There is no particular person for whom Hurricane Katrina was named. Rather, the hurricane was named in accordance with the World Meteorological Organization ’s lists of hurricane names, which rotate every six years. Following the historical damage inflicted by Hurricane Katrina, the name “Katrina” was retired from the lists of names.
Why was Katrina so devastating?
Why was Katrina so devastating? It was so destructive primarily because levees around New Orleans, Louisiana failed. Levees are water barriers built to prevent flooding (parts of New Orleans have an elevation that is lower than sea level).
How many deaths were caused by Hurricane Katrina?
There is still some debate about the number of people killed by Hurricane Katrina. Estimates range from 1,245 to 1,833. The National Hurricane Center states that 1,833 fatalities are directly or indirectly related to Hurricane Katrina, reporting that 1,577 people died in Louisiana, 238 in Mississippi, 14 in Florida, 2 in Georgia, and 2 in Alabama.
How did the federal government fail during Hurricane Katrina?
Weather forecasters warned government officials about Katrina’s approach, so they should have been ready for it. But they were not, and Katrina exposed major failures in America’s disaster preparedness and response systems. Here are some of the federal failures: Confusion. Key federal officials were not proactive, they gave faulty information to the public, and they were not adequately trained.
What was the total damage of Hurricane Katrina?
Total damages. The total damages from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita were $150 billion — $135 billion from Katrina and $15 billion from Rita. (2) Recovery funding. Of the $120.5 billion in federal spending, the majority — approximately $75 billion — went to emergency relief, not rebuilding.
How do hurricane get their names?
NOAA's National Hurricane Center does not control the naming of tropical storms. Instead, there is a strict procedure established by the World Meteorological Organization. For Atlantic hurricanes, there is a list of male and female names which are used on a six-year rotation.
Why do they name hurricanes and not tornadoes?
Instead, the World Meteorological Organization tried using names, in part because “naming storms made it easier for the media to report.” In turn, the decision to name hurricanes has heightened interest in warnings and increased community preparation ahead of the storms, the organization said.
Where did Hurricane Katrina come from?
On August 23rd, a tropical depression formed over the southeastern Bahamas, becoming Tropical Storm Katrina on August 24th as it moved into the central Bahamas.
Why are hurricanes named after people?
During World War II, U.S. Air Force and Navy meteorologists plotting storms over the Pacific needed a better way to denote hurricanes while analyzing weather maps. Many began paying tribute to their wives and girlfriends back home by naming tropical cyclones after them.
Why all hurricane names are female?
Although there was plenty of precedent for naming storms after both women and men, the U.S. decided in the early 1950s to settle on a system that only used female names. It's not entirely clear why, but the maritime tradition of referring to the ocean as a woman may have played a factor.
What's the worst hurricane in history?
Hurricane Ian hit parts of Florida with "catastrophic" winds and flooding in September.The Galveston Hurricane of 1900 was, and still is, the deadliest hurricane to hit the United States. ... A large section of Galveston was destroyed by the storm. ... The Miami Hurricane of 1926 crippled Florida for decades.More items...•
Why was Katrina so powerful?
It was so destructive primarily because levees around New Orleans, Louisiana failed. Levees are water barriers built to prevent flooding (parts of New Orleans have an elevation that is lower than sea level). When the levees failed, huge areas of the cities flooded.
Where did Katrina hit the hardest?
New OrleansKatrina caused over 1,800 deaths and $100 billion in damage. New Orleans was particularly hit hard due to flooding. The hurricane's 19-foot storm surge broke through the city's flood walls and the levees.
How long did Katrina last?
August 23, 2005 – August 31, 2005Hurricane Katrina / Date
Are all hurricane names female?
That year, the United States began using female names for storms. The practice of naming hurricanes solely after women came to an end in 1978 when men's and women's names were included in the Eastern North Pacific storm lists. In 1979, male and female names were included in lists for the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico.
Is Katrina a retired hurricane name?
The current list of names recycles every six years, unless a hurricane gets its name retired....Atlantic Storms Retired Into Hurricane History.YearNameAreas Affected2005RitaLouisiana, Texas, Florida2005KatrinaLouisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida75 more rows
Are all storms female names?
But what about storms? According the Met Office, storms alternate between male and female names, which are alphabetised each year. They do this to raise awareness of these drastic weather conditions and make them easier to follow on TV and social media platforms. So what do we have this year?
Can a hurricane turn into a tornado?
Hurricanes are notorious for their strong winds, storm surge and torrential rains, but another threat they form is tornadoes. Tornadoes spawning from a tropical storm or hurricane once it makes landfall is not uncommon. It is actually more rare to not see at least one tornado spawned from these spinning storms.
Why do people evacuate for a hurricane but not for a tornado?
