Hurricane preparedness for New Orleans January 25, 2005, the Louisiana Sea Grant forum discussed additional results of several simulations of strong hurricanes hitting New Orleans. Hurricane Cindy hit Louisiana at just barely hurricane strength on July 5, 2005. Many New Orleanians paid it little attention in advance, some having gotten blasé about threats of hurricanes which for decades had missed the city. However, Cindy's winds gusted to in the city, knocking branches off trees and causing New Orleans' largest blackout since Hurricane Betsy in 1965. The experience encouraged many to evacuate when the much more powerful Hurricane Katrina was heading towards the city less than
Effects of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans of New Orleans on the Crescent City Connection bridge. The I-10 Twin Span Bridge traveling east towards Slidell, suffered severe damage; 473 spans were separated from their supports and 64 spans dropped into the lake. The long Lake Pontchartrain Causeway escaped unscathed but was only carrying emergency traffic. On August 29, at 7:40 a.m. CDT, it was reported that most of the windows on the north side of the Hyatt Regency New Orleans had been blown out, and many other high rise buildings had extensive window damage. The Hyatt was the most severely damaged hotel in the city, with beds