Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina formed over the Bahamas, crossed southern Florida, and then gained strength over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, reaching Category 5 intensity before weakening slightly and making landfall on the Louisiana coast as a major hurricane. Its storm surge devastated the coast of Mississippi and Louisiana, and levee failures flooded most of New Orleans, leaving thousands stranded at the Superdome and elsewhere. More than 1,800 people died, and hundreds of thousands were displaced. The response by federal, state and local authorities was widely criticised, and the disaster led to reform of emergency management and improvement of the city's flood defences.

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