Hurricane Katrina

By Canute and Marcus

Context Page

• Why is a Hurricane Katrina a disaster• Where did it happen• How many homes and people did it destroy• How it formed• Why was it named Hurricane Katrina

Why is Hurricane Katrina a disasterHurricane Katrina swept stuff off the ground and destroyed houses.

Where did it happen?

Hurricane Katrina formed over the Bahamas on August 23, 2005, and went on to cause enormous destruction in Greater New Orleans, The Bahamas, South Florida, Cuba, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, among others.

How many homes and people did it destroy

At least 1, 836 people lost their lives in Hurricane Katrina and in the subsequent floods, making it the deadliest US Hurricane since the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane.

How it formed

One of the deadliest hurricanes in recent memory and the most destructive in US history, Hurricane Katrina profoundly affected New Orleans and its surroundings, where water reached up to 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the shore. Hurricane Katrina was the child of a waning tropical depression and an atmospheric trough known as a tropical wave. It moved across the Gulf of Mexico and rapidly strengthened over unseasonably warm waters, transforming into a maximum-rated category 5 hurricane and shifting away from Florida shortly before it slammed into the vulnerable city of New Orleans in south-east Louisiana.

Why was it named Hurricane Katrina

Hurricanes and tropical storms in each year are named alphabetically with names of alternating gender. For example, the first three named storms of 2005 Arlene, Bret, and Cindy. Names are repeated every six years unless a storm is particularly bad, in which case the name is retired. As it happened Katrina was the 11th storm in the Atlantic basin to reach tropical storm intensity (the point at which a storm is named) and Katrina was the 11th name for Atlantic hurricanes/tropical storms in 2005. Now the name Katrina will be retired from the list and replaced with another. Hurricane Katrina of 2005 will be remembered throughout the years.

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