Donate Now! Please click on the organizations below to contribute to the relief efforts for the victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita:
   
  
Offer free housing to hurricane evacuees/Find shelter if you are a victim:
katrinahousing.org
Displaced pets need our help too!
  
Katrina Missing Persons Online Forums and Hotlines:
http://gulfcoast.photofreeway.com/
Missing A Pet?
http://www.petfinder.com
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Hurricane Katrina was the eleventh named storm, fourth hurricane, third major hurricane, and first Category 5 hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. It first made landfall as a category 1 hurricane just north of Miami, Florida on August 25, 2005, then again on August 29 along the Central Gulf Coast near New Orleans, Louisiana, as a category 4 storm. Its storm surge soon breached the levee system that protected New Orleans from Lake Pontchartrain. Most of the city was subsequently flooded by the lake's waters. This and other major damage to the coastal regions of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama made Katrina the most destructive and costliest natural disaster in the history of the United States.
The official death toll now stands at 1,080 and the damage higher than $200 billion, topping Hurricane Andrew as the most expensive natural disaster in U.S. history. Over a million people were displaced — a humanitarian crisis on a scale unseen in the U.S. since the Great Depression.
In Louisiana, the hurricane's eye made landfall at 6:10am CDT on Monday, August 29. After 11:00am CDT, several sections of the levee system in New Orleans collapsed. Mandatory evacuation of New Orleans had been ordered by mayor Ray Nagin before the hurricane struck, on August 28. The order was repeated on August 31. By early September, people were being forcibly evacuated, mostly by bus to neighboring states.
Federal disaster declarations blanketed 90,000 square miles (233,000 km²) of the United States, an area almost as large as the United Kingdom. The hurricane left an estimated five million people without power, and it may take up to two months for all power to be restored. On September 3, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff described the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina as "probably the worst catastrophe, or set of catastrophes" in the country's history, referring to the hurricane itself plus the flooding of New Orleans.
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Hurricane Rita was the 17th named tropical storm, ninth hurricane, fifth major hurricane, and second Category 5 hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. This hurricane is on record as being the strongest measured hurricane to ever have entered the Gulf of Mexico, and the third most intense hurricane ever in the Atlantic Basin. After peaking in strength at 175 mph (280 km/h) steady winds, it made landfall between Sabine Pass, Texas, and Johnson's Bayou, Louisiana, at 02:38 CDT (07:38 UTC) on September 24, 2005 as a Category 3 hurricane, with windspeeds of 120 mph (190 km/h) and a storm surge of 10 feet (3 m).
The storm first struck Florida after making an approach near Cuba and went on to strike Texas and Louisiana. It is doubtful that Cuba saw sustained tropical storm force winds. A day prior to landfall, the resultant storm surge also reopened some of the levee breaches caused by Hurricane Katrina a month earlier, and reflooded parts of New Orleans. Damage was extensive in the coastal areas in southwestern Louisiana and extreme southeastern Texas. Freshwater flooding over the lower Mississippi Valley region is forecast to be a substantial secondary effect.
Because the Gulf of Mexico is a major center for crude oil production and refineries, as well as home to some of the busiest ports in the world, Rita initially presented the potential to do damage beyond the localized wind and wave surge. These concerns have so far not been realized, as no reports emerged of long-term damage to the major U.S. refining and shipping capacities in Houston, Texas City, Port Arthur, Texas or Beaumont, Texas. Power outages may have the greatest related effect.
NOAA reported Rita's record-setting Category 5 strength as a result of achieving a minimum central pressure of 897 millibars (hPa) (26.49 inches of mercury) on the afternoon of September 21, 2005. This record strength steadily diminished prior to landfall after Rita moved over cooler waters in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Only the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, Hurricane Camille in 1969, and Hurricane Andrew in 1992 made landfall in the United States as Category 5 hurricanes since measurements began.
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The Katrina Project is the continuing effort of compassionate individuals who are dedicated to helping the victims of hurricanes- present and future- while raising awareness of the the destructive nature of these deadly storms.
For a list of disaster relief agencies, visit the Unity Corps Website:
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