Historic Event
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina’s Impact
Flooded neighborhoods in New Orleans, August 29
On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast, bringing severe wind and flooding to parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. Katrina caused nearly $125 billion dollars in damage and an estimated 1,392 people died. Gulf communities were devastated. In New Orleans, 80% of the city flooded after the levees broke along Lake Pontchartrain.
New Orleans was particularly vulnerable to the hurricane because of the eroding Gulf coastline and the city’s fragile levee system. High poverty in New Orleans made many residents especially susceptible to the social and financial pressures that followed such a disaster. When Katrina struck, many impoverished New Orleans neighborhoods were predominantly Black—these areas bore the brunt of the disaster. Hurricane Katrina forever transformed New Orleans’s landscape, demographics, and culture.
New Orleans History and Culture
The original home of the Chitimacha and other Indigenous peoples, New Orleans was established by the French in 1718. The area had long been a trade hub because of its location on the Gulf of Mexico and the mouth of the Mississippi River. New Orleans became a center of North America’s slave trade, and thousands of enslaved Africans were sold there. By 1732, enslaved Africans comprised 65% of the population of Louisiana, though New Orleans was also home to a large population of free people of color.
The French ceded control of Louisiana to Spain from 1763–1803. In 1803, France sold New Orleans to the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase. Over the years, Spanish, French, African, Creole, and Indigenous influences in New Orleans created a vibrant culture that continues to attract people to the city today.
Interactive Timeline
Hurricane Katrina and Its Aftermath
Hurricane Katrina was a natural and human-made disaster. Katrina’s devastation, combined with insufficient preparation, led to thousands of lives lost and billions of dollars in damage. Much of the destruction we associate with the hurricane was actually the result of faulty levees, preexisting inequalities, and inadequate disaster relief. The emotional, environmental, and economic effects of Hurricane Katrina continue to be felt in New Orleans and throughout the Gulf Coast region.
Surviving the Storm
On August 28, 2005, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered a mandatory evacuation of the city. Some nursing homes and hospitals were evacuated while others sheltered in place. However, less than 24 hours before the storm’s landfall, more than 100,000 people were unable or unwilling to leave.
After the storm made landfall and the levees broke, many struggled to survive. High winds and rising waters caused power outages and complicated rescue efforts. As bodies floated down the streets, survivors clung to floating objects, climbed onto cars, rooftops, and elevated highways. First responders evacuated thousands to the Superdome and the Morial Convention Center. Both locations lacked sufficient food, water, baby formula, and medicine for 50,000 stranded people. All faced a lack of power, food, water, and hygiene in sweltering heat that rose over 90 degrees. Some died or watched loved ones die while waiting for rescue.
Many Katrina survivors have recounted their experiences surviving the storm and its aftermath.
Angela Trahan recalls being rescued by Ronald Hingle
Kenyon Dunbar explains how his family survived.
Katrina survivors still struggle years after the storm.
Poet Shelton Alexander shares his experience surviving at the Superdome.
Sherman Singleton remembers surviving Katrina in the Orleans Parish Prison.
Charity Hospital staff explain how they cared for patients while stranded during and after the storm.
Rescuing Survivors
New Orleans residents were the city’s first rescuers. When people signaled for help from attics, rooftops, and highway overpasses, citizens swam or walked through contaminated floodwaters to reach them. Those with boats, including local police and fire departments, rescued the stranded from treetops and roofs. The U.S. Coast Guard airlifted thousands and assisted law enforcement with search and rescue operations.
The local, state, and federal response to Katrina has been criticized. Nine days after Katrina made landfall, Mayor Ray Nagin ordered the total evacuation of New Orleans, despite thousands of people still waiting there to be rescued. The Historic New Orleans Collection documented first responders experiences in its Through Hell and High Water Oral History Project.
United States Coast Guard Rescue Basket
Coast Guard helicopter rescues Katrina survivors
Morgan Archer Remembers Hurricane Katrina
Morgan Archer was 15 years old when her family’s New Orleans home flooded. She kept a diary during the storm and later documented her experiences surviving the flood and evacuating the city.
