The History of Hurricane Katrina

1811 Words4 Pages

The History of Hurricane Katrina On August 29, 2005, the third strongest and biggest hurricane ever recorded in American history hit the Gulf Coast at eight o’clock a.m. The interaction between a tropical depression and a tropical wave created a tropical storm later referred to as Hurricane Katrina (FAQS, 2013). Forming over the Bahamas, Hurricane Katrina gradually strengthened as it moved closer and closer to the Gulf of Mexico. Recorded on August 28th, 2005, Katrina jumped from a category three storm to a category five storm with maximum sustained winds up to 160 miles per hour. Although other hurricanes, such as Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Wilma, exceeded Katrina, this dominant storm was classified as the fourth most intense hurricane based its pressure capacity. Once Hurricane Katrina hit land, it was pronounced as a category four storm moving slowly. While people thought that the slow speed of this storm prevented trauma, records show that Katrina did more damage than any fast-moving storm could have ever achieved (Solanki, 2013). Katrina produced abundant debris. The debris was in such large quantity that if it was stacked together on a football field, the rubble would reach the elevation of ten and a half miles. The size of Katrina also caused 90,000 square miles to be affected. Once proclaimed a category three storm, Hurricane Katrina slowed to the speed of 155 miles per hour. At this point in time, Katrina proved to be the sixth most prevailing hurricane traced in history. (Solanki, 2013). Several different aspects of life were impacted by Hurricane Katrina such as availability of gasoline, economic issues, and the ability to have an adequate supply of drinking water (Solanki, 2013). Hurricane Katrina was a large storm ... ... middle of paper ... ...ust 25). Katrina’s Economic Impact: One Year Later. ABC News. Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/Business/HurricaneKatrina/story?id=2348619 Plyer, Allison (2013, August 28). Facts for Features. . Retrieved from http://www.gnocdc.org/Factsforfeatures/HurricaneKatrinaRecovery/ Shah, Anup (2005, November 13). Hurricane Katrina. Global Issues. Retrieved from mhtml:file://F:Hurricane Katrina—Global Issues. mht Solanki, Parul (2013, January 29). Hurricane Katrina: Facts and Information. Buzzle.com. Retrieved from www.buzzle.com/articles/hurricane-katrina-facts-and -information.html Thomas, C., Hilton, H., Sieger, M., Gajilan, A., Burger, T. J., Roston, E., & Walker, D. (2005). NEW ORLEANS IT’S WORSE THAN YOU THINK. Time, 166(22), 30. Waple, Ann (2005, December 29). “Hurricane Katrina.” NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center, Asheville, NC.

Open Document