Here’s a look at some Hurricane Katrina statistics.
August 29, 2005 – Hurricane Katrina makes landfall as a Category 3 storm with 127 mph winds between Grand Isle, Louisiana, and the mouth of the Mississippi River at about 6 a.m.
– Severe flooding damage to Gulfport, Mississippi, New Orleans, Louisiana, and areas in between.
– Some levees are overtopped in New Orleans, and there is extensive damage to the Superdome roof, where more than 10,000 people sought shelter from the storm.
According to FEMA, Katrina is, “the single most catastrophic natural disaster in US history.”
According to FEMA, the total damage for Katrina is estimated at $108 billion. This makes it the “costliest hurricane in US history.”
Fatalities: (directly or indirectly)
– Alabama: 2
– Florida: 14
– Georgia: 2
– Louisiana: 1,577
– Mississippi: 238
– Total: 1,833
Source: FEMA
Private Insurance Payments:
Insurance companies have paid an estimated $41.1 billion on 1.7 million different claims for damage to vehicles, homes, and businesses in six states. 63% of the losses occurred in Louisiana and 34% occurred in Mississippi.
Hurricane Katrina is the costliest disaster in the history of the global insurance industry.
By 2007, 99% of the 1.2 million personal property claims had been settled by insurers.
Source: Insurance Information Institute, 2010
National Flood Insurance Payments:
The National Flood Insurance Program paid out $16.3 billion in claims. $13 billion went to claims in Louisiana.
June 2006 – The Government Accountability Office releases a report that concludes at least $1 billion in disaster relief payments made by FEMA were improper and potentially fraudulent.
Impact on the Gulf Coast:
More than one million people in the Gulf region were displaced by the storm. At their peak hurricane relief shelters housed 273,000 people. Later, approximately 114,000 households were housed in FEMA trailers.
FEMA has provided more than $15 billion to the four Gulf states for public works projects such as the repair and rebuilding of roads, schools, and buildings, in the 10 years since the storm, and $6.7 billion in recovery aid to more than one million people and households.
The majority of all federal aid, approximately $75 billion of $120.5 billion, went to emergency relief operations.
40% of the deaths in Louisiana were caused by drowning. 25% were caused by injury and trauma and 11% were caused by heart conditions.
Nearly half the fatalities in Louisiana were people over the age of 74.
Sources: The Data Center, FEMA
Impact on New Orleans:
80% of the city flooded after levees failed.
The population of New Orleans fell from 484,674 in April 2000 to 230,172 in July 2006, a decrease of over 50%. By 2015, the estimated population had increased to almost 390,000, according to the US Census Bureau.
70% of New Orleans’ occupied housing, 134,000 units, was damaged in the storm.
Sources: The Data Center, US Census Bureau
