Hurricane Katrina: Facts, Damage & Aftermath

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Hurricane Katrina was one of the deadliest hurricanes ever to hit the United States. An estimated 1,836 people died in the hurricane and the flooding that followed in late August 2005, and millions of others were left homeless along the Gulf Coast and in New Orleans, which experienced the highest death toll.

Officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have said Katrina was the most destructive storm to strike the United States. It ranks sixth overall in strength of recorded Atlantic hurricanes. It was also a very large storm; at its peak, maximum winds stretched 25 to 30 nautical miles and its extremely wide swath of hurricane force winds extended at least 75 nautical miles to the east from the center.

Katrina initially formed over the Bahamas on Aug. 23, 2005, as a tropical depression. A well-defined band of storm clouds began to wrap around the north side of the storm's circulation center in the early morning hours of Aug. 24. With winds of about 40 mph (65 kph), the storm is named Tropical Storm Katrina.

By the time it made its way to southern Florida on Aug. 25, Katrina was a moderate Category 1 hurricane. While it caused some flooding and casualties — two people were killed — during its first landfall, it appeared to be just another hurricane in an active hurricane season. Katrina weakened after passing over Florida and was reclassified as a tropical storm.