17 Causes Of Hurricane Katrina You Probably Didn't Know About!

Hurricane Katrina is a name still remembered with fear by the people who suffered from its aftereffects.

Hurricane Katrina was a large and deadly category five Atlantic hurricane that struck southeastern America, especially New Orleans and its surrounding areas, in late August 2005, killing over 1,800 people. The tropical storm is the most expensive natural disaster of the United States, with $125 billion in damage.

On August 23, 2005, the storm that would become Hurricane Katrina formed as a tropical depression over the Bahamas, about 350 mi (560 km) east of Miami. The storm strengthened over the next two days, earning the name Hurricane Katrina.

It soon made landfall as a category one hurricane in Florida and battered the peninsula with heavy rainfall and sustained winds of 70 mph (115 kph).

The storm hovered over the land for eight hours before spinning out to reach the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. And this is where the storm gained its strength and upgraded to a hurricane capable of destroying entire cities.

It is the traveling of the winds to the warmer waters of the Gulf that intensified the storm from a tropical depression to a category five hurricane in less than a week.

Katrina reached the US Gulf Coast on August 29 in New Orleans, causing catastrophic destruction and flooding. Within a few days of time majority of the city of New Orleans was submerged in water, and chaos, mayhem, and death had torn the city apart.

If you want to learn more about the havoc wrecked by the raging Hurricane Katrina, keep reading!

If you like this article, then check our other articles on Hurricane Hugo facts and Hurricane Frances facts and share these amazing facts with everyone.

What caused Hurricane Katrina to form?

Katrina originated when a tropical wave collided with the remnants of a former tropical depression. It made landfall in Florida as a category one hurricane, but it quickly developed and strengthened once it made contact with the warm waters of the Gulf Coast of Mexico.

Katrina originated off the coast of the Bahamas on August 23, 2005, where the temperature was around 85 F (29 C). A low-pressure area was formed, and a spinning wheel of thunderstorms developed, feeding on the heat and moisture, and when the winds reached 39 mph (62.7 kph), Hurricane Katrina was born.

Katrina began slowly but soon started to pick up the pace and grow in strength as it headed for Florida.

When Hurricane Katrina reached the Florida peninsula on August 25, 2005, it was a category one storm with 80 mph (128.7 kph) winds before it spun out into the Gulf of Mexico.

The water in the Gulf of Mexico around this time was a warm 87 F (30.5 C). As is the common nature of hurricanes, typhoons, and cyclones, Katrina began to intensify once it came into contact with a warm water body.

By August 28, the storm had escalated into a category five hurricane as she spun over the warm Gulf coast, with 160 mph (257.5 kph) gusts of wind and a storm surge over 20 ft (6 m) high.

As less dense air moved up and over the colder air ahead of the front, it was absorbed by a 'frontal boundary.'

The interaction of the cold and warm air masses produced an 'extratropical storm,' which traveled quickly to the northeast and impacted eastern Canada.

Hurricane Katrina brought the strongest winds to the coasts of Louisiana and Florida, and it was the city of New Orleans that was the worst hit and suffered the worst of the consequences. But the storm's extended effects also reached the Mississippi coast, Mobile, Alabama, Waveland, Georgia, Kentucky, and Ohio.

The weather phenomenon also hit other parts of the United States before finally ending on August 31, 2005, when its traces were last discernible in the eastern Great Lakes region.

Hurricane Katrina spawned 33 tornadoes over the course of five days, primarily affecting Georgia. The hurricane's eye, which is quiet and has minimal winds, is normally the calmest part of the storm.

Katrina's eye had a 35 mi (56.3 km) diameter, which was larger than typical. Since the Okeechobee Hurricane, which slammed Palm Beach on September 16, 1928, along Lake Okeechobee, and the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, Katrina was the deadliest hurricane in the United States.

Hurricane Katrina Path

Although New Orleans, especially eastern New Orleans, was the worst hit by the tropical storm, many cities around southeastern America felt its extended effects.

Katrina's journey began from the southeastern Bahamas and continued onto the central Bahamas, Florida coast, Gulf Coast of Mexico, New Orleans, Louisiana, Alabama, Hancock county in Mississippi, Mobile, Waveland, Georgia, Kentucky, and Ohio before dissipating near the mouth of the Pearl River.

A tropical depression formed over the southern Bahamas on August 23, later becoming Tropical Storm Katrina as it traveled towards the central Bahamas on August 24. On August 25, it converted into a Category one hurricane (80 mph or 128.75 kph) and continued to travel west while steadily increasing.

It made its first landfall along the southeast Florida coast. Katrina intensified quickly after having moved west and into the very warm waters of the Mexican Gulf on August 28, reaching Category five status.

