Hurricane Katrina - Livability Statistics

Two Year Anniversary

On Monday, 29 August 2005, Hurricane Katrina careened into the Gulf Coast, putting 80% of New Orleans under water and bashing the Mississippi coast like it was matchsticks.

Two years after Katrina, life in New Orleans is far from normal: hospitals, schools, libraries, even bus service all remain limited. Postal service data show that New Orleans is at 66 percent of its pre-Katrina population.

The nation's most costly natural disaster, Katrina killed more than 1,600 people ... destroyed 200,000 Gulf Coast homes ... displaced about 1 million people. News reports place insured property damage at $25.3 billion in 1.7 million insurance claims -- 975,000 of them in Louisiana.

Two years later, rebuilding remains spotty, despite $110 billion (same amount allocated as in 2006) in federal monies.

Livability Statistics Post-Katrina, New Orleans Area