Orleans Parish - What Happened

On Aug. 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the eastern part of Louisiana, initially affecting Plaquemines Parish and then covering Orleans, St. Bernard and St. Tammany Parishes before moving northeast to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The 12-foot storm surge flowed from Lake Pontchartrain into the northern half of the Orleans Parish along the lake. The floodplain of Orleans Parish covers approximately 75 percent of the parish from the lake to the Mississippi River with the highest elevations of the area near the Mississippi River levee, and Gentilly and Esplanade Ridges. The wind speed of Katrina was 120 mph when it approached Orleans Parish; Category 3 force winds lasted for about six hours.

Orleans Parish was placed under a mandatory evacuation on Aug. 28, and almost 90 percent of the population had left the parish by the time the storm hit. By Aug. 30, three levees had broken, including the 17th Street Canal, the New London Canal, and the Industrial Canal, flooding 80 percent of the city. Of those left in the parish, the remainder were evacuated from the city through local and federal efforts. There were approximately 800 deaths in New Orleans as a result of Katrina and the subsequent flooding of Orleans Parish. (1)

(1) This number is uncertain given that people are still missing or deaths have not been officially noted because it has not been possible to notify next of kin.