Reply #191: Report Revises Katrina's Force to Cat 3 - WaPo article dated 12/22/05

[Kadie]

Katrina was revised to a cat 3 much later, and now the wh is saying they knew it was a cat 3?


Report Revises Katrina's Force
Hurricane Center Downgrades Storm to Category 3 Strength

By Peter Whoriskey and Joby Warrick
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, December 22, 2005; Page A03

Hurricane Katrina will go down in the history books as the costliest hurricane in U.S. history, but not by a long shot the most powerful.

The National Hurricane Center released a summary report on Katrina this week that downgraded the storm's intensity at landfall in Louisiana on Aug. 29 from Category 4 to Category 3. The winds in New Orleans, which lay to the west of the storm's center, were probably even weaker than that, at Category 1 or 2 speeds, the report said.

Estimates of Katrina's power are expected to play a central role in the ongoing investigations into what failures led to the catastrophic flooding of New Orleans.

One of the key points of contention is how well the existing levees, which were said to be capable of withstanding a Category 3 hurricane, performed.

Leaders of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the federal agency responsible for New Orleans's levees and ultimately accountable for their failure, initially blamed the problems on the fact that the storm was more powerful than the Category 3 event for which the levees had been designed.

snip...
As recently as last week, federal and Louisiana officials responsible for the region's levees were describing Katrina as a Category 4 or 5 storm. Edmond J. Preau Jr., Louisiana's assistant secretary for public works, told a Senate panel that Katrina essentially delivered a Category 5 blow to the Gulf Coast.

more...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/21/AR2005122101960.html