Chapter Chapter 4
Section Landfall
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Landfall
Hurricane Katrina made landfall as a powerful Category 3 storm at 6:10 am CDT on Monday, August 29 in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana. The massive storm continued to move north, rolling over portions of the Louisiana coast before its eye came ashore near the mouth of the Pearl River in Mississippi. At the time, Hurricane Katrina had sustained winds over 115 mph and reported gusts as high as 130 mph.2 The storm rapidly lost strength as it pushed inland through southern and central Mississippi; by 1:00 pm cdt, it had weakened to a Category 1 hurricane.3 Six hours later, as it passed northwest of Meridian, Mississippi, Hurricane Katrina was further downgraded to a tropical storm.4
Hurricane Katrina generated violent waves and a massive storm surge before colliding with the Gulf Coast.5 According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Hurricane Katrina produced a storm surge as high as twenty-seven feet in Louisiana and Mississippi. Surge waters flooded over six miles inland in many parts of coastal Mississippi and up to twelve miles inland along rivers and bays. Hurricane Katrina also produced “very significant” storm surges approximately ten feet high as far east as Mobile, Alabama, where it caused flooding several miles inland along Mobile Bay.6
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