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| Hurricane Katrina - Courtesy: NASA |
Five years later, NASA is revisiting Hurricane Katrina with a short video that shows the storm as captured by NASA satellites. NASA provides space-based satellite observations, field research missions, and computer climate modeling to further scientists' understanding of these storms. NASA also provides measurements and modeling of global sea surface temperatures, precipitation, winds and ocean heat content -- all ingredients that contribute to the formation of tropical cyclones (the general name for typhoons, tropical storms and hurricanes).
If you are regular readers of this blog, you know that we devote many column inches to tropical cyclones including hurricanes each season. Many articles discuss approaching dangers and provide details about impacts to land and ships, including itinerary changes. The most important articles are perhaps the ones on hurricane preparedness. When a hurricane sets it sights on you, the loss of property is unavoidable, but it is possible that lives could be spared given sufficient warnings.
That is why NASA, NOAA, NWS, and other government agencies spend as much time and energy monitoring tropical cyclones as they do. And, we will continue to provide updates here in this blog.
Fifth Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina
It is fitting that we devote some time looking back at what has unfortunately become one of the deadliest and costliest hurricanes of all time. Katrina claimed more than 1,800 lives and caused over $81 billion in damages. Those numbers don't represent the real impact of Katrina. While some lives were spared, their homes and neighborhoods were destroyed and people perished. An emptiness replaced thriving communities.
Five years later, there are empty lots where homes once stood. Livelihoods were lost forever in some cases. Many homes and businesses were unable to rebuild, even with federal assistance. The costs were just too high due to many factors including rising insurance and construction prices.
NOAA: Five Years Post-Katrina, It’s Smoother Sailing in Gulf’s Busy Ports
The following sites have a wealth of information from 2005 and today about Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath on Louisiana and Mississippi. There has been volumes of data recorded on this deadly hurricane with these sites being among the best on the web as of this writing.
NOAA: The Deadliest, Costliest, and Most Intense United States Tropical Cyclones From 1851 to 2006 MS-Word and Adobe Acrobat PDF file formats
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