Hurricane Katrina was the most costly and one of the deadliest hurricanes in the history of the . It was the sixth-strongest ever recorded and the third-strongest land-falling U.S. hurricane on record. Katrina formed in late August during the and caused devastation along much of the north-central . Most notable in media coverage were on the city of . New Orleans is in a really vulnerable position for hurricanes. It lies above the Gulf of Mexico, where lots of the huge storms start. The Mississippi river runs through the middle of town, and Lake Pontchartrain is to its north. Because the city is on ground which is below sea level, these things combine to put it in a dangerous position for flooding.
