Hurricane Katrina caused a storm surge, which is when a Hurricane causes sea levels to rise dramatically. This makes areas near the coast extremely vulnerable to flooding and it is usually this affect that has the most impact on human lives. As Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, the levees protecting the city were overcome by the storm surge and the enormous waves, made by the extreme winds of the storm. As the levees gave way, huge areas of New Orleans were flooded and according to Met Office UK, approximately 80% of the city was underwater with some areas 6 metres underwater. Not only was the storm surge devastating, but the torrential rainfall that accompanied the Hurricane added to the already extensive flooding. This flooding led to enormous amounts of property damage and an extremely high amount of deaths, which will be discussed later in the report. …show more content…
Tornadoes
Hurricanes sometimes create tornadoes, which are closed low pressure circulations or in other words a spinning vertical of air. Hurricane Katrina created 33 tornadoes in the five day period that it was active, and while this was the least severe effect of the Hurricane, it still cost several thousand dollars in property damage and directly killed one