Although not "scientifically verified" at this point, there is ample evidence that Katrina may have had over a 30 foot storm surge (possibly as high as 35 feet). This is as much as 10 feet higher than Camille, which had much higher winds at landfall.
I think the big contributing factors were 1) obviously 175 mph winds the day before landfall which got the surge up there, but more importantly, 2) THE HUGE SIZE OF THE WINDFIELD, which was much larger than say Camille or Andrew.
Here's the concern: the windfield with Rita is expected to be very large, perhaps as large as Katrina's. While the winds may never get to cat 5, the sheer size of the windfield could drive the surge to much higher levels than expected with a hurricane with a "normal" sized wind field.
Am I crazy?
Rita and storm surge
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