Hurricane Katrina

Disaster: Hurricane hits city
Date: Aug. 29, 2005
Deaths: Over 1,800

Lesson Learned: Make sure your defenses are strong. In New Orleans case make sure the walls holding back the sea are repaired every so often.

Interesting fact: Hurricane Katrina is the most expensive disaster in America's history!

For video of Superdome 2005 http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2010/08/24/vo.katrina.superdome.2005.cnn

Photo from: http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?55104-Hurricane-Katrina
What started out as a category 1 hurricane by the Bahamas changed into a category 4 hurricane in six days. On Aug 29, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans with 170mph winds and brought devastating rain. Due to New Orleans being below sea level, roughly 80 percent of the city was under water. Katrina was not the only reason why New Orleans flooded (and the fact that they are below sea level,)but because the walls holding back the sea failed due to not being repaired years ago.

Before the storm some 1.2 million people (according to the History Channel) evacuated, however 10,000 people stayed behind because they "could not or would not leave." For those who stayed behind, some took shelter in their homes while others stayed at the Superdome. Not long after the Superdome roof became damaged; pieces fell in to the stands.

Katrina was not the only problem that New Orleans faced, with flood waters rising more people took shelter in the Superdome. Before long food and water supplies became low and temperatures reached 90F. Health had become another issue. On Sept. 1, the military came into the city with much needed supplies of food and water. About a dozen countries helped providing money and necessities. Canada and Mexico also helped by sending in troops to "assist with cleanup and rebuilding."

43 days after Katrina the last bit of water was finally pumped out. In all, Katrina cost $80 billion dollars in damage and downsized the city's population.