By Richard D. Knabb, Jamie R. Rhome, and Daniel P. Brown
Katrina was an extraordinarily powerful and deadly hurricane that carved a wide swath of catastrophic damage and inflicted large loss of life. It was the costliest and one of the five deadliest hurricanes to ever strike the United States. Katrina first caused fatalities and damage in southern Florida as a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. After reaching Category 5 intensity over the central Gulf of Mexico, Katrina weakened to Category 3 before making landfall on the northern Gulf Coast. Even so, the damage and loss of life inflicted by this massive hurricane in Louisiana and Mississippi were staggering, with significant effects extending into the Florida panhandle, Georgia, and Alabama. Considering the scope of its impacts, Katrina was one of the most devastating natural disasters in United States history.
SYNOPTIC HISTORY
The complex genesis of Katrina involved the interaction of a tropical wave, the middle tropospheric remnants of Tropical Depression Ten, and an upper tropospheric trough. This trough, located over the western Atlantic and the Bahamas, produced strong westerly shear across Tropical Depression Ten, causing it to degenerate on August 14 approximately 825 nautical miles (n mi) east of Barbados. The low-level circulation gradually weakened while continuing westward, and it eventually dissipated on August 21 in the vicinity of Cuba. Meanwhile, a middle tropospheric circulation originating from Tropical Depression Ten lagged behind and passed north of the Leeward Islands on August 18-19. A tropical wave moved through the Leeward Islands and merged with the middle tropospheric remnants of Tropical Depression Ten on August 19, forming a large area of showers and thunderstorms north of Puerto Rico. This activity continued to move slowly northwestward, passing north of Hispaniola and then consolidating just east of the Turks and Caicos during the afternoon of August 22. Dvorak satellite classifications from the Tropical Analysis and Forecast Branch (TAFB) of the Tropical Prediction Center (TPC) began at 1800 UTC that day. The upper tropospheric trough weakened as it moved westward toward Florida, and the shear relaxed enough to allow the system to develop into a tropical depression by 1800 UTC August 23 over the southeastern Bahamas about 175 n mi southeast of Nassau. The depression was designated Tropical Depression Twelve rather than “Ten” because a separate tropical wave appeared to be partially responsible for the cyclogenesis, and, more importantly, the low-level circulation of Tropical Depression Ten was clearly not involved.
The depression continued to become organized over the central Bahamas during the evening of August 23. Deep convection increased overnight in the eastern semicircle of the cyclone and formed a well-defined band that began to wrap around the north side of the circulation center early on the morning of August 24. Based on aircraft reconnaissance flight-level wind data, the cyclone became Katrina, the 11th tropical storm of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, at 1200 UTC August 24 when it was centered over the central Bahamas about 65 n mi east-southeast of Nassau. Initially, the storm moved northwestward within a weakness in the lower tropospheric subtropical ridge. However, as the storm developed an inner core and evolved into a deeper cyclone on August 24, it came under the influence of a strengthening middle to upper tropospheric ridge over the northern Gulf of Mexico and southern United States. This ridge turned Katrina westward on August 25 toward southern Florida. Katrina generated an intense burst of deep convection over the low-level center during the afternoon of August 25 while positioned over the northwestern Bahamas. Further strengthening ensued, and Katrina is estimated to have reached hurricane status near 2100 UTC August 25, less than two hours before its center made landfall on the southeastern coast of Florida.
The strengthening ridge over the northern Gulf of Mexico and southern United States produced northeasterly middle- to upper-level tropospheric flow that forced Katrina to turn west-southwestward as it neared southern Florida. Katrina made its first landfall in the United States as a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, with maximum sustained winds of 70 knots, near the border of Miami-Dade County and Broward County at approximately 2230 UTC August 25. While not discernible in conventional satellite imagery, a well-defined eye became evident on the Miami National Weather Service (NWS) WSR-88D Doppler radar just prior to landfall on the southeastern Florida coast. In fact, the eye feature actually became better defined while Katrina moved inland, and it remained intact during its entire track across the peninsula. The convective pattern of Katrina as it crossed southern Florida was rather asymmetric due to northerly wind shear, which placed the strongest winds and heaviest rains south and east of the center in Miami-Dade County. Katrina continued west-southwestward overnight and spent only about six hours over land, mostly over the water-laden Everglades. Surface observations and velocity estimates from the Miami and Key West Doppler radars indicated that Katrina weakened over mainland Monroe County to a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of 60 knots. The center of Tropical Storm Katrina then emerged into the southeastern Gulf of Mexico at approximately 0500 UTC on August 26 just north of Cape Sable.
