Hurricane Katrina formed over the Bahamas on August 23rd, 2005 and strengthened into a category 5 hurricane before making landfall in Florida as a category 1. It passed east of New Orleans as a category 3 on August 29th, causing widespread flooding and catastrophic damage as the levees failed. Over 1,800 people lost their lives and entire neighborhoods were destroyed. The slow government response and inadequate evacuation efforts greatly exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in the aftermath of the storm.