NEW ORLEANS -- Twenty years after Hurricane Katrina crashed into the Gulf Coast, New Orleans is set to commemorate the anniversary Friday with memorials, performances and a parade to honor those who were affected.
Katrina, which was a Category 3 hurricane when it made landfall in southeast Louisiana on Aug. 29, 2005, remains the costliest U.S. storm on record, with damage estimated at upward of $200 billion when adjusted for inflation, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. About 1,400 people died in five states.
The failure of the federal levee system inundated about 80% of the city in floodwaters that took weeks to drain. Thousands of people clung to rooftops to survive or waited for evacuation in the sweltering, under-provisioned Superdome stadium.
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