Water surrounds homes in the devastated 9th Ward in this aerial view of damage from Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans on Aug. 30, 2005.
Smiley N. Pool/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images
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Smiley N. Pool/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images
New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region are marking the 20 year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which occurred on Aug. 29, 2005.
The historic predominantly Black community of the Lower 9th Ward held thousands of families and had a high rate of multi-generational homeownership.
Multiple levee breaches inundated the entire Lower 9th Ward during the storm, killing many and damaging or destroying thousands of homes.
Katrina resulted in nearly 1,400 deaths, according to revised statistics from the National Hurricane Center, and remains the costliest storm in U.S. history at around $200 billion in today’s dollars.
Here is what it looked like.
high water after Hurricane Katrina August 30, 2005 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Katrina made landfall as a Category 4 storm with sustained winds in excess of 135 mph.” loading=”lazy”/>
Mark Benton (R), of Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, helps to rescue young family members after they were trapped on a school rooftop with dozens of others in high water after Hurricane Katrina on Aug. 30, 2005 in New Orleans. Katrina made landfall as a Category 4 storm with sustained winds in excess of 135 mph.
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Mario Tama/Getty Images
Residents are rescued by helicopter from the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina on Sept. 1, 2005 in New Orleans.
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David J. Phillip/AP
flood waters recently receeded 12 September 2005. It will be months before it can call itself “The Big Easy” again, but New Orleans is slowly edging back from the brink as it enters its third week since Hurricane Katrina unleashed her fury. But entire neighborhoods are still stewing in a quagmire of mud and foul floodwater that in some cases almost reach up to rooftops. Some suburbs have been obliterated and the death toll, though lower than feared, still climbs steadily.” loading=”lazy”/>
President George W. Bush (Center), New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin (Right), Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco (2nd Left) and Vice Admiral Thad Allen (Left) tour through an area of New Orleans, where the flood waters recently receded on Sept. 12, 2005. Entire neighborhoods were still stewing in a quagmire of mud and foul floodwater that in some cases almost reach up to rooftops. Some suburbs had been obliterated and the death toll, though lower than feared, still climbed steadily.
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Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
Kathy Smith, who chose not to evacuate the area because she learned she couldn’t bring her cats along, stands in front of her home in the flooded 9th Ward neighborhood of New Orleans. As the city evacuated, already traumatized victims of Hurricane Katrina made a choice: Head for safety or stay behind with a beloved pet.
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Corey Sipkin/New York Daily News via Getty Images
Water spills over a levee along the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on Aug. 30, 2005 in New Orleans. It is estimated that 80% of New Orleans is under flood waters as levees begin to break and leak around Lake Pontchartrain.
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Vincent Laforet/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
Floodwaters from Hurricane Katrina fill the streets near downtown New Orleans,