Hurricane Katrina Statistics Fast Facts

CNN Library

Updated 6:10 PM ET, Mon August 28, 2017

Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what's happening in the world as it unfolds.

Photos: Remembering Hurricane Katrina

Water spills over a levee along the Inner Harbor Navigational Canal in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on August 30, 2005, in New Orleans. Katrina struck the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005. After levees and flood walls protecting New Orleans failed, much of the city was underwater.

Hide Caption

1 of 15

Photos: Remembering Hurricane Katrina

A helicopter rescues a family from a rooftop on September 1, 2005. Floodwaters from Hurricane Katrina stranded thousands of New Orleans residents.

Hide Caption

2 of 15

Photos: Remembering Hurricane Katrina

Evacuees crowd the floor of the Astrodome in Houston on September 2, 2005. The facility housed 15,000 refugees who fled the destruction of Hurricane Katrina.

Hide Caption

3 of 15

Photos: Remembering Hurricane Katrina

A neighborhood east of downtown New Orleans remains flooded on August 30, 2005.

Hide Caption

4 of 15

Photos: Remembering Hurricane Katrina

A woman gets carried out of floodwaters after being trapped in her home in Orleans Parish, Louisiana, on August 30, 2005.

Hide Caption

5 of 15

Photos: Remembering Hurricane Katrina

Police watch over prisoners from Orleans Parish Prison who were evacuated to a highway on September 1, 2005.

Hide Caption

6 of 15

Photos: Remembering Hurricane Katrina

Daryl Thompson and his daughter Dejanae, 3 months old, wait with other displaced residents on a highway to catch a ride out of New Orleans on August 31, 2005. Thousands were looking for a place to go after leaving the Superdome shelter.

Hide Caption

7 of 15

Photos: Remembering Hurricane Katrina

Residents of Saucier, Mississippi, line up to get gas on August 31, 2005.

Hide Caption

8 of 15

Photos: Remembering Hurricane Katrina

Hanging from her roof, a woman waits to be rescued by New Orleans Fire Department workers on August 29, 2005.

Hide Caption

9 of 15

Photos: Remembering Hurricane Katrina

People seek high ground on Interstate 90 as a helicopter prepares to land at the Superdome in New Orleans on August 31, 2005.

Hide Caption

10 of 15

Photos: Remembering Hurricane Katrina

A woman cries after returning to her house and business, destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, on August 30, 2005, in Biloxi, Mississippi.

Hide Caption

11 of 15

Photos: Remembering Hurricane Katrina

People search for their belongings among debris washed up on the beach in Biloxi on August 30, 2005.

Hide Caption

12 of 15

Photos: Remembering Hurricane Katrina

People try to get to higher ground as water rises on August 30, 2005, in New Orleans.

Hide Caption

13 of 15

Photos: Remembering Hurricane Katrina

People wade through high water in front of the Superdome in New Orleans on August 30, 2005.

Hide Caption

14 of 15

Photos: Remembering Hurricane Katrina

President George W. Bush looks out the window of Air Force One on August 31, 2005, as he flies over New Orleans. Returning to Washington from Texas, Air Force One descended to about 5,000 feet to allow Bush to view some of the worst damage from Hurricane Katrina.

Hide Caption

15 of 15

(CNN)Here's a look at some Hurricane Katrina statistics.

August 29, 2005 - Hurricane Katrina makes landfall as a Category 3 storm with 127 mph winds between Grand Isle, Louisiana, and the mouth of the Mississippi River at about 6 a.m.
- Severe flooding damage to Gulfport, Mississippi, New Orleans, Louisiana, and areas in between.
- Some levees are overtopped in New Orleans, and there is extensive damage to the Superdome roof, where more than 10,000 people sought shelter from the storm.

According to FEMA, Katrina is, "the single most catastrophic natural disaster in US history."

According to FEMA, the total damage for Katrina is estimated at $108 billion. This makes it the "costliest hurricane in US history."

Fatalities: (directly or indirectly)
- Alabama: 2
- Florida: 14
- Georgia: 2
- Louisiana: 1,577
- Mississippi: 238
- Total: 1,833

Source: FEMA

Private Insurance Payments:
Insurance companies have paid an estimated $41.1 billion on 1.7 million different claims for damage to vehicles, homes, and businesses in six states. 63% of the losses occurred in Louisiana and 34% occurred in Mississippi.

Hurricane Katrina is the costliest disaster in the history of the global insurance industry.

By 2007, 99% of the 1.2 million personal property claims had been settled by insurers.

Source: Insurance Information Institute, 2010

National Flood Insurance Payments:
The National Flood Insurance Program paid out $16.3 billion in claims. $13 billion went to claims in Louisiana.

