Disaster Debris Removal After Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina produced unprecedented destruction, resulting in disaster debris from vegetation and man-made structures. Before Katrina, the event that left behind the greatest recorded amount of disaster-related debris in the United States was Hurricane Andrew in 1992, which generated 43 million cubic yards (CY) of debris in Florida’s Metro-Dade County. When the demolition of damaged property in the New Orleans metropolitan area is complete, Hurricane Katrina will have generated more than 100 million CY of disaster debris.