Hurricane Katrina News

Less Risk of New Orleans Flooding According to New FEMA Maps

New federal maps say New Orleans is much less vulnerable to flooding than it was before Hurricane Katrina struck more than 10 years ago. As a result, Mayor Mitch Landrieu says, half of the city’s properties will see a big …

Mississippi Recovers From Worst Floods Since Katrina

Mississippi officials say the damage from floods this month is the most widespread the state has had since Hurricane Katrina. Mississippi Emergency Management Agency Director Lee Smithson tells The Clarion-Ledger federal and state assessment teams have been on the ground …

Supreme Court to Hear State Farm Appeal Over Hurricane Katrina Fraud Claim

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear an appeal by State Farm contesting a jury finding that the insurance company defrauded the federal government when assessing damage caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 along the Gulf of Mexico …

Researchers Say U.S. Hurricane Tab of $14 Billion and Counting Result of Global Warming

Climate change has added billions to the toll of hurricane strikes on the U.S., according to a study that challenges the prevailing scientific view that the rising cost is mainly because more buildings, towns and businesses are in the way. …

Louisiana Hurricane Museum Fundraising Continues

Ten years after back-to-back storms Katrina and Rita galvanized plans for a Lake Charles museum focused on hurricanes, supporters have secured about $42 million in pledges to build it. The Advocate reports the supports are now focused on closing a …

Hurricane Katrina Facts & Figures

Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Southern Florida as a Category 1 hurricane 10 years ago this week. Moving into the Gulf of Mexico where it strengthened into a Category 5 hurricane, it then made a second landfall on August 29 …

NICB Looks Back on Hurricane Katrina, Birth of VinCheck

While Katrina impacted parts of Alabama, Florida and Mississippi, its most widespread destruction occurred in Louisiana in and around New Orleans. After making landfall on August 29, 2005, Katrina’s heavy rainfall and significant storm surge caused breaches in a number …

IBHS: After Katrina, Roofing Regulations Stronger on Gulf Coast

According to new research by the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety, stronger building codes and standards, along with more stringent requirements for inspections, building permits, and contractor licensing, all have contributed to safer, stronger roofs in coastal Alabama, …

Researchers Link Amazon Wildfire Risk to U.S. Hurricanes

Researchers from the University of California, Irvine and NASA have uncovered a remarkably strong link between high wildfire risk in the Amazon basin and the devastating hurricanes that ravage North Atlantic shorelines. The climate scientists’ findings appear in the journal …

A Decade After Hurricane Katrina Rising Flood Risk Threatens Coastal Cities

A decade after Hurricane Katrina caused $41 billion in property and casualty insurance losses, the most expensive catastrophe ever experienced by the global insurance industry, rising sea levels are driving up expected economic and insurance losses from hurricane-driven storm surge …