Hurricane Katrina
6/28/202652 min
In August 2005, one of the most powerful storms ever recorded in the Gulf of Mexico barrelled toward the United States. When Hurricane Katrina finally struck land, it devastated hundreds of miles of shoreline, but the disaster that captured the world’s attention unfolded in one place above all: the city of New Orleans.
Within hours of the storm passing, the flood defence levees meant to protect the city broke, and it began to fill with water. What followed the natural disaster was a crisis that raised profound questions about preparedness, inequality, and the ability and willingness of a modern nation to protect one of its own great cities.
But why was New Orleans so vulnerable in the first place? What was the response in the wake of the hurricane and flooding? And what did the disaster reveal about the systems of engineering, government and society that were supposed to protect it?
This is a Short History Of Hurricane Katrina.
A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins. With thanks to Jed Horne, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and author of Breach of Faith: Hurricane Katrina and the Near Death of a Great American City.
Written by Sean Coleman | Produced by Kate Simants | Production Assistant: Chris McDonald | Exec produced by Katrina Hughes | Sound supervisor: Tom Pink | Sound design by Mirianna Pitman-Latham and Matthew Peaty | Assembly edit by Dorry Macaulay | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Cody Reynolds-Shaw
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsJohn Hopkins· Host0:00
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Speaker 20:01
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John Hopkins· Host0:06
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John Hopkins· Host0:16
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Speaker 20:18
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John Hopkins· Host0:19
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Speaker 20:21
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John Hopkins· Host0:30
It is the early morning of August the 29th, 2005 in New Orleans. For hours now, Hurricane Katrina has been battering the city, bringing huge storm surges of water from the Gulf of Mexico and dumping massive volumes of rain amid winds of more than 80 miles per hour. In the Lower Ninth Ward, a father of two in his early 30s braces himself before rushing out of his house to grab a box of supplies from his truck. It's just a few steps, but he has to work for them, with the furious gusts threatening to knock him off his feet. All around him is evidence of the massive Category 3 hurricane that has caused hundreds of thousands to evacuate over the last few days. Loose roofing sheets of corrugated metal flap and squeal, barely hanging onto the houses they once protected. Trees have fallen, and scattered debris lie everywhere.