Once back over water, Katrina quickly regained hurricane status at 0600 UTC with maximum sustained winds of 65 knots. Even though the center of Katrina continued west-southwestward over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico and away from the southern Florida peninsula, a strong and well-defined rain band impacted large portions of the Florida Keys with tropical storm-force winds for much of the day on August 26. Sustained hurricane-force winds were briefly measured at Dry Tortugas on the far western end of the island chain that afternoon.
Situated beneath a very large upper-level anticyclone that dominated the entire Gulf of Mexico by August 26, resulting in very weak wind shear and efficient upper-level outflow, Katrina embarked on two periods of rapid intensification (defined as a 30 kt or greater intensity increase in a 24-hour period) between August 26 and 28. The first period involved an increase in the maximum sustained winds from 65 kt to 95 kt in the 24-hour period ending 0600 UTC August 27. An eye became clearly evident in infrared satellite imagery early on August 27, and Katrina became a Category 3 hurricane with 100 kt winds at 1200 UTC that morning about 365 n mi southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River. During the remainder of the day, the inner eyewall deteriorated while a new, outer eyewall formed, and the intensity leveled off at 100 kt. Accompanying the intensification and the subsequent deterioration of the inner eyewall was a significant expansion of the wind field on August 27. Katrina nearly doubled in size on August 27, and by the end of that day tropical storm-force winds extended up to about 140 n mi from the center. The strong middle- to upper-tropospheric ridge that had kept Katrina on a west-southwestward track over the Florida peninsula and southeastern Gulf of Mexico began to shift eastward toward Florida, while a mid-latitude trough amplified over the north-central United States. This evolving pattern resulted in a general westward motion on August 27 and a turn toward the northwest on August 28 when Katrina moved around the western periphery of the retreating ridge. As Katrina churned westward on August 27, it produced tropical storm-force winds and heavy rainfall over portions of western Cuba. The new eyewall contracted into a sharply-defined ring by 0000 UTC August 28, and a second, more rapid intensification then occurred. Katrina strengthened from a low-end Category 3 hurricane to a Category 5 in less than 12 hours, reaching an intensity of 145 kt by 1200 UTC August 28. Katrina attained its peak intensity of 150 kt at 1800 UTC August 28 about 170 n mi southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River. The wind field continued to expand on August 28, and by late that day tropical storm-force winds extended out to about 200 n mi from the center, and hurricane-force winds extended out to about 90 n mi from the center, making Katrina not only extremely intense but also exceptionally large.
The new eyewall that formed late on August 27 and contracted early on August 28 began to erode on its southern side very late on August 28, while another outer ring of convection consolidated. These structural changes likely contributed to the rapid weakening that was observed prior to final landfall. Katrina turned northward, toward the northern Gulf Coast, around the ridge over Florida early on August 29. The hurricane then made landfall, at the upper end of Category 3 intensity with estimated maximum sustained winds of 110 kt, near Buras, Louisiana at 1110 UTC August 29. Katrina continued northward and made its final landfall near the mouth of the Pearl River at the Louisiana/Mississippi border, still as a Category 3 hurricane with an estimated intensity of 105 kt. The rapid weakening of Katrina, from its peak intensity of 150 kt to 110 kt during the last 18 hours or so leading up to the first Gulf landfall, appears to have been primarily due to internal structural changes, specifically the deterioration of the inner eyewall without the complete formation of a new outer eyewall. However, Katrina remained very large as it weakened, and the extent of tropical storm-force and hurricane-force winds was nearly the same at final landfall on August 29 as it had been late on August 28. The weakening could have been aided by entrainment of dry air that was seen eroding the deep convection over the western semicircle while Katrina approached the coast. Gradually increasing wind shear, slightly lower ocean temperatures, and (following the first Gulf landfall) interaction with land each could also have played a role. Without extensive investigation, however, it is not possible to assess the relative roles played by these various factors. The weakening of major hurricanes as they approach the northern Gulf Coast has occurred on several occasions in the past when one or more of these factors have been in place. Indeed, an unpublished study by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) reveals that, during the past 20 years, all 11 hurricanes having a central pressure less than 973 mb 12 hours before landfall in the northern Gulf of Mexico weakened during these last 12 hours.
