In recent years there have been many violent storms in the Gulf of Mexico, and city planners have been discussing the need to make the system better for a long time. Nothing had actually happened, however,when Hurricane Katrina suddenly arrived in August 2005.
Hurricane Katrina started over the sea in the Gulf of Mexico on 23 August. A few days later it hit the coast of the southern USA with winds of 240 kilometres per hour. Many towns and cities suffered from the effects of the Hurricane, but no city was more badly hit than New Orleans.