On Aug. 29, 2005, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) responded to the crises presented by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The effect of earlier category 5 wind speeds on Gulf waters and the massive size of the storm combined to create devastating storm-surge conditions for coastal Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama and damage as far east as the Florida panhandl .

Storm-induced breeches in the New Orleans levee system resulted in the catastrophic flooding of approximately 80% of that city. Hurricane Katrina was the deadliest hurricane to strike the United States since 1928. Preliminary mortality reports indicate approximately 1,000 Katrina-related deaths in Louisiana, 200 in Mississippi, and 20 in Florida, Alabama, and Georgia.

The impact of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season and the combined effects of death, injury, destruction, and population displacement from Hurricane Katrina were unprecedented in U.S. history to date.