Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans

The eye of Hurricane Katrina was forecast to pass through the city of New Orleans. In that event, the wind was predicted to come from the north as the storm passed, forcing large volumes of water from Lake Pontchartrain against the levees and possibly into the city. It was also forecast that the storm surge in Lake Pontchartrain would reach (4.3–5.5 m), with waves reaching (2.1 m) above the storm surge. On August 28, at 10:00 a.m. CDT, the National Weather Service (NWS) field office in New Orleans issued a bulletin predicting catastrophic damage to New Orleans and the surrounding region. Anticipated effects included, at the very least, the partial destruction of half of the well-constructed houses in the city, severe damage to most industrial buildings, rendering them inoperable, the “total destruction” of all wood-framed low-rise apartment buildings, all windows blowing out in high-rise office buildings, and the creation of a huge debris field of trees, telephone poles, cars, and collapsed buildings. Lack of clean water was predicted to “make human suffering incredible by modern standards”. It was also predicted that the standing water caused by the storm surge would render most of the city uninhabitable for weeks. Some experts said that it could take six months or longer to pump all the water out of the city.

Adapted from https://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/hurricane_Katrina.