Hurricane Katrina

From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change

Hurricane Katrina

Category 5 hurricane (SSHS)

Hurricane Katrina at its strongest strength on August 28, 2005

Formed

August 23, 2005

Dissipated

August 31, 2005

Highest
winds

175 mph (280 km/h) (1-minute sustained)

Lowest pressure

902 mbar (hPa; 26.65 inHg)

Deaths

1,836 total

Damage

$81.2 billion (2005 USD)
$84 billion (2006 USD)
(Costliest Atlantic hurricane in history)

Areas
affected

Bahamas, South Florida, Cuba, Louisiana (especially Greater New Orleans), Mississippi, Alabama, Florida Panhandle, most of eastern North America

Part of the
2005 Atlantic hurricane season

Hurricane Katrina was a strong hurricane that did a lot of damage to the city of New Orleans, Louisiana in the United States on August 29, 2005. Parts of the states of Mississippi and Alabama were also badly damaged. It was the most expensive and one of the deadliest natural disaster in the history of the United States (at $84 billion in damage). Over 1,800 people were killed by the storm. Katrina destroyed much of the Southern States, many cities needed full evacuation.

Hurricane Katrina was the eleventh tropical storm, fifth hurricane, and the second Category 5 hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. The storm formed over the Bahamas on August 23, where it moved east and hit Florida as a Category 1 hurricane two days later. Katrina then crossed over Florida and strengthened into a Category 5 hurricane over the Gulf of Mexico. The storm then made its last landfalls over Louisiana and Mississippi on the morning of August 29. The leftovers of Katrina then died out over the Great Lakes on August 31.

The damages Katrina brought were so bad that 80% of New Orleans was flooded when the levees to the city broke.^[1] Most of the people killed by Katrina were thought to be from drowning. Because of Katrina's effect on the United States of America, the hurricane was known to be one of the most deadly hurricanes in US history.

1 Storm history
2 See also
3 References
4 Other websites

[change] Storm history

Main article: Meteorological history of Hurricane Katrina

Storm path

Hurricane Katrina began as Tropical Depression Twelve over the southeastern Bahamas on August 23, 2005. The depression later strengthened into a tropical storm on the morning of August 24 where the storm was also named Katrina. Katrina continued to move into Florida, and became a Category 1 hurricane only two hours before it made landfall around Hallandale Beach on the morning of August 25. The storm weakened over land, but became a hurricane again while entering the Gulf of Mexico.^[2]

Katrina began to gain strength very quickly after entering the Gulf, partly because of the storm moving over to the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.^[3] On August 27, Hurricane Katrina reached Category 3 strength on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, becoming the third major hurricane of the season. An "eyewall replacement cycle" once made Katrina stop becoming stronger for a short moment, but made Katrina to become nearly twice as large in the end.

Katrina again began to become quickly strengthen, reaching Category 5 strength on the morning of August 28 and reached its strongest point with maximum sustained winds of 175 mph (280 km/h) and a minimum central pressure of 902 mbar. Katrina's minimal pressure measurement made it the fourth most powerful Atlantic hurricane on record at the time, only to be beaten by Hurricanes Rita and Wilma later in the season. In addition, Katrina was also the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Gulf of Mexico at the time (a record also later broken by Rita).^[2]

Katrina made its second landfall on August 29 as a Category 3 hurricane with sustained winds of 125 mph (205 km/h) near Buras-Triumph, Louisiana.^[2] At landfall, hurricane-force winds reached outward 120 miles (190 km) from the center and the storm's central pressure was 920 mbar. After moving over southeastern Louisiana, it made its third landfall near the Louisiana/Mississippi border with 120 mph (195 km/h) sustained winds, still at Category 3 intensity.^[2]

Katrina kept its hurricane strength well into Mississippi, but began to weaken later, finally losing hurricane strength more than 150 miles (240 km) inland near Meridian, Mississippi. Katrina weakened to a tropical depression near Clarksville, Tennessee, but its remnants were last seen around the eastern Great Lakes on August 31 when it became extratropical. The leftover extratropical cyclone moved quickly to the northeast and affected Ontario and Quebec.^[2]