Katrina was an extraordinarily powerful and deadly hurricane that carved a wide swath of catastrophic damage and inflicted large loss of life.  It was the costliest and one of the five deadliest hurricanes to ever strike the United States.  Katrina first caused fatalities and damage in southern Florida as a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale.  After reaching Category 5 intensity over the central Gulf of Mexico, Katrina weakened to Category 3 before making landfall on the northern Gulf coast.  Even so, the damage and loss of life inflicted by this massive hurricane in Louisiana and Mississippi were staggering, with significant effects extending into the Florida panhandle, Georgia, and Alabama.  Considering the scope of its impacts, Katrina was one of the most devastating natural disasters in United States history.  (National Hurricane Center Tropical Cyclone Report - Hurricane Katrina)

A Failure of Initiative: The Final Report of the Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina

Main Report | Appendices 

The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned 

Hurricane Katrina: A Nation Still Unprepared

Katrina Investigation Report Proposed by Chairman Collins and Ranking Member Lieberman

• Executive Summary

• Introduction

• Findings

• Recommendations

• Conclusions

• Lieberman Additional Views

A Performance Review of FEMA's Disaster Management Activities in Response to Hurricane Katrina

CRS Background

CRS RL33369
Federal Emergency Management and Homeland Security Organization: Historical Developments and Legislative Options
April 19, 2006
 

General Accounting Office

• Emergency Preparedness and Response: Some Issues and Challenges Associated with Major Emergency Incidents, GAO-06-467T February 23, 2006

• Statement by Comptroller General David M. Walker on GAO's Preliminary Observations Regarding Preparedness and Response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, GAO-06-365R, February 1, 2006.  

Congressional Budget Office

• Effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita

• The Budgetary Effects of Hurricane Relief, January 2006

Others

• National Hurricane Center Tropical Cyclone Report - Hurricane Katrina
• Hurricane Katrina - After Action Report. OR-2 DMAT. New Orleans Airport. August 31 to September 10, 2005. September 25, 2005
• Association of Contingency Planners Observations of Hurricane Katrina Lessons Learned January 31, 2006
• Emergency Management Assistance Compact Response to Hurricane Katrina

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