Katrina weakened rapidly after moving inland over southern and central Mississippi, becoming a Category 1 hurricane by 1800 UTC August 29. It weakened to a tropical storm about six hours later just northwest of Meridian, Mississippi. Katrina accelerated on August 30, between the ridge over the southeastern United States and an eastward-moving trough over the Great Lakes. It turned northeastward over the Tennessee Valley and became a tropical depression at 1200 UTC August 30. The depression continued northeastward and transformed into an extratropical low pressure system by 0000 UTC August 31. The low was absorbed within a frontal zone later that day over the eastern Great Lakes.
METEOROLOGICAL STATISTICSAND OBSERVATIONS
The strongest sustained wind measured from a fixed location at the surface on the morning of August 29 was 76 kt at 0820 UTC by the C-MAN station at Grand Isle, Louisiana. This station’s anemometer, at 16 miles elevation, failed at about 0900 UTC, about two hours before closest approach of the eye. The Southwest Pass, LA C-MAN station (30 miles elevation) measured a sustained wind of 71 kt at 0420 UTC, before the station failed at about 0500 UTC due to storm surge, about four hours prior to closest approach of the eye. The strongest reported wind gust, although unofficial, was 117 kt in Poplarville, Mississippi, at the Pearl River County Emergency Operations Center (EOC). A gust to 108 kt was reported in Pascagoula, Mississippi, at the Jackson County EOC. The strongest gust from an official reporting station was 99 kt at the Grand Isle C-MAN station at 0838 UTC August 29, about 2.5 hours prior to the Buras, Louisiana, landfall.
While the intensity of Katrina was Category 3 as the center of the eye made its closest approach (about 20 n mi) to the east of downtown New Orleans, the strongest winds corresponding to that intensity were likely present only over water to the east of the eye. The sustained winds over all of metropolitan New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain likely remained weaker than Category 3 strength. The strongest sustained wind in New Orleans is subject to speculation since observations are sparse, due in part to the power failures that disabled ASOS stations in the area before peak wind conditions occurred. However, the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility in eastern New Orleans measured a one-minute sustained wind of 84 kt (at an elevation of about 12 miles) near 1100 UTC on August 29. Also, a few instrumented towers placed in various locations in the metropolitan area by the Florida Coastal Monitoring Program (FCMP) and by Texas Tech University measured sustained winds in the range of 61-68 kt. The Mid-Lake Pontchartrain NWS site (16 miles elevation), located along the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway about 8 n mi north of the south shore of the lake, also measured a one-minute sustained wind of 68 kt. Even though these various sites likely did not experience the maximum wind in the area, the Mid-Lake Pontchartrain site had open marine exposure, unlike most locations in the city of New Orleans. It appears likely that most of the city experienced sustained surface winds of Category 1 or Category 2 strength. It is important to note, however, that winds in a hurricane generally increase from the ground upward to a few hundred meters in altitude, and the sustained winds experienced on upper floors of high-rise buildings were likely stronger than the winds at the same location near the ground. For example, on average the 25th story of a building would experience a sustained wind corresponding to one Saffir-Simpson category stronger than that experienced at the standard observing height of 10 m.
A precise measurement of the storm surge produced by Katrina along the northern Gulf Coast is complicated by many factors, including the widespread failures of tide gauges. Additionally, in many locations, most of the buildings along the coast were completely destroyed, leaving few structures within which to identify still-water marks. Survey crews are still collecting data and conducting analyses as of this writing, without yet an explicit attempt to separate out the surge component of the high water mark measurements that are also a result of waves and, to a lesser extent, tides. An unofficial storm tide (actual level of sea water) observation of 28 feet at the Hancock, Mississippi Emergency Operations Center suggests that the storm surge produced by Katrina was as high as about 27 feet at that location. This observation provides an indication of the magnitude of the event, and comparable surge heights could have occurred along other portions of the western and central Gulf Coast of Mississippi. The surge appears to have penetrated at least six miles inland in many portions of coastal Mississippi and up to 12 miles inland along bays and rivers. The surge crossed Interstate 10 in many locations. Katrina produced a lesser but still very significant storm surge along the eastern Gulf Coast of Mississippi and along the coast of Alabama. Observations suggest the storm surge was about 10 feet as far east as Mobile, Alabama, where Katrina caused flooding several miles inland from the Gulf Coast along Mobile Bay.
