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Home : Features : 2010 : In Katrina's Wake

The Storm

When the National Weather Service announced on  August 24, 2005, that the next named storm would  be "Katrina,"it didn't seem to jolt the citizens of  south Florida. The state's residents had grown all too  accustomed to this kind of interruption of everyday life:  an oncoming storm had been upgraded from a tropical  depression to a hurricane. In 2004, the state had experienced  four named hurricanes in six weeks, so the 2005 warning  didn't seem unusual, nor raise many alarms.

### Trouble Waters

 Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Florida on August 25 as a  Category 1 on the Simpson-Saffir hurricane scale. It produced  80 mph winds near North Miami Beach, and then declined  slightly in speed as it traveled southwest over land into more  rural reaches.

The Florida National Guard activated 800 personnel. Seventyfive  members were to prepare high-clearance vehicles in the  event of flooding in the southern part of the peninsula.

From there, the storm entered the Gulf of Mexico, enabling  it to regain strength. Atmospheric conditions gave the  rejuvenated hurricane still stronger wind speeds-about  95-100 mph-which quickly upgraded it to a Category 2.

The storm's predicted impact area was also growing at  an alarming rate, as was its unpredictability. Florida  called up 130 more National Guard personnel in case the  hurricane changed direction. The governors of Louisiana  and Mississippi declared states of emergency.

By August 28, the areas under watch contained approximately  753,000 households, with a population of slightly over 2  million. Of those, about 1.3 million lived in Louisiana, and  about 700,000 in Mississippi, areas for which the worst  damage was being predicted.

### Preparing for the worst

 As Hurricane Katrina gained strength crossing the warm  waters of the Gulf of Mexico, Texas appeared to be the only  Gulf Coast state that would escape serious damage.

Governors began activating disaster preparation plans on  August 26. Past storms had wreaked havoc on the coast,  but this one seemed to be veering toward New Orleans,  home to nearly 450,000 residents, with a metropolitan area  of around 1.3 million. Since the city was below sea level,  storm surges would threaten the stability of the levee system,  which held back the waters of the Mississippi River itself,  Lake Pontchartrain and the canals that crisscrossed the city.

Gulf Coast residents became even more alarmed on August  28 when the force of Katrina accelerated and it was upgraded  to a Category 5 hurricane. Its wind speeds exceeded 170 mph.

**Related Stories**
                            -  Hurricane Katrina: National Guard's Finest Hour

Related Links

                            -  National Guard Personnel Assigned to Hurricane Katrina   
                            -  On Guard Special Edition   
                            -  Katrina's report   

 

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