Hurricane Katrina, the costliest natural disaster in the history of the United States of America, struck the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005, leaving behind an estimated damage of one value of 125 billion dollars. a total death toll of over 1800 (Graumann et al., 2006). The essay will discuss why Hurricane Katrina had such a devastating effect on New Orleans, the hardest hit area, and the post-disaster recovery process. As with any other natural hazard, geographic factors had a strong influence on Hurricane Katrina. Making its first landfall between the beaches of Hallandale and North Miami on August 25 (Graumann et al., 2006), Katrina traveled across southern Florida and into the Gulf of Mexico, where warm weather and a lack of strong winds have caused a sharp increase in intensity from a Category 1 to a Category 5 storm, with winds traveling up to 175 miles per hour. However, due to the natural phenomenon of “eyeball replacement” (Travis, 2005, p.1656) the hurricane dropped to high-end Category 3 when it hit New Orleans, with wind speeds up to 127 miles per hour. time (shown in Fig.1) (Graumann et ...