Although the storm surge was higher to the east of the path of the eye of Katrina, a very significant storm surge also occurred west of the path of the eye, but the height of the surge is uncertain, in part because tide gauge observations along the southeastern coast of Louisiana were very limited and incomplete. As the level of Lake Pontchartrain rose, several feet of water were pushed into communities along its northeastern shore from Slidell to Mandeville, Louisiana. The surge severely strained the levee system in the New Orleans area. Several of the levees and floodwalls were overtopped and/or breached at different times on the day of landfall, although the specific times and exact causes of failure remain uncertain as of this writing. The surge overtopped large sections of the levees during the morning of August 29 east of New Orleans, in Orleans Parish and St. Bernard Parish, and it also pushed water up the Intracoastal Waterway and into the Industrial Canal. The water rise in Lake Pontchartrain strained the floodwalls along the canals adjacent to its southern shore, including the 17th Street Canal and the London Avenue Canal. Breaches along both the Industrial Canal east of downtown New Orleans and the 17th Street Canal northwest of downtown appear to have occurred during the early morning on August 29, possibly even before the eye made initial landfall in Louisiana. Breaches along the London Avenue Canal north of downtown appear to have occurred later that night. Overall, about 80 percent of the city of New Orleans flooded, to varying depths up to about 20 feet, within a day or so after landfall of the eye. Following the setbacks caused by additional flooding associated with the late September 2005 passage of Hurricane Rita to the south, the Army Corps of Engineers reported on October 11, 2005, 43 days after Katrina’s landfall, that all floodwaters had been removed from the city of New Orleans.
The massive storm surge produced by Katrina, even though it had weakened from Category 5 intensity the previous day to Category 3 at landfall in Louisiana, can be generally explained by the huge size of the storm. Katrina had on August 29 a large (about 25-30 n mi) radius of maximum winds and a very wide swath of hurricane force winds that extended at least 75 n mi to the east from the center. Even though Hurricane Camille (1969) was more intense than Katrina at landfall while following a similar track, Camille was far more compact and produced comparably high storm surge values along a much narrower swath. Also, Katrina had already generated large northward-propagating swells, leading to substantial wave setup along the northern Gulf Coast, when it was at Category 4 and 5 strength during the 24 hours or so before landfall. In fact, buoy 42040, operated by the National Data Buoy Center (NDBC) and located about 64 n mi south of Dauphin Island, Alabama, reported a significant wave height (defined as the average of the one-third highest waves) of 30 feet as early as 0000 UTC August 29. This buoy later measured a peak significant wave height of 55 feet at 1100 UTC that matches the largest significant wave height ever measured by a NDBC buoy. Overall, Katrina’s very high water levels are attributable to a large Category 3 hurricane’s storm surge being enhanced by waves generated not long before by a Category 5 strength storm.
Katrina also produced some storm surge outside of the northern Gulf Coast hurricane warning areas. Gauge data indicate that storm surge ranged from up to about five feet along the Florida panhandle to about one or two feet along most of the west-central coast of Florida. About two to four feet of storm surge occurred along the extreme southwestern Florida coast. A storm surge of about two feet was reported at Key West, Florida, as Katrina passed by to the north on August 26. The surge was also small, about two feet, along portions of the southeastern coast of Florida.
Rainfall distributions associated with Katrina across southern Florida were highly asymmetric about the storm track, with the greatest floods occurring over the southern semicircle of the hurricane, primarily affecting portions of southern Miami-Dade County. Selected rainfall totals from Miami-Dade County include 14.04 inches at Homestead Air Force Base, 12.25 inches at Florida City, and 11.13 inches in Cutler Ridge. Rainfall amounts to the north of the center over northern Miami-Dade County and Broward County were generally 2 to 4 inches. Rainfall amounts over interior and western portions of the southern Florida peninsula were much less and generally ranged from 1 to 3 inches.
