REMEMBERING HURRICANE KATRINA

21 Elul 5781
Shavua Tov! 

Sixteen years ago today!

Hurricane Katrina was a large Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 deaths and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the costliest tropical cyclone on record and is now tied with 2017's Hurricane Harvey. The storm was the twelfth tropical cyclone, the fifth hurricane, and the third major hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, as well as the fourth-most intense Atlantic hurricane on record to make landfall in the contiguous United States.

Katrina originated on August 23, 2005, as a tropical depression from the merger of a tropical wave and the remnants of Tropical Depression Ten. Early the following day, the depression intensified into a tropical storm as it headed generally westward toward Florida, strengthening into a hurricane two hours before making landfall at Hallandale Beach on August 25. After briefly weakening to tropical storm strength over southern Florida, Katrina emerged into the Gulf of Mexico on August 26 and began to rapidly intensify. The storm strengthened into a Category 5 hurricane over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico before weakening to Category 3 strength at its second landfall on August 29 over southeast Louisiana and Mississippi. (Source)

Is history about to repeat itself?

Hurricane Ida is an explosively intensifying tropical cyclone that is currently threatening the Gulf Coast of the United States. The ninth named storm, the fourth hurricane, and second major hurricane of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season, Ida originated from a tropical wave first monitored by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) on August 23, moving into the Caribbean Sea and developing into a tropical storm on August 26. On August 27, Ida became a Category 1 hurricane and initiated rapid intensification on the next day, becoming a Category 2 hurricane at 18:00 UTC on August 28.  (Source)

As of the time I am writing, Ida has intensified to a Category 4 and is expected to strengthen over the coming hours until it makes landfall later today.

It wouldn't be much of a retrospective if we did not make mention of this...

Hurricane Katrina: Incredible Parallels Between Israel and the U.S. Evacuations

We should be asking ourselves why HKB"H is reminding us of this davka today.  Could it have anything to do with what will come out of Bennett's meeting with Biden???  Or is it the deterioration of the situation with Gaza today as a direct result of what the Americans have been doing the whole time???

Urgent evacuations underway in Louisiana