It deteriorated to a Category three hurricane before reaching landfall on the northern Gulf Coast, first in southeast Louisiana and then along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Katrina remained a hurricane for a long time in Mississippi, eventually losing strength more than 150 mi (241.4 km) inland near Meridian, Mississippi.

Near Clarksville, Tennessee, it was downgraded to a tropical depression, but its effects were seen across Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, and Ohio.

The storm moved north-northeast and made a second landfall in Hancock County, Mississippi (near the Pearl River's mouth) - still a Category three hurricane. On the afternoon of August 29, Katrina swept inland into southern Mississippi, leaving a trail of destruction that will never be forgotten.

How Long did Hurricane Katrina Last?

This tropical depression which later on came to be known as Hurricane Katrina began to form in the Bahamas on August 23, 2005. On August 24, the storm upgraded to a tropical storm, and it is on this day that the storm is named Katrina.

The thunderstorm intensifies into a hurricane early morning on August 25 and makes landfall in Florida as a category 1 hurricane between Hallandale Beach and Aventura. The storm spent less than eight hours on the lands of Florida before spinning out into the Gulf Coast of Mexico, where it doubled in size and upgraded into a category three hurricane.

Katrina made landfall in New Orleans on August 28 as a category 5 hurricane and devastated the city, breaking its levees and floodwalls and drowning 90% of the city.

On August 29, the hurricane began losing its power and made landfall on first the Louisiana coast as a category four hurricane and then as a category 3 hurricane near Buras-Triumph.

Katrina began to lose more ferocity from August 30 but continued to hit different locations of Southeastern America, apart from New Orleans, before finally dissipating on August 31, 2005.

What caused the most damage during Hurricane Katrina?

While the storm's winds caused significant damage in New Orleans, such as felled trees and buildings, studies undertaken in the years since have indicated that failed levees were to blame for the severe effects and the majority of casualties.

Katrina caused one of the biggest evacuations in American history, as it forced an estimated 400,000 residents of the Gulf coast to relocate permanently. More than 850,000 dwellings were destroyed or damaged, and a total of 300,000 to 350,000 cars, as well as 2,400 ships and vessels, were destroyed.

There should be no doubt that the storm was strong or maybe even too strong, but reports released by the US Army Corps of Engineers suggest that one of the main culprits of the catastrophe was their very own shoddy engineering.

Over 50 levees and floodwalls collapses were reported in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and its suburbs.

Widespread flooding was caused by levees and floodwall failures.

On August 31, two days after Hurricane Katrina hit, at least 80% of New Orleans was flooded. The engineers have since admitted that the leaves were put together in a haphazard manner.

Lack of funding by the government resulted in a faulty levee system with varying quality, materials, and design. Engineers had also overlooked the region's poor soil quality and sinking terrain, resulting in more barrier gaps.

Care should have been taken to build better floodwalls and levees in New Orleans and the surrounding areas. There were multiple reports that the federal agency that had built such infrastructure in the area actually used inferior materials in order to conserve money.

At the time of crisis, the President Bush administration was slow to reach out and help the people stuck in the disaster area. Additionally, officials and media created more chaos and death by spreading misinformation.

For example, it was widely circulated by the media that the Superdome located in downtown New Orleans, which had become some sort of a haven for people, was, in fact, a hellhole with mass murders and plundering taking place inside the gates. This was, in fact, very much fabricated.

Studies suggest that the rising sea level of the area and warmer temperatures may have also played a major role in the exacerbation of the storm. Scientists are concerned that as the climate warms, hurricanes the size of Katrina will become more common.

Hurricane Katrina Landfall

The tropical storm developed in the Bahamas and continued to travel into many places, but it only made landfall in a select few cities. The places where Hurricane Katrina made landfall are Florida, Louisiana, and finally near the mouth of Pearl River.

On August 23, 2005, the storm that would become Hurricane Katrina formed as a tropical depression over the Bahamas, about 350 mi (560 km) east of Miami.

The meteorological system strengthened during the next two days, gaining the name Katrina. It made landfall as a category one hurricane between Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with wind speeds ranging from 74-95 mph (119-154 kph) on the Saffir-Simpson scale.

The Florida peninsula was battered by sustained winds of 70 mph (115 kph), with rainfall totals of 5 in (13 cm) observed in certain parts.

Katrina became a category 3 storm on August 27, with maximum winds of 115 mph. The storm made landfall as a category 4 hurricane on August 29 in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, about 45 mi (70 km) southeast of New Orleans.

It continued northeast, crossing the Mississippi Sound and making a second landfall near the mouth of the Pearl River later that morning before finally dissipating.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for 17 causes of Hurricane Katrina you probably didn't know about!, then why not take a look at categories of the hurricane or Hurricane Isabel facts?