Precipitation amounts during the landfall along the northern Gulf Coast were greatest along and just west of the track of the center. A large swath of 8-10 inches of rain fell across southeastern Louisiana and southwestern Mississippi, with a small area of 10-12 inches over eastern Louisiana, including 11.63 inches reported at the Slidell, Louisiana, NWS office. Katrina produced rainfall amounts of 4-8 inches well inland over Mississippi and portions of the Tennessee Valley.
Katrina produced a total of 33 reported tornadoes. One tornado was reported in the Florida Keys on the morning of August 26. On August 29-30, 17 tornadoes were reported in Georgia, four in Alabama, and 11 in Mississippi. The Georgia tornadoes were the most on record in that state for any single day in the month of August, and one of them caused the only August tornado fatality on record in Georgia.
CASUALTY AND DAMAGE STATISTICS
Katrina was a large and intense hurricane that struck a portion of the United States coastline along the northern Gulf of Mexico that is particularly vulnerable to storm surge, leading to loss of life and property damage of immense proportions. The scope of human suffering inflicted by Hurricane Katrina in the United States has been greater than that of any hurricane to strike this country in several generations.
The total number of fatalities known, as of this writing, to be either directly or indirectly related to Katrina is 1,336, based on reports to date from state and local officials in five states: 1,090 fatalities in Louisiana, 228 in Mississippi, 14 in Florida, two in Georgia, and two in Alabama. The total number of fatalities directly related to the forces of Katrina is estimated to be about 1,200 spread across four states, with about 1,000 of these in Louisiana, about 200 in Mississippi, six in Florida, and one in Georgia. Especially for Louisiana and Mississippi, the number of direct fatalities is highly uncertain and the true number might not ever be known. This uncertainty exists because complete statistics on causes of death are available only from some areas. As of this writing, bodies are still being found, many of those found have not yet been identified, and the causes of many deaths remain under investigation. More than four thousand persons are still reported missing, so it is possible the death toll could grow beyond current estimates.
Presumably, most of the deaths in Louisiana were directly caused by the widespread storm surge-induced flooding and its miserable aftermath in the New Orleans area. However, several indirect fatalities in Louisiana have been confirmed or are suspected, and some deaths included in the total appear not to be related to Katrina at all. Louisiana also reports that persons of more than 60 years of age constituted the majority of the Katrina-related fatalities among its residents. The vast majority of the fatalities in Mississippi probably were directly caused by the storm surge in the three coastal counties. In Florida, three of the direct fatalities were caused by downed trees in Broward County, and the three others were due to drowning in Miami-Dade County. Two deaths were also reported in Georgia, with one directly caused by a tornado and the other occurring in a car accident indirectly related to the storm. Alabama reported two indirect fatalities in a car accident during the storm. Despite the fact that inland fresh water floods produced the majority of fatalities due to tropical cyclones during the past few decades, Katrina provides a grim reminder that storm surge poses the greatest potential cause for large loss of life in a single hurricane in this country.
Where Katrina ranks among the deadliest hurricanes on record in the United States is somewhat uncertain, due to the unknown number of fatalities caused directly by this hurricane and by some others in the past. Katrina is surpassed by the Galveston, Texas, hurricane in 1,900 that claimed at least 8,000 lives, and it appears to be surpassed by the 1928 Lake Okeechobee, Florida, hurricane with more than 2,500 fatalities. If the assumption is correct that most of the Katrina-related fatalities were caused directly by the storm, then Katrina ranks as the third deadliest hurricane in the United States since 1900, and the deadliest in 77 years. However, two hurricanes in 1893 might each have been directly responsible for more fatalities in the United States than Katrina. One of these struck the southeastern Louisiana barrier island of Cheniere Caminanda and killed about 2,000 people, while another struck Georgia and South Carolina and claimed somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 lives. As a result, Katrina ranks fourth or fifth on the list of the deadliest hurricanes on record in the United States.