June 2006 - The Government Accountability Office releases a report that concludes at least $1 billion in disaster relief payments made by FEMA were improper and potentially fraudulent.

Impact on the Gulf Coast:
More than one million people in the Gulf region were displaced by the storm. At their peak hurricane relief shelters housed 273,000 people. Later, approximately 114,000 households were housed in FEMA trailers.

FEMA has provided more than $15 billion to the four Gulf states for public works projects such as the repair and rebuilding of roads, schools, and buildings, in the 10 years since the storm, and $6.7 billion in recovery aid to more than one million people and households.

The majority of all federal aid, approximately $75 billion of $120.5 billion, went to emergency relief operations.

40% of the deaths in Louisiana were caused by drowning. 25% were caused by injury and trauma and 11% were caused by heart conditions.

Nearly half the fatalities in Louisiana were people over the age of 74.

Sources: The Data Center, FEMA

Impact on New Orleans:
80% of the city flooded after levees failed.

The population of New Orleans fell from 484,674 in April 2000 to 230,172 in July 2006, a decrease of over 50%. By 2015, the estimated population had increased to almost 390,000, according to the US Census Bureau.

70% of New Orleans' occupied housing, 134,000 units, was damaged in the storm.

Sources: The Data Center, US Census Bureau

A man in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward rides a canoe in high water on August 31, 2005. Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005. After levees and flood walls protecting New Orleans failed, much of the city was underwater. At least 1,833 died in the hurricane and subsequent floods. It was the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history.

Photos: Hurricane Katrina: Then and now

Then – A man in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward rides a canoe in high water on August 31, 2005. Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005. After levees and flood walls protecting New Orleans failed, much of the city was underwater. At least 1,833 died in the hurricane and subsequent floods. It was the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history.

Hide Caption

1 of 18

Photos: Hurricane Katrina: Then and now

Now – A woman walks with a dog in the Lower Ninth Ward on May 16, 2015.

Hide Caption

2 of 18

Photos: Hurricane Katrina: Then and now

Then – Robert Fontaine walks past a burning house fire in New Orleans' Seventh Ward on September 6, 2005.

Hide Caption

3 of 18

Photos: Hurricane Katrina: Then and now

Now – Houses stand in the Seventh Ward on May 12, 2015.

Hide Caption

4 of 18

Residents of the B.W. Cooper housing project play on mattresses on June 10, 2007. Before Hurricane Katrina, B.W. Cooper held about 1,000 families and was the city's largest housing project.

Photos: Hurricane Katrina: Then and now

Then – Residents of the B.W. Cooper housing project play on mattresses on June 10, 2007. Before Hurricane Katrina, B.W. Cooper held about 1,000 families and was the city's largest housing project.

Hide Caption

5 of 18

On May 12, 2015, rubble remains at what used to be the B.W. Cooper housing project. The low-income development has been replaced by two-story, townhouse-style buildings.

Photos: Hurricane Katrina: Then and now

Now – On May 12, 2015, rubble remains at what used to be the B.W. Cooper housing project. The low-income development has been replaced by two-story, townhouse-style buildings.

Hide Caption

6 of 18

Photos: Hurricane Katrina: Then and now

Then – Duette Sims stands in the heavily damaged Christian Community Baptist Church in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward on August 28, 2007.

Hide Caption

7 of 18

Photos: Hurricane Katrina: Then and now

Now – Parishioners gather during Sunday services in the rebuilt church on May 10, 2015.

Hide Caption

8 of 18

Photos: Hurricane Katrina: Then and now

Then – On April 25, 2006, workers in the Lower Ninth Ward rebuild the levee that was breached by Hurricane Katrina along the Industrial Canal.

Hide Caption

9 of 18

Photos: Hurricane Katrina: Then and now

Now – New homes stand along the rebuilt Industrial Canal levee on May 16, 2015.

Hide Caption

10 of 18

Photos: Hurricane Katrina: Then and now

Then – Two men paddle through the streets past the Claiborne Bridge in New Orleans on August 31, 2005.

Hide Caption

11 of 18

Photos: Hurricane Katrina: Then and now

Now – A school bus drops off a student in front of the Claiborne Bridge on May 12, 2015.

Hide Caption

12 of 18

A lightning bolt strikes above a destroyed church in the Lower Ninth Ward on August 5, 2006. Dozens of churches were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

Photos: Hurricane Katrina: Then and now

Then – A lightning bolt strikes above a destroyed church in the Lower Ninth Ward on August 5, 2006. Dozens of churches were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

Hide Caption

13 of 18