricane Katrina. Ranked as the single most costly natural disaster and one of the five deadliest hurricanes in the United States, Hurricane Katrina was certainly not an average storm. The hurricane itself did not appear to be extremely abnormal, as Atlantic hurricanes of similar or greater magnitudes have made landfall in the gulf coast over the last 50 years (Keller, 329). However, none of them caused nearly as much damage and death as Hurricane Katrina. With monetary damages of over $125 billion and 1,833 fatalities, it is clear that the†¦show more content†¦Hurricane Katrina moved over Florida at an abnormally slow pace for hurricanes (about 8 mph) which meant that it had more time to cause damages in the state. When it reached the Gulf of Mexico it became a Category Three storm, which is the minimum classification necessary to be called a major hurricane according to the Saffir-Simpson Scale. As the storm moved across the Gulf of Mexico, it crossed paths with a circular movement of water called the Eddy Vortex in which â€Å"the water temperature†¦[was] warmer than the surrounding ocean.† Because warm ocean surface temperatures are a key ingredient in intensifying hurricanes, that gave rise to Hurricane Katrina growing into from a Category Three to a Category Five storm in â€Å"less than 12 hours† (Keller, 352). The fact that Hurricane Katrina was a Category Five storm when it was over the Gulf of Mexico is important when looking at the hurricane’s effects on the Gulf Coast. One big contributor to onshore damage from hurricanes is the storm surge, or the â€Å"continual increase in sea level as the storm approaches landfall† (Keller, 346). Especially in low lying areas with elevations near 0 feet, storm surge c an be very devastating. Due to its Category Five intensity over the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Katrina had a storm surge that got up to as high as 28 feet, which is extremely high. To put this in comparison, the average storm surge for a Category Three hurricane is only around 9-12 feet while the average for a Category