The extent, magnitude, and impacts of the damage caused by Katrina are staggering and are well beyond the scope of this report to fully describe. Thousands of homes and businesses throughout entire neighborhoods in the New Orleans metropolitan area were destroyed by flood. Strong winds also caused damage in the New Orleans area, including downtown where windows in some high-rise buildings were blown out and the roof of the Louisiana Superdome was partially peeled away. The storm surge of Katrina struck the Mississippi coastline with such ferocity that entire coastal communities were obliterated, some left with little more than the foundations upon which homes, businesses, government facilities, and other historical buildings once stood. Despite being more distant from the eye of Katrina, the storm surge over Dauphin Island, Alabama, destroyed or damaged dozens of beachfront homes and cut a new canal through the island’s western end. Many of the most severely impacted areas along the northern Gulf Coast could take years to completely rebuild. Katrina’s heavy rains in southern Florida flooded some neighborhoods, primarily in Miami-Dade County. Many other structures from Florida and Georgia westward to Louisiana that avoided surge or fresh water floods, including some areas well inland, were damaged by strong winds and tornadoes. Considerable damage to some homes and agricultural facilities was caused by several tornadoes in Georgia. Strong winds caused significant tree damage throughout much of Mississippi and Alabama. Combining all of the areas it impacted, Katrina left about three million people without electricity, some for several weeks.
The economic and environmental ramifications of Katrina have been widespread and could in some respects be long-lasting, due to impacts on large population and tourism centers, the oil and gas industry, and transportation. The hurricane severely impacted or destroyed workplaces in New Orleans and other heavily populated areas of the northern Gulf Coast, resulting in thousands of lost jobs and millions of dollars in lost tax revenues for the impacted communities and states. Along the Mississippi coast, several large casinos on floating barges were damaged or destroyed when the surge pushed them onshore. Large numbers of evacuees have not returned home, producing a shortage of workers for those businesses that have reopened. Major beach erosion occurred along the tourism-dependent coasts of Mississippi and Alabama. A significant percentage of United States oil refining capacity was disrupted after the storm due to flooded refineries; crippled pipelines; and several oil rigs and platforms damaged, adrift, or capsized. An oil rig under construction along the Mobile River in Alabama was dislodged, floated 1.5 miles northward, and struck the Cochrane Bridge just north of downtown Mobile. An offshore oil rig washed up near the beach of Dauphin Island, Alabama. Several million gallons of oil were spilled from damaged facilities scattered throughout southeastern Louisiana. Although several facilities have since resumed operations, as of this writing oil and natural gas production and refining capacity in the northern Gulf of Mexico region remains less than that prior to Katrina. Key transportation arteries were disrupted or cut off by the hurricane. Traffic along the Mississippi River was below normal capacity for at least two weeks following the storm. Major highways into and through New Orleans were blocked by floods. Major bridges along the northern Gulf Coast were destroyed, including several in Mississippi and the Interstate 10 Twin Span Bridge connecting New Orleans and Slidell, Louisiana.
Estimates of the insured property losses caused by Katrina vary considerably and range between about $20 billion and $60 billion. The American Insurance Services Group (AISG) estimates that Katrina is responsible for $38.1 billion of insured losses in the United States. A preliminary estimate of the total damage cost of Katrina is assumed to be roughly twice the insured losses (using the AISG estimate), or about $75 billion. This figure would make Katrina far and away the costliest hurricane in United States history. Even after adjusting for inflation, the estimated total damage cost of Katrina is roughly double that of Hurricane Andrew (1992). Normalizing for inflation and for increases in population and wealth, only the 1926 hurricane that struck southern Florida surpasses Katrina in terms of damage cost. However, this would not be the case if the values on the higher end of the range of Katrina estimates are later found to be the most accurate. The Insurance Information Institute reports that, mostly due to Katrina but combined with significant impacts from the other hurricanes striking the United States this year, 2005 was by a large margin the costliest year ever for insured catastrophe losses in this country.
Data provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) indicate that more than 1.2 million people along the northern Gulf Coast from southeastern Louisiana to Alabama were under some type of evacuation order, but it is not clear how many people actually evacuated. Media reports indicate that many displaced residents have moved either temporarily or permanently to other areas in the United States. A large number of these people might never return to live in their pre-Katrina homes or cities. Thousands of people are still living in hotels and temporary shelters as of this writing. Some people remain separated from other family members or are unable to determine if their family member(s) survived the storm.
RICHARD D. KNABB, JAMIE R. RHOME, and DANIEL P. BROWN are meteorologists for the National Hurricane Center.
