NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - Forecasters rarely use language this stark. But on August 28, 2005, the National Weather Service’s New Orleans/Baton Rouge office issued one of the most ominous hurricane advisories ever written.
The bulletin warned residents along the entire north-central Gulf Coast that Hurricane Katrina, then a Category 5 storm rivaling the intensity of Hurricane Camille, would leave “most of the area uninhabitable for weeks … perhaps longer.”
The advisory’s dire language was for anyone along Katrina’s path.
It described roofs torn from well-built homes, walls collapsing, high-rise buildings swaying to the point of failure, industrial structures destroyed, and livestock killed by airborne debris.
“All gabled roofs will fail … most power poles will be down … human suffering will