Hurricane Katrina
NFIP flood claims
- In 2024 dollars (CPI-U), its median paid claim, $114,417, is 352.0% above the middle value of the storm medians ($25,316).
- By paid claims (151,651), Hurricane Katrina is the highest of 42 named storms covered here, and the highest of 42 by median paid claim in 2024 dollars.
- Median paid claims of the storm run from $8,174 in Florida to $89,940 in Mississippi.
- Louisiana holds 82.3% of the storm’s paid claims and Mississippi 11.2%; 4 states are listed.
Source: FEMA, OpenFEMA NfipClaims (v3, data as of 2026-09-09, retrieved 2026-10-12); CPI-U, U.S. city average, all items (CUUR0000SA0), annual average (BLS Public Data API v1, annual averages 2005-2025, retrieved 2026-10-12). Not an official federal report.
Landfall and storm report
The National Hurricane Center’s HURDAT2 best track of Hurricane Katrina (AL122005, retrieved 2026-10-12) records 3 landfalls, 3 of them in or near a US county. The strongest of those came on 2005-08-29 at 11:10 UTC, as a category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 110 kt: HURDAT2 position 29.3N 89.6W, rounded to 0.1°; county containing or nearest it: Plaquemines Parish, LA.
| Date | Time (UTC) | Position | Strength | Wind (kt) | Pressure (mb) | County containing or nearest the position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005-08-25 | 22:30 | 26.0N 80.1W | category 1 hurricane | 70 | 984 | Broward County, FL (1.7 km) |
| 2005-08-29 | 11:10 | 29.3N 89.6W | category 3 hurricane | 110 | 920 | Plaquemines Parish, LA |
| 2005-08-29 | 14:45 | 30.2N 89.6W | category 3 hurricane | 105 | 928 | St. Tammany Parish, LA |
National Hurricane Center report
From the NHC Tropical Cyclone Report on Hurricane Katrina (retrieved 2026-10-12):
“Katrina was an extraordinarily powerful and deadly hurricane that carved a wide swath of catastrophic damage and inflicted large loss of life.”
“It was the costliest and one of the five deadliest hurricanes to ever strike the United States.”
NFIP paid building claims in Hurricane Katrina
NFIP claims: amounts paid, not repair cost. Window: event: Hurricane Katrina, year of loss 2005; 151,651 paid claims; median $71,235, half of them between $38,030 (Q1) and $108,778 (Q3), in nominal dollars. Median in 2024 dollars (CPI-U): $114,417, a monetary adjustment, not today’s cost of repair.
Paid claims by year of loss
| Year of loss | Paid claims |
|---|---|
| 2005 | 151,651 |
Paid claims by state
| State | Paid claims | Median paid |
|---|---|---|
| Louisiana | 124,787 | $72,900 |
| Mississippi | 17,049 | $89,940 |
| Alabama | 4,986 | $21,293 |
| Florida | 4,829 | $8,174 |
Counties with the most paid claims
Orleans Parish, LA alone accounts for 38.2% of the storm’s paid claims, followed by Jefferson Parish, LA and St. Bernard Parish, LA.
| County | FIPS | Paid claims |
|---|---|---|
| Orleans Parish | 22071 | 57,988 |
| Jefferson Parish | 22051 | 35,199 |
| St. Bernard Parish | 22087 | 15,579 |
| St. Tammany Parish | 22103 | 12,229 |
| Harrison County | 28047 | 7,019 |
| Hancock County | 28045 | 5,013 |
| Jackson County | 28059 | 4,800 |
| Miami-Dade County | 12086 | 4,602 |
| Mobile County | 01097 | 2,962 |
| Plaquemines Parish | 22075 | 2,614 |
Questions about Hurricane Katrina flood claims
How many flood insurance claims were paid after Hurricane Katrina?
151,651 NFIP building claims carrying FEMA’s Hurricane Katrina event label were paid (event: Hurricane Katrina, year of loss 2005), with a median of $71,235; half of them fall between $38,030 and $108,778. These are amounts paid, not repair cost.
Which counties had the most Hurricane Katrina flood claims?
Orleans Parish, LA (57,988), Jefferson Parish, LA (35,199) and St. Bernard Parish, LA (15,579), across 4 states listed.
What is the median Hurricane Katrina flood claim in 2024 dollars?
$114,417 once each claim is adjusted with the CPI-U, against $71,235 in nominal dollars: a monetary adjustment, not today’s cost of repair.
Related tools
Paid claims of Hurricane Katrina are not repair estimates: to estimate the cleanup of a flooded basement from published cost-guide rates, use the basement water damage repair cost calculator; for water removal and drying after any water loss, the water damage and mitigation calculator.
To set these figures against every State on one claims window, amounts paid, not repair cost: NFIP paid building claims by state.
Before using these figures
A storm total counts NFIP-insured buildings with a paid claim, not all the damage of the storm. Method and limits.
Source and notice
- Storm = floodEvent "Hurricane Katrina" with yearOfLoss 2005; window of the extraction: yearOfLoss 2005-2025.
This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).