New Orleans After Katrina
Photographer Frank L. Stewart captured some of the damage to homes, streets, churches, and other New Orleans locations.
Media Response and Collective Memory
While millions of people lived through the disaster, millions more Americans experienced Hurricane Katrina through the media. Media coverage shaped collective views about Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.
Some news reports described Black and poor survivors using prejudiced language like “looters” and “refugees.” Some media outlets overrepresented, exaggerated, and misreported post-storm criminality and violence. Other media outlets gave voice to candid first-person accounts of trauma, death, and survival. People used live news reports to send messages to loved ones separated by the storm. These stories attempted to humanize and correct the narrative about the unfolding disaster.
Excerpt from the 2016 PBS special “Black America Since MLK” reviewing the media’s response to Black suffering.
AJ+ examines media footage from Hurricane Katrina.
Displacing New Orleans
New Orleans evacuees at the Astrodome in Houston, Texas
Hurricane Katrina forced one of the largest and most abrupt displacements in U.S. history, affecting over 1.5 million people in the Gulf region. But despite this, only a handful of studies have investigated where displaced New Orleans residents live. In the desperation and chaos after the storm, people boarded buses out of the city without knowing their destination. Most evacuees went to Texas, but others settled elsewhere in Louisiana or other locations around the country. Many who fled the storm did not have homes to return to.
With homes, communities, and social networks destroyed, some chose to stay in new locations or move to other cities. By 2007, only two-thirds of the city’s original population had returned. Black residents were the least likely to return to New Orleans.
Returning to New Orleans
Gloria Butler and her son Terrance return to their home in the ninth Ward
Returning to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina has been a challenging process.
Federal and state recovery efforts were often disproportionately distributed. Gentrification intensified, pushing Black and poorer residents into more devastated areas or out of the city altogether. Certain programs intended to help residents, like the Road Home program led by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), caused poorer residents to cover more of their rebuilding costs than their wealthier neighbors. Louisiana also sued grant recipients, alleging fund mismanagement, and pursued debts against survivors until the state dropped the lawsuits in 2022.
For the people of New Orleans, these changes have created a stark difference between the city before and after the storm. Despite this, residents remain determined to continue traditions and make New Orleans home.
Learning from Hurricane Katrina
Second line commemorating the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina continues to inform local, state, and national government disaster preparations. In New Orleans, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers updated the levee system. Louisiana and other coastal states changed building codes to require structures to withstand extreme weather. Federal reforms authorized rescue for pets during disasters and emergencies. These reforms also facilitated funding for local pre-disaster mitigation and standardized providing mental health services in disaster recovery efforts.
Sustaining New Orleans Culture
Mask-shaped sign used in a Black Men of Labor parade, 2013
Despite the hardships of returning, residents rebuilt homes and reconstructed the cultural fabric of their neighborhoods. Local architecture was restored, and community spaces like churches, porches, and social halls reopened as places of healing and connection. Cultural traditions—second lines, brass bands, Mardi Gras Indian parades, and neighborhood festivals—returned to the streets, offering joy, remembrance, and resilience. Music venues reopened, continuing the city’s creative traditions.
In the Musicians’ Village, the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music in the Upper Ninth Ward nurtures young talent and preserves the city’s musical legacy. New Orleanians’ acts of rebuilding are both physical and cultural, reaffirming the city’s identity and the strength of its people.
Featured Constellation
Voodoo Guitar “Marie”
After Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana musician Don Moser created the Voodoo Guitar to honor New Orleans musical heritage. From foodways to second lines, New Orleanians keep their culture alive through artistic expression.
![Guitar used by Don Moser. The 6-string electric guitar is wooden with metal-plated head and body. A plaque on the head features text that reads [KATRINA - AUG - 29- 2005].](/static/b71d96d5616c1a78002b59b3c00c687b/3bd97/759DA10C56372_5001.webp)
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