Disasters
Hurricane Andrew
After wreaking havoc on Florida, Hurricane Andrew made landfall in Louisiana and caused widespread devastation.
Disasters
Disasters Index
Disasters
Hurricane Audrey
Hurricane Audrey, the first named storm of the 1957 season, took residents by surprise with an earlier-than-expected landfall and claimed more than four hundred lives.
Disasters
Hurricane Betsy
In September 1965, Hurricane Betsy, one of the deadliest and costliest storms in US history, made landfall near New Orleans.
Disasters
Hurricane Camille
Hurricane Camille struck coastal Mississippi in mid-August of 1969, marking the first designated Category 5 storm and one of Louisiana’s most storied tropical weather events.
Disasters
Hurricane Gustav
Hurricane Gustav was the first major storm to test New Orleans’s rehabbed defenses after Hurricane Katrina.
Disasters
Hurricane Ike
Hurricane Ike’s size and timing was a sobering reminder that Louisiana was underprepared for another storm on the scale of Hurricane Katrina.
Disasters
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina’s landfall in Louisiana and the subsequent levee failures resulted in one of the worst disasters in United States history.
Disasters
Hurricane Rita
Making landfall in Cameron Parish on September 24, 2005, Hurricane Rita was the fourth-most-intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded.
Disasters
Hurricanes in Louisiana
Louisiana hurricanes have played an essential role in the state’s history from colonization through the present and are as memorable as the places and people they impact.
Disasters
Lake Peigneur Drilling Accident
An oil drilling operation at Lake Peigneur accidentally punctured a salt dome, creating a sinkhole that swallowed barges and caused the Delcambre Canal to flow backwards.
Disasters
Mechanics’ Institute Massacre of 1866
Following the Civil War, an attempt to amend the state’s constitution to grant Black men the vote provoked a deadly reaction from white supremacists, sparking national outrage and significant reforms.
Disasters
Nutria in Louisiana
Imported in the early twentieth century for their fur, nutria have exploded into an invasive species that contributes to coastal erosion.
