keley's Dr. Raymond B. Seed called "the worst
engineering disaster in the world since Chernobyl," when the Federal levee
system failed during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. By the time the hurricane
approached the city at the end of August 2005, most residents had evacuated. As
the hurricane passed through the Gulf Coast region, the city's federal flood
protection system failed, resulting in the worst civil engineering disaster in
American history. Floodwalls and levees constructed by the United States Army
Corps of Engineers failed below design specifications and 80% of the city
flooded. Tens of thousands of residents who had remained in the city were
rescued or otherwise made their way to shelters of last resort at the Louisiana
Superdome or the New Orleans Morial Convention Center. More than 1,500 people
were recorded as having died in Louisiana, and others are still unaccounted
for.
Before Hurricane Katrina, the city
called for the first mandatory evacuation in its history, to be followed by
another mandatory evacuation three years later with Hurricane Gustav.
Hurricane Rita
The city was declared off-limits to residents while efforts
to clean up after Hurricane Katrina began. The approach of Hurricane Rita in
September 2005 caused repopulation efforts to be postponed, and the Lower Ninth
Ward was reflooded by Rita's storm surge.
Post-disaster recovery
The Census Bureau in July 2006 estimated the population of
New Orleans to be 223,000; a subsequent study estimated that 32,000 additional
residents had moved to the city as of March 2007, bringing the estimated
population to 255,000, approximately 56% of the pre-Katrina population level
