Admittedly I haven't seen that many images of this one.
I see that I was told it was Homestead Florida that was erased by Hurricane Android.
Any preliminary info on how Katy stacks up against Android so far?
(I was out for most of the day. Neat pic of the submarine ambulance.)
It was twice as big, so the damage is a lot worse. And Andrew was a very fast moving storm; this one stayed FOREVER.
And listening to Haley Barbour on TV, I think some really, really bad news is coming out of Mississippi.
Andrew had relatively little storm surge associated with it, the damage from Andrew was mostly wind-related. Katrina had both. That probably will make it even more expensive than Andrew in the end.
I think the damage from Katrina will be worse for several reaons.
Heavy rains also Katrina
hit more populated areas
hit areas with more substandard housing stock
hit areas with non diverse economy. From what I understand in areas like Biloxi most people depend on the Casinos and other service industry jobs. I could be wrong on this.
hit areas that will have major impact on the rest of US economy. Mississippi river shipping, oil rigs, refineries, etc.
Now the people who have lost so much will have the added grief of dealing with insurance companies. If they did not have flood insurance ( most do not unless they are in a NFIP flood zone V, A, AE) they will find out that most policies do NOT cover damage by flooding. God give them strength.