On August 23, 2005, Hurricane Katrina formed as a tropical storm off the coast of the Bahamas. Over the next seven days, the tropical storm grew into a catastrophic hurricane that made landfall first in Florida and then along the Gulf Coast in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama, leaving a trail of heartbreaking devastation and human suffering. Katrina wreaked staggering physical destruction along its path, flooded the historic city of New Orleans, and set off the largest rescue and recovery effort in American history.
A catastrophic hurricane striking southeast Louisiana has been considered a worst-case scenario that the region and many experts had known and feared for years. Much of southeast Louisiana is at or below sea level, and experience has shown Gulf Coast hurricanes to be deadly. At the turn of the 20th century, an unnamed Category 4 hurricane made landfall on September 8, 1900, in Galveston, Texas. With storm surges higher than 15 feet and winds stronger than 130 mph, more than 8,000 people perished-making it the deadliest disaster in American history.
Sixty-five years later, on September 9, 1965, Hurricane Betsy made its second landfall near Grand Isle, Louisiana, as a strong Category 3 storm. As an omen of things to come, Hurricane Betsy’s storm surge and high winds hit Lake Pontchartrain just north of New Orleans, overtopping levees and flooding the city. Breaching the Florida Avenue levee, flood waters consumed the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans, drowning many in their attics as they tried to escape. In total, 75 people were killed and more than 160,000 homes were flooded.
If you are a current subscriber,login hereto access this content.
If you would like to become a subscriber, please visit ushere.
