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'''Hurricane Katrina''' was one of the most destructive [[tropical cyclones]] ever to hit the [[United States]] causing extensive damage to the coastal regions of [[Louisiana]], [[Mississippi]], and [[Alabama]] on [[August 29]], [[2005]]. By late morning of [[August 29]] [http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/2005_09.html], the storm caused several sections of the [[levee]] system in [[New Orleans, Louisiana]] to collapse. Subsequent flooding over most of the city, a large part of which lies below sea level, resulted in widespread damage and many deaths, largely due to inadequate [[hurricane preparedness for New Orleans]].

Later estimates placed the death toll in the thousands, and the damage is expected to surpass [[Hurricane Andrew]] as the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history (estimates run as high as $200 billion). Over a million people were displaced — a humanitarian crisis on a scale unseen in the U.S. since the [[Great Depression]].

[[Federal government of the United States|Federal]] disaster declarations blanketed 90,000 square miles (233,000 km²) of the United States, an area almost as large as the [[United Kingdom]]. The hurricane left an estimated five million people without power, and it may take up to two months for all power to be restored. On [[September 3]], [[Homeland Security]] Secretary [[Michael Chertoff]] described the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina as "probably the worst catastrophe, or set of catastrophes" in the country's history, referring to the hurricane itself plus the flooding of New Orleans.