Lessons learnt in the 20 years since Hurricane Katrina

August 2025 marked the 20-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which swept through southeast Louisiana and became one of the worst disasters to hit the USA. What were the impacts? How has the area recovered and rebuilt? What has been learnt to help avoid disasters in the future? This article will discuss this and link to your studies of tropical storms within GCSE geography.

Kate Stockings

Aerial view of New Orleans neighbourhood destroyed during Hurricane Katrina

When the storm hit New Orleans on 29 August 2005, it left most of the city underwater and most of the population without power, food and shelter. As is often the case in a disaster of this scale, the true extent of the impacts are hard to measure and even 20 years on, there are still questions that haven’t been answered.

The hurricane killed more than 1,300 people and, according to articles on the BBC website, it is estimated that between 217,000 and 300,000 homes were destroyed or left unhabitable. The wind speeds reached up to 140 mph with a maximum storm surge of 7.6–8.5 m above normal tide levels along the Mississippi coast.