HURRICANE KATRINA IMPACTS AND USGS RESPONSE IN MISSISSIPPI

Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the coast of Mississippi and Louisiana as a Category 4 hurricane during the early hours of August 29, 2005. Following the path of Hurricane Camille in 1969, Katrina moved into Mississippi with 140 MPH winds and a storm surge reported to be 30 feet above sea level. The USGS coastal monitoring network was destroyed along with most of the buildings and structures within the inundated area. The USGS Hydrologic Instrumentation Facility (HIF) at Stennis Space Center served as a refuge for hundreds of people during the storm. The facility operated without power, water, and communications for several days while continuing to provide shelter for the families of HIF staff and local residents who lost their homes to Katrina. The Facility also served as a base of operations for USGS staff from other locations as response efforts got underway.

Staff from the USGS Mississippi Water Science Center in Jackson deployed to coastal counties on August 31 to document storm surge elevations along the I-10 corridor, which is 6-10 miles inland. Initial data indicated that the storm surge varied from about 15 feet near the Alabama/Mississippi state line to nearly 28 ft in Harrison County near the Biloxi River. In the following weeks, USGS staff in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama coordinated efforts with FEMA and The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Mobile District to complete the documentation of the storm surge elevation and extent. Additional USGS staff deployed to coastal counties to begin the process of rebuilding the monitoring network and to evaluate Katrina's impact on water quality. A laboratory was established at the HIF to analyze bacteria in water samples collected at a network of 40-50 sites. Sampling teams, made up of USGS staff paired with Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) staff, collected samples from inland waters as well as at sites in MDEQ's beach-monitoring network. More extensive water-quality analysis was conducted at a network of 10 sites located farther inland on coastal rivers and streams. Site selection was coordinated with EPA-Region IV staff who were collecting samples in the bays and estuaries and with NOAA and EPA-Region VI staff who were collecting additional samples in the Mississippi Sound.