Hurricane HarveyHarvey and Katrina: A comparison

Hurricane Harvey’s rainfall and flooding continue to pummel east Texas, and resident along Louisiana’s southwestern coast are anxiously waiting for the second round of Harvey’s landfall today.

The scenes from Houston bring to mind the 2005 storm Katrina, which battered New Orleans and the Louisiana coast, causing 1,833 deaths and about $108 billion in damages.

How does Hurricane Harvey compare to the 2005 Katrina? The New York Times, the BBC, and Mashable offer a summary;

Hurricane Harvey by the numbers – so far:

· 15: Confirmed death

· 51.88: Inches of rain falling on the Houston area so far – a rainfall record for continental United States

· 64,000: Emergency calls to Harvey County 911 as of Tuesday evening

· $400 billion: Value of residential property at risk from rising water

· 18 trillion: Gallon of water which has fallen over the Houston area since 25 August (Hurricane Katrina produced “only” 6.5 trillion gallons)

· 5 trillion: Gallons of water still expected to inundate the Houston area by this weekend

Harvey-Katrina comparison
New Orleans: A small city of about 455,000
Houston: A sprawling city of more than 2 million

Katrina: Made landfall as a Category 3 storm and measured 350 miles across
Harvey: Made landfall as a Category 4 storm, measuring 200 miles across

Katrina: One of the deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history, causing 1,833 deaths and more than $100 billion in damage, with most of the damage caused by wind, storm surge, and the levees failure
Harvey: 15 confirmed deaths so far, and most of the damage caused by flooding

Katrina: Rain was not a major issue in Katrina, with rainfall in the first 48 hours not exceeding 10 inches
Harvey: Harvey has so far pored more than 50 inches of rain on the Houston area, with heavy rains expected in the next several days

Katrina: The New Orleans authorities announced a mandatory evacuation a day before the storm hit. About 100,000 people remained in the city. A few weeks later, ahead of Hurricane Rita, New Orleans announced another mandatory evacuation.
Harvey: Houston did not instruct residents to evacuate

Katrina: The 2005 storm displaced more than a million people, damaging or destroyed 275,000 homes. FEMSA provided individual assistance to nearly a million households
Harvey: It is not yet clear how many people will be forced out of their homes — but about 80 percent of homes in Harvey’s path are not insured against flooding. FEMA says it expetcs 450,000 people were likely to seek federal aid.