As stated before, natural disasters range in severity, for example, a wildfire is less likely to cause as much death and destruction as a tsunami or hurricane.
Over the years, many notable natural disasters that brought death and destruction in their wake have occurred, among them is the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens and the eleventh storm an fifth hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, Hurricane Katrina, seem to stand out.
Although both of these events were vastly different in more ways than one, they do share a number of …show more content…
During the early morning hours of August 24th, the new depression intensified into Tropical Storm Katrina; the cyclone began to move westward towards Florida the same day. Only two hours before arriving at Hallandale beach and Aventura on August 25th did the tropical storm escalate into a hurricane.
After shortly weakening back to a tropical storm, Katrina arrived at the Gulf of Mexico on August 26th and soon began to …show more content…
However, Katrina weakened before making it’s arrival as a category 3 hurricane on August 29th in southeast Louisiana. From the 30th to the 31st, Katrina gradually weakened into an extratropical storm before dissipating on August 31st.
Katrina left over 1,800 fatalities in its wake and caused almost $108 billion in damage. The majority of death and destruction occurred on the 29th, when Katrina made its second landfall in New Orleans; the hurricane surge protectors failed on over 50 beaches. Eventually, almost 80% of the city of New Orleans and large tracts of neighboring districts became flooded; the floodwater lingered for weeks.
The most severe property damage occurred in coastal areas, such as beachfront towns in Mississippi and the Gulf Coast from Texas to central Florida. Almost 90% of all the beachfront towns in Mississippi were flooded; boats and caisson barges rammed into buildings, which caused cars and houses to be pushed inland. Most of the damage along the Gulf Coast from Florida to Texas was due to storm surge and levee