Hurricane Katrina Facts Speaking about Hurricane Katrina, Col. Richard Wagenaar, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans district states: "No one really understands the magnitude of this disaster. This is the largest evacuation in the history of the United States, bigger than the Dust Bowl." The New Orleans region lost over half its work force, three out of every four homes, a number of hospitals, shops, grocery stores and basic services such as electricity and plumbing. Here's a quick summary... Hurricane Katrina losses and damages: 350,000 homes destroyed (more than 12 times the number wiped out by any previous natural disaster). Over 850,000 additional homes damaged. 800,000 people displaced (many now in hundreds of thousands of hotels across the U.S.) Generated over 40 billion tons of debris, including 300,000 smashed and destroyed automobiles. Left hundreds of miles of land polluted and tainted with sewage and chemicals. Destroyed nearly every sector of the economy.