Also, due to the difference in time scales, people can evacuate an area prior to a hurricane landfall, but there is no time to evacuate an area before a tornado strikes.
Is a tornado a hurricane?
The most obvious difference between a tornadoe and hurricane is that a hurricane's horizontal scale is about a thousand times larger than a tornado. In addition, hurricanes and tornadoes form under different circumstances and have different impacts on the atmosphere.
Is Katrina Retired name?
Any nation impacted by a severe hurricane can lobby the WMO to have the hurricane's name retired. From 1950 - 2011, 76 hurricanes had their names retired....Atlantic Storms Retired Into Hurricane History.YearNameAreas Affected2005KatrinaLouisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida2005DennisCuba, Florida75 more rows
Overview
Impact
On August 29, 2005, Katrina's storm surge caused 53 breaches to various flood protection structures in and around the greater New Orleans area, submerging 80% of the city. A June 2007 report by the American Society of Civil Engineers indicated that two-thirds of the flooding was caused by the multiple failures of the city's floodwalls. The storm surge also devastated the coasts of Mississip…
Meteorological history
Hurricane Katrina originated from the merger of a tropical wave and the mid-level remnants of Tropical Depression Ten on August 19, 2005, near the Lesser Antilles. On August 23, the disturbance organized into Tropical Depression Twelve over the southeastern Bahamas. The storm strengthened into Tropical Storm Katrina on the morning of August 24. The tropical storm moved towards Florida and became a hurricane only two hours before making landfall between H…
Preparations
The United States Coast Guard began pre-positioning resources in a ring around the expected impact zone and activated more than 400 reservists. On August 27, it moved its personnel out of the New Orleans region prior to the mandatory evacuation. Aircrews from the Aviation Training Center, in Mobile, staged rescue aircraft from Texas to Florida. All aircraft were returning towards the Gulf of M…
Aftermath
The economic effects of the storm reached high levels. The Bush Administration sought $105 billion for repairs and reconstruction in the region, which did not account for damage to the economy caused by potential interruption of the oil supply, destruction of the Gulf Coast's highway infrastructure, and exports of commodities such as grain. Katrina damaged or destroyed 30 oil platforms an…
Reconstruction
Reconstruction of each section of the southern portion of Louisiana has been addressed in the Army Corps LACPR (Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration) Final Technical Report, which identifies areas to not be rebuilt and areas where buildings need to be elevated.
The Technical Report includes:
Records
Katrina is the costliest tropical cyclone on record, tying with Hurricane Harvey in 2017. The storm was the fourth-most intense Atlantic hurricane on record to make landfall in the contiguous United States, behind the 1935 Labor Day hurricane, Hurricane Camille in 1969, and Hurricane Michael in 2018. Katrina was also the earliest eleventh named storm in the Atlantic until Tropical Storm Kyle surpassed it on August 14, 2020, beating Katrina by 10 days, as it was named on August 24, 2005.
See also
• List of Atlantic hurricanes
• List of Category 5 Atlantic hurricanes
• List of Florida hurricanes (2000–present)
• Wetlands of Louisiana
Hurricane Katrina: Before The Storm
Levee Failures
- Before the storm, officials worried that surge could overtop some levees and cause short-term flooding, but no one predicted levees might collapse below their designed height. Neighborhoods that sat below sea level, many of which housed the city’s poorest and most vulnerable people, were at great risk of flooding. The day before Katrina hit, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin issued t…
Hurricane Katrina: The Aftermath
- Many people acted heroically in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The Coast Guard rescued some 34,000 people in New Orleans alone, and many ordinary citizens commandeered boats, offered food and shelter, and did whatever else they could to help their neighbors. Yet the government–particularly the federal government–seemed unprepared for the disaster. The Fede…
Failures in Government Response
- For one thing, many had nowhere to go. At the Superdome in New Orleans, where supplies had been limited to begin with, officials accepted 15,000 more refugees from the storm on Monday before locking the doors. City leaders had no real plan for anyone else. Tens of thousands of people desperate for food, water and shelter broke into the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center c…
Political Fallout from Hurricane Katrina
- In the wake of the storm's devastating effects, local, state and federal governments were criticized for their slow, inadequate response, as well as for the levee failures around New Orleans. And officials from different branches of government were quick to direct the blame at each other. "We wanted soldiers, helicopters, food and water," Denise Bottcher, press secretary f…
Changes Since Katrina
- The failures in response during Katrina spurred a series of reforms initiated by Congress. Chief among them was a requirement that all levels of government train to execute coordinated plans of disaster response. In the decade following Katrina, FEMA paid out billions in grants to ensure better preparedness. Meanwhile, the Army Corps of Engineers built a $14 billion network of leve…