It was 10 years ago today that Hurricane Katrina hit South Florida. Although the system saved its worst for New Orleans, it caused substantial damage in this region.
A review of the catastrophic storm:
After forming near the Bahamas, Katrina struck north of the Broward-Miami-Dade county line at about 7 p.m. on Aug. 25, 2005.
At the time it was a relatively weak Category 1 system with top winds of 80 mph. It still wiped out crops, toppled a truck on Interstate 595 and collapsed a highway flyover in Miami-Dade.
It also flooded homes and streets in south Miami-Dade County and left more than 1 million FPL customers without power. In all, it caused about $630 million (in 2015 dollars) in damage here.
Jim Lushine, our resident weather expert, remembers that day well.
“The eye of Katrina moved directly over the National Weather Service office in Sweetwater, where I was on duty,” he said. “Although I had been through the eyewall of Andrew, this was the only time in my 42-year weather service career that I ever experienced the calm of the eye itself.”
He added: “The most impressive thing was how ferociously the wind picked up after the eye passed by. I was standing next to one of the heavy outside doors, and the wind pressure caused the metal door to alarmingly buckle inward, scaring me into the interior of the building.”
After departing South Florida and emerging in the Gulf of Mexico, Katrina rapidly intensified. By Aug. 28, it had sustained winds of 175 mph, or Category 5 power.
At 9 a.m. the next day, it struck near the Louisiana-Mississippi border. Although it had weakened into a Category 3 storm by then, its winds still were powerful enough to push water into the New Orleans levees, causing them to collapse – and flood the city.
In all, Katrina directly or indirectly killed 1,833 people and caused about $120 billion in damage in 2015 dollars. It was the third deadliest and most destructive storm in U.S. history.
“This was the highest hurricane death toll since the 1928 Lake Okeechobee hurricane killed more than 2,500,” Lushine said.
