[Moose4]

Agreed. Also remember that storm surge isn't driven solely by the wind, it's also driven by the barometric pressure; it's basically a "dome" of water that expands upward under the low pressure near the center of the hurricane. Katrina was still somewhere around 905-907 mb central pressure when it hit, if I remember correctly, and that's extremely low. Combine that with probable 135+ mph sustained winds, with higher gusts, and Biloxi/Gulfport being in the northeast side of the eyewall.

Still, there's some absolutely stunning stuff coming out of Mississippi now. One of the coastal county emergency operation centers got flooded out with a foot of water in it...and it's 30 feet above sea level.

}:-)4

[Strategerist]

Agreed. Also remember that storm surge isn't driven solely by the wind, it's also driven by the barometric pressure; it's basically a "dome" of water that expands upward under the low pressure near the center of the hurricane.

95% of a given storm surge is simply water piled up by wind, only 5% is caused by the water doming up due to low pressure.