Twenty year ago today - Hurricane Katrina hits US Gulf Coast

Twenty years ago today
Hurricane Katrina hit Gulf Coast

Satellite image shows the enormous Hurricane Katrina with a clearly visible eye structure.

Aerial view of New Orleans, large parts of the city are under water after the hurricane.

A man clears away food debris in a flooded supermarket with a small excavator.

A soldier stands armed in front of the New Orleans Centre, surrounded by rubble and rubbish.

A long bridge stands in the storm, water lashes against the pillars, visibility is severely restricted by rain and spray.

A house is badly damaged, walls and roof collapsed, debris scattered everywhere. In the foreground, a fallen tree.

Several sailing boats lie tightly wedged together and damaged in the harbour after Hurricane Katrina.

A house with a handwritten sign saying „Dare You Katrina“ among broken branches and debris.

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Hurricane Katrina reached enormous proportions and struck the US Gulf Coast with full force exactly 20 years ago.

On August 29th, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast with full force, causing considerable damage in the states of Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana.

The effects of the Category 5 hurricane were particularly devastating in New Orleans.

There, Katrina pushed storm surge more than 15 feet high in front of it, causing the levees to break and entire neighbourhoods to be flooded. Over 1,800 people died, and more than a million lost their homes.

Electricity, water, and infrastructure collapsed, fires raged and looting shook the city. Long after the storm, the city remained scarred.

Mary Mays

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