1. Hurricane Katrina: A Case Study of an extreme low pressure weather event

2. How did Katrina form?  Watch the video to help explain how it formed.  http://video.nationalgeographic.co.uk/vi deo/environment/environment-natural- disasters/hurricanes/katrina-formation/ http://video.nationalgeographic.co.uk/vi deo/environment/environment-natural- disasters/hurricanes/katrina-formation/

3. Formation of a hurricane The following slide shows six stages of a hurricane’s life cycle. Draw a cartoon in each box of your paper to help you remember how hurricanes form.

4. Seas reach a temperature of 27 degrees Centigrade in late summer. A huge volume of water is evaporated and begins to rise. This creates extremely low pressure. The rising air is forced to circle anticlockwise as it rises, this is due to the coriolis effect. As the water vapour rises it cools and condenses to form cloud. When water vapour condenses it releases heat. It is this heat that powers the storm. The whole tropical storm is then blown westwards towards the United States by the tropical trade winds. When the hurricane hits land it loses its source of energy (the sea water) and therefore the storm begins to die.

5. Where did Hurricane Katrina strike? Hurricane Katrina devastated the coastal areas of Mississippi and Louisiana with New Orleans being most seriously affected. Florida Cuba Bahamas Alabama Mississippi Louisiana

6. Hurricane Katrina’s life cycle  23rd August 2005 Hurricane Katrina forms just north of Cuba.  24th August 2005, with the sea temperature of 27 degrees Hurricane Katrina moves north westerly towards Florida.  25th August 2005 as Katrina is near Miami, winds reach 80mph. Katrina then moves south westwards over Florida.  26th August 2005, Hurricane Katrina arrives in the Gulf of Mexico, where the water is very warm (31-32°C).  29th August 2005 Hurricane Katrina hits New Orleans and was felt along 350 miles of coastline.

7. Impacts and responses of Hurricane Katrina http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/ geography/coasts/coastal_flooding_rev1.sh tml

8. The next 3 slides have information about hurricane Katrina  Hurricane Katrina was the costliest and one of the deadliest hurricanes in the history of the United States. Katrina formed on August 23rd during the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season and caused devastation along much of the north-central Gulf Coast of the United States. Most notable in media coverage were the catastrophic effects on the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, and in coastal Mississippi.  The storm surge caused severe and catastrophic damage along the Gulf coast, devastating the cities of many cities including New Orleans and other towns in Louisiana. Levees separating Lake Pontchartrain and several canals from New Orleans were breached by the surge, subsequently flooding 80% of the city and many areas of neighbouring parishes for weeks. Severe wind damage was reported many miles inland. The flood waters took 43 days to be pumped out of the city of New Orleans.

9.  Mississippi officials calculated that 90% of the structures within half a mile of the coastline were completely destroyed, and that storm surges travelled as much as six miles inland in portions of the state's coast.  Destruction of infrastructure, buildings and import/export business also hit the areas economy very hard. Katrina also had a profound impact on the environment. The storm surge caused substantial beach erosion. These problems caused by Katrina will last for many years after the Hurricane.  Shortly after the hurricane moved away on August 30, 2005, some residents of New Orleans who remained in the city began looting stores, as did some Mississippi residents in their local stores and casinos. Many looters were in search of food and water that were not available to them through any other means.

10. Why did Hurricane Katrina impact upon New Orleans in such a devastating manner?  The main reason why hurricane Katrina caused so much destruction was due to flooding. This occurred due to a storm surge created by the hurricane.  The storm surge destroyed two of the city’s levees and therefore the water flooded the city. New Orleans is below sea level and therefore once the water flooded the city it had to be pumped back out. All this took a long time and was not helped by the fact that all of the pumps installed in the city were broken.

11. Using your own notes and the fact file fill in the table to show the impacts on New Orleans. Include statistics into your table. Social impactsEnvironmental impacts Economic impacts