Stock Photo - Damage caused by Hurricane Katrina - Slidell- Louisiana - On the shore of Lake Pontchartrain - Hurricane made landfall in Louisiana/Mississippi - on August 29-2005 - Category 4 on landing - The diameter of the storm was approximately 250 miles - The eye 32 miles wide - Significantly larger than most storms of its intensity - Roughly twice as large as Camille - Originated near the Bahamas as a tropical storm increasing to hurricane force off coast of Florida where landfall was made on the tip and then back out into the Gulf coast - Maximum wind speeds were 175 mph - Storm surge in Slidell was 23-26 feet - Considered the most expensive natural disaster in United States history with total cost of storm estimated at 200 billion dollars - Left approximately 500,000 homeless - Over 1000 deaths attributed to the storm - Hurricanes spin counterclockwise in the Northern hemisphere and vice versa in the Southern Hemisphere