Hurricane Katrina was heading for the Gulf Coast 19 years ago today. It was a Saturday, interstates were bumper to bumper. My husband worked for Amtrak and couldn't get off from work, so we stayed. The National Weather Service published this warning and what they said was so very on spot.
A friend told me - after Katrina - that it would take at least 10 years before things got back "to normal" She was right.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From Twitter
On this date 19 years ago, Hurricane Katrina's huge 30 mile wide eye was sporting 175 mph winds...even though Katrina officially made landfall as a Cat 3 with 125 mph winds on the 29th, this huge storm already had written that it was going to bring a tremendous and record-breaking storm surge.
At it's most intense on the 28th, the pressure was down to 902mb/26.64" and was likely producing peak waves over 100 feet in the Gulf of Mexico...the surge along the Mississippi Coast reached a record 27 feet that penetrated inland some 6-12 miles.
With the levee failures in the New Orleans area the storm became the most costliest on record with 200 billion dollars in damage, and tragically, an estimated 1,836 fatalities. 23 days later a more intense Hurricane Rita (180mph/885mb max) struck the Louisiana Coast as a Cat 3 bringing a huge storm surge that covered more than 1500 square miles of coast and up to 30 miles inland. Hurricane Wilma a month later (183mph/882mb max) went on to become more intense than both Katrina and Rita. I'll never forget covering that storm and its aftermath... Let's hope we never see another season like 2005... #lawx #HurricaneKatrina
With the levee failures in the New Orleans area the storm became the most costliest on record with 200 billion dollars in damage, and tragically, an estimated 1,836 fatalities. 23 days later a more intense Hurricane Rita (180mph/885mb max) struck the Louisiana Coast as a Cat 3 bringing a huge storm surge that covered more than 1500 square miles of coast and up to 30 miles inland. Hurricane Wilma a month later (183mph/882mb max) went on to become more intense than both Katrina and Rita. I'll never forget covering that storm and its aftermath... Let's hope we never see another season like 2005... #lawx #HurricaneKatrina
