Hurricane Katrina

Post Landfall 10 | Summary
Posting Date: September 28, 2005, 6:30:00 AM

Hurricane Katrina made landfall at 7:10 a.m. on the morning of Monday, August 29 near Buras, Louisiana. After rolling across the southern tip of Florida three days earlier as a relatively weak Category 1 hurricane, Katrina headed out into the Gulf of Mexico and quickly strengthened into a very powerful Category 5 hurricane, achieving 175 mph winds and what was then the fourth lowest central pressure on record for the Atlantic basin. Weakening slightly just before landfall, Katrina slammed into Louisiana as a Category 4 hurricane with 145 mph winds at a forward speed of 15 mph. Within a few hours of landfall, AIR issued an industry loss estimate of between $12 and $26 billion, a range that reflected the uncertainty in storm characteristics still present at landfall. The following day, incorporating updated storm parameters and actual track data, the range was narrowed to $18 to $25 billion. On Friday, September 2, AIR sent teams of civil and wind engineers to survey the damage left by Hurricane Katrina. The key goals of that survey were to obtain: a) a detailed assessment of damage at the location level, and; b) information on the overall extent and gradation of damage along and across the track. Due to Katrina’s extreme winds and overall size, the area of severe damage was large. Hurricane force winds extended up to 125 miles from the center, cutting a huge swath of damage from Louisiana to Florida. In addition to the winds, a powerful storm surge—topping 20 feet in some locations—brought devastation to coastal communities and ultimately contributed to the failure of levees and subsequent flooding in New Orleans. The New Orleans flooding reached depths of 20 feet in some locations and affected as much 80% of the city. The damage footprint extended well inland, reaching north across Mississippi and Alabama, and into Tennessee. Towns such as Hattiesburg and Meridian—more than 60 miles inland—saw significant damage. This year, AIR is providing clients with one final scenario that takes advantage of research and analysis that AIR performs after the storm, including the on-site post disaster survey by AIR engineers, the latest observations and information available from the scientific community and, in the case of Hurricane Katrina, a detailed analysis of storm surge in the affected states and of the flooding of New Orleans. AIR’s final industry insured loss estimate of $26.1 billion represents insured losses from wind, surge and flood damage for Katrina’s first and second landfalls combined. Wind speed and loss maps are available for viewing on the Scenarios page of this web site. The event set is available for download from the Event Sets page. This will be the final posting on Hurricane Katrina.

Post Landfall 10 | Downloads
Posting Date: September 28, 2005, 6:30:00 AM