How Much Damage Did Hurricane Katrina Cause?

Weather experts had predicted for decades that New Orleans, Louisiana, was in danger of catastrophic damage and devastation if the city received a direct hit by a large hurricane. Unfortunately, on August 29, 2005, the worst-case scenario that experts had foretold unfolded when Hurricane Katrina made landfall as a strong Category 3 storm and passed just east of the city of New Orleans. The storm left a trail of destruction that is unrivaled in modern times. The damage caused by Katrina can be broken down into several categories.

Lost Work and Productivity

Lost work and productivity are some of the hardest aspects of storm damage to accurately quantify. The fact that many jobs are provided by small businesses and self-employment makes collecting a complete data set difficult. However, the Department of Labor estimates that 230,000 jobs were permanently lost due to Hurricane Katrina.

Lives Lost

Hurricane Katrina’s most tragic statistic is the final total of 1,836 lives lost during and immediately after the storm.  Nearly 1,600 were residents of Louisiana and the others were in the states of Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Many of the victims were elderly persons who had no way to evacuate from the storm. Drowning and injury were the main causes of death.

Homes Destroyed

Over 300,000 homes were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, nearly four times the number destroyed by Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Entire neighborhoods in New Orleans were completely washed away or rendered uninhabitable by the 20 foot storm surge that overtopped several protective levees.

PEOPLE DISPLACED

Approximately 1.5 million people in Louisiana left their homes before the storm hit. Hundreds of thousands of others in Mississippi and other states also evacuated ahead of the storm. Many of these people returned afterward, but some permanently relocated to cities like Houston, Texas, which saw a population increase of 130,000 after Katrina. In all, the population of New Orleans dropped by nearly 400,000 after the storm. The Mississippi Gulf Coast also permanently lost over 41,000 residents.

Insured Losses

The total insured losses for Hurricane Katrina are estimated to be around $71 billion. This total includes loss and damage claims paid by private insurance as well as flood damage covered by federal flood insurance. The National Flood Insurance Program was completely drained and went $18 billion in the red covering losses in Florida, Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana.

Destruction of Other Resources

Damage to fishing fleets caused by Hurricane Katrina amounted to over $35 million in Mississippi alone. Seafood processing plants in Mississippi suffered an additional $101 million. Combined seafood industry losses for Louisiana are over $1 billion, and over $200,000 in the nearby state of Alabama.

Hurricane Katrina destroyed 115 oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico and damaged dozens more.

Timber losses from the storm in Louisiana amounted to $600 million. Losses in Mississippi are estimated to be over $1 billion. Mississippi sustained more timber damage than Louisiana because the eastern side of the hurricane containing the strongest winds passed over that state.

Combined losses to agriculture and agricultural products totaled $900 million. Cattle, chickens, sugarcane, rice, pecans and vegetables were among the agricultural products hit hardest by the storm.

Byline

This piece was written by Duncan Kensington, a freelance writer and blogger with a focus on finance, real estate, the insurance industry, taxation, insurance claims from environmental disasters, and other similar subjects; those interested in this piece may want to learn about the Hurricane Sandy Tax Relief available.