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Hurricane Katrina Research Paper

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Hurricane Katrina was one of the most destructive hurricanes to ever hit the United States, causing damage across the entire Southeast, with the harshest conditions falling on the city of New Orleans. This hurricane began as the consequence of a tropical wave encountering the traces of an earlier tropical depression in the Gulf of Mexico. Once the wave and depression interacted, a new depression formed, located right near the Bahamas. This depression intensified exponentially, developing into a complete hurricane. Katrina wreaked havoc for slightly less than a week before subsiding over the eastern Great Lakes. This hurricane had catastrophic social and economic effects on the Southeast requiring a lengthy reconstruction period. Hurricane Katrina was a colossal storm with incredibly fierce winds resulting in the death of almost 2000 people. Because of the environmental conditions of the Gulf Coast, Katrina was able to build up wind speed and mass over the water at an exceptional rate. At its strongest, Katrina had hurricane force winds stretching out 104 miles, and tropical storm force winds reaching 230 miles from its eye. After breaching the coast of Louisiana and Mississippi, the …show more content…

The depression began heading toward the southern coast of Florida, where, on August 24, it evolved into a tropical storm and officially given its name, Katrina. After moving northward, Tropical Storm Katrina began creeping westward, and grew even larger. By the time Katrina had reached Miami on August 25, the tropical storm had been upgraded to a category-1 hurricane. Hurricane Katrina grew rapidly from that point, growing into a category-5 hurricane just two days later. Six days after being categorized as a hurricane, Katrina finally dissipated, leaving a trail of destruction in its

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