E The Birth of the Storm, On Wednesday, 24th August, 2005, a tropical storm formed over the Bahamas, about 560 km east of Miami, Florida. By 25th August, the storm had strengthened and become Hurricane Katrina. Residents of New Orleans had no idea that within days, 80% of their city would be underwater in one of the worst disasters in US history., B Gathering Strength, Hurricane Katrina was one of the most powerful storms that had ever hit the Atlantic coast, with winds of over 270 km per hour. As it became stronger over the Gulf of Mexico, the mayor of New Orleans declared a state of emergency and started evacuating the city. When the eye of the storm missed the city by about 72 km, everyone thought the worst was over, but they were very wrong., A Surrounded by Water, New Orleans has always been under threat from flooding. With the Mississippi River on two sides and Lake Pontchartrain to the north, parts of the city are 2 metres below sea level. A series of high walls, called levees, protect it. As the hurricane came ashore, it brought an 8-metre-high storm surge that rode the rivers up to New Orleans and smashed through the levees., G An awful Situation, Over a million residents had already left the city, but tens of thousands, mainly the elderly and the poor, remained in temporary shelters. As the waters rose, people were begging for help on rooftops, and neighbourhoods were suffering from looting and violence. Emergency services struggled to cope., C Collapsing Buildings, -, F Help at Last, Eventually, the military and the National Guard moved into the city and began to get food and water to the desperate few that remained. After 43 days, army engineers pumped the last of the floodwater out of the city. Almost 1,500 people had lost their lives because of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans alone., D Moving On, These days, New Orleans is making a slow recovery. The city has improved the levees, the community is rebuilding itself, and everyone is working hard to make sure that nothing like this will ever happen again

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