Hurricane Katrina: 20 Years Later by Nicole Brown Chau

Katrina: 20 Years Later

20 years after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, we look back at the historic event through the eyes of FOX 4 journalists who were there for the landfall.

Hurricane Katrina was described as “a slow-motion catastrophe” on “60 Minutes” on Sept. 4, 2005, six days after slamming the Gulf Coast. Twenty years later, the storm is known as the costliest and one of the deadliest to ever hit the United States.

Katrina first made landfall as a Category 1 storm in Florida on Aug. 25, 2005. It then intensified to a Category 5 hurricane in the Gulf. Weakening to a Category 3, it made landfall again on Aug. 29, 2005, in southeast Louisiana and then in Mississippi.

While the toll didn’t become clear for days, the storm ultimately led to nearly 1,400 deaths, the majority in New Orleans, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Initial reports suggested the damage in New Orleans wasn’t worse than past hurricanes the city had weathered — until the levees failed. 

“That’s when all hell broke loose, when all the water started inundating the city,” Eddie Compass, the New Orleans Police superintendent at the time, told CBS News in a recent interview. “That’s when we knew we had something that was much different than a regular hurricane.”

At least 80% of New Orleans was flooded. Roads were impassable without boats, and people were stranded on roofs.  To read more go to the link below:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hurricane-katrina-photos-20-years-later