High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The effects of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in August 2005 were significant due to the catastrophic failure of the flood protection system designed to protect the city following the passage of the Flood Control Act of 1965. The American Society of Civil Engineers refers to the flooding as the worst engineering catastrophe in United States history. Over 204,000 homes in New Orleans were damaged or destroyed, and more than 800,000 citizens displaced ? the greatest displacement in the United States since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.