<P> The storm caused severe destruction along the Gulf coast from central Florida to Texas, much of it due to the storm surge and levee failure . Severe property damage occurred in coastal areas, such as Mississippi beachfront towns where boats and casino barges rammed buildings, pushing cars and houses inland; water reached 6--12 miles (10--19 km) from the beach . The storm was the third most intense United States landfalling tropical cyclone, behind the 1935 Labor Day hurricane and Hurricane Camille in 1969 . Overall, at least 1,245 people died in the hurricane and subsequent floods, making it the deadliest United States hurricane since the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane . Total property damage was estimated at $108 billion (2005 USD), roughly four times the damage wrought by Hurricane Andrew in 1992 in the United States . </P> <P> Over fifty breaches in New Orleans's hurricane surge protection were the cause of the majority of the death and destruction during Katrina on August 29, 2005 . Eventually 80% of the city and large tracts of neighboring parishes became flooded, and the floodwaters lingered for weeks . According to a modeling exercise conducted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), two - thirds of the deaths in Greater New Orleans were due to levee and floodwall failure . All of the major studies concluded that the USACE, the designers and builders of the levee system as mandated by the Flood Control Act of 1965, was responsible . This is mainly due to a decision to use shorter steel sheet pilings in an effort to save money . In January 2008, Judge Stanwood Duval, U.S. District Court, ruled that despite the Corps' role in the flooding, the agency could not be held financially liable because of sovereign immunity in the Flood Control Act of 1928 . Exactly ten years after Katrina, J. David Rogers, lead author of a new report in the official journal of the World Water Council concluded that the flooding during Katrina "could have been prevented had the corps retained an external review board to double - check its flood - wall designs ." </P> <P> There was also an investigation of the responses from federal, state and local governments, resulting in the resignation of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) director Michael D. Brown, and of New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) Superintendent Eddie Compass . Many other government officials were criticized for their responses, especially New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, and President George W. Bush . Several agencies including the United States Coast Guard (USCG), National Hurricane Center (NHC), and National Weather Service (NWS) were commended for their actions . The NHC provided accurate hurricane forecasts with sufficient lead time . </P> <P> Hurricane Katrina formed as Tropical Depression Twelve over the southeastern Bahamas on August 23, 2005, as the result of an interaction between a tropical wave and the remnants of Tropical Depression Ten . The storm strengthened into Tropical Storm Katrina on the morning of August 24 . The tropical storm moved towards Florida, and became a hurricane only two hours before making landfall between Hallandale Beach and Aventura on the morning of August 25 . The storm weakened over land, but it regained hurricane status about one hour after entering the Gulf of Mexico, and it continued strengthening over open waters . On August 27, the storm reached Category 3 intensity on the Saffir - Simpson hurricane wind scale, becoming the third major hurricane of the season . An eyewall replacement cycle disrupted the intensification, but caused the storm to nearly double in size . The storm rapidly intensified after entering the Gulf, growing from a Category 3 hurricane to a Category 5 hurricane in just nine hours . This rapid growth was due to the storm's movement over the "unusually warm" waters of the Loop Current . </P>

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