August 29 in History
2005 – Hurricane Katrina devastates much of the US Gulf Coast from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle, killing up to 1,836 people and causing $125 billion in damage
Hurricane Katrina was a large Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that made its 2nd landfall at Louisiana and Mississippi, on this day in 2005, caused over 1,800 deaths and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the costliest tropical cyclone on record and is now tied with 2017’s Hurricane Harvey. The storm was the twelfth tropical cyclone, the fifth hurricane, and the third major hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, as well as the fourth-most intense Atlantic hurricane on record to make landfall in the contiguous United States.
Flooding, caused largely as a result of fatal engineering flaws in the flood protection system (levees) around the city of New Orleans, precipitated most of the loss of lives. Eventually, 80% of the city, as well as large tracts of neighbouring parishes, were inundated for weeks. The flooding also destroyed most of New Orleans’s transportation and communication facilities, leaving tens of thousands of people who had not evacuated the city prior to landfall stranded with little access to food, shelter, or other basic necessities.
-Wikipedia
Photo Caption -View of flooded New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina – katrina.noaa.gov