Hurricane Katrina two years on Part 1: New Orleans--A city in social and economic distress

Nearly every levee in metropolitan New Orleans was breached as the storm passed to the east, flooding more than three quarters of the city and neighboring communities for weeks. The Mississippi Gulf Coast sustained massive damage, as bridges, boats, homes and cars were washed inland. The devastation was spread over an estimated 95,000 square miles.

The official death toll from the storm stands at 1,836, with many more lives never accounted for, and damages sustained in the hundreds of billions of dollars. More than a million people were displaced, many never returning to their homes to this day. Even these stark figures, however, do not convey the full impact of the human suffering wrought by the Katrina disaster.

The lack of preparation for a hurricane of Katrina’s strength—a category 3 storm when it hit New Orleans—and the incompetent and criminally negligent response of government authorities count as one of the greatest failings in modern US history. Victims were left to drown in the floodwaters and evacuees were crowded into squalid emergency centers, without adequate food, water or medical care. They were subjected to police brutality. Rescue efforts were bungled and delayed.

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