Third Deadliest Hurricane to Hit the United States

Hurricane Katrina of 2005, the third deadliest hurricane in United States history, killed at least 1500 people. Katrina made landfall in the United States at three different locations. Katrina's first land fall was near the Miami-Dade / Broward county line in Florida, dropping 10 to 14 inches of rain, just

after reaching hurricane status. After crossing Florida it strengthened in the Gulf of Mexico and made landfall near Buras, Louisiana and then made land fall again near the Louisiana / Mississippi border as a Category 3 hurricane. Katrina's highest storm surge of 25 to 28 feet occurred along the Mississippi coast. Also, this storm dropped 8 to 12 inches of rain inland from the northern Gulf coast and spawned thirty-three tornadoes.

Meteorologists use sustained wind speed to determine what category a hurricane is. To the left is a table showing what wind speeds define the different storm categories. The wind speed must last for over one minute to be considered a sustained wind while a gust is the highest winds for a three second period with in the one minute sustained reading. Most of the highest wind speeds at landfall are estimated because of damage to or

lack of wind recording insturments.