Hurricane Katrina
On August 23rd 2005, Hurricane Katrina formed over the Bahamas. It crossed southern Florida as a category 1 hurricane. On the morning of August 29th 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall in New Orleans, Louisiana. Hurricane Katrina was a category 5 hurricane that took the lives of nearly 2,000 people, and caused just over 100 billion dollars in damages. The National Hurricane Center gave ample warning to officials, and people in New Orleans, but no one was able to predict the true tragedy of the failing of the levee system that was in place.The failure of the levees in New Orleans is considered one of the worst civil engineering failures in United States history. The result of the levee failures was nearly 80% of New Orleans flooded, and nearly 900,000 homes lost power for an extended period of time. The flood waters lingered for weeks, causing people to have to loot resources (such as food and water) to be able to stay alive. The lack of response by and communication within the government caused a spike in violent crimes in the area during this time period. By September 10th nearly 46,000 National Guard troops were stationed in New Orleans due to looting and violence in the city. Hurricane Katrina is considered one of the worst natural disasters in United States History.