Thousands of lives were tragically lost and homes were destroyed beyond repair when Hurricane Katrina violently ripped through Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama on Aug. 29, 2005.
A view of Canal St. is flooded with water on Aug. 30, 2005. The historic city of New Orleans was steadily filling with water from nearby Lake Pontchartrain after its defenses were breached by the ferocity of Hurricane Katrina. With the floodwaters rising in many areas, threatening the French Quarter, residents were plucked from the roofs of their homes, bodies were seen floating in the streets and rescuers searched the city in boats and helicopters.
A shocking aerial view of all the water surrounding the homes just east of downtown New Orleans on Aug. 30, 2005, the day after Hurricane Katrina made landfall.
“Thousands feared dead” made the headline of the ˵Ӱ on Sept. 1, 2005, alongside a photo of families wading through the streets of New Orleans seeking shelter.
Dozens of residents moved to higher grounds on Monday, Aug. 29, 2005, in New Orleans as the rising waters flooded neighborhoods off N. Claiborne Ave. in Orleans Parish.
Bryan Vernon and Dorothy Bell are rescued from their rooftop after Hurricane Katrina hit, causing flooding in their New Orleans neighborhood, on Monday, Aug. 29, 2005. Officials called for a mandatory evacuation of the city, but many residents remained in the city.
A plea for help appears on the roof of a home flooded in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, La. on Sept. 4, 2005.
Ronald Wood is rescued from his home in New Orleans, La. after Hurricane Katrina made landfall near New Orleans on Monday, Aug. 29, 2005. Rescue crews worked frantically on Aug. 30 to save hundreds of people trapped by floodwaters from Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the U.S Gulf Coast states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
People are stranded on a roof due to floodwaters from Hurricane Katrina on Aug. 30, 2005, in New Orleans, La. It is estimated that 80 percent of New Orleans is under flood waters as levees begin to break and leak around Lake Ponchartrain.
The windows on the entire north side of the Hyatt Hotel in New Orleans were blown in from Hurricane Katrina on Aug. 29, 2005.
A military helicopter makes a food and water drop to flood victims near the convention center in New Orleans on Sept. 1, 2005. Officials called for a mandatory evacuation of the city, but many residents remained in the city and had to be rescued from flooded homes and hotels and remain in the city awaiting a way out.
Lee Bemboom struggles to carry her 11-month-old baby boy Jahon Bemboom as she searches for help among thousands of people gathered inside and outside the Convention Center in New Orleans.
Emergency Management Agency volunteer crews rescued the Taylor family from the roof of their car, which became trapped on US 90 due to flash flooding, during Hurricane Katrina on Aug. 29, 2005, in Bay St. Louis, Miss.
Desperate residents wait to be rescued from a rooftop after getting trapped from the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans on Sept. 1, 2005.
A man sits on top of his vehicle as he waits to be rescued by the U.S Coast Guard after the streets flooded, leaving him stranded on Sept. 4, 2005.
President Bush gets a tour of a flooded area in New Orleans near the 17th St. levee damaged by Hurricane Katrina on Sept. 2, 2005.
Left homeless and stranded, thousands of hurricane refugees were housed at the New Orleans Saints Superdome during Hurricane Katrina on Sept. 3, 2005.
A woman is carried out of floodwaters after being trapped in her home in Orleans Parish during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on Aug. 30, 2005, in New Orleans, La. Katrina made landfall as a Category 4 storm with sustained winds in excess of 135 mph.
A surreal moment for a man as he watches a house burn on Napolean St. in New Orleans as helicopters try to extinguish the fire from above after Hurricane Katrina ravaged much of the city.
Hundreds of people congregated at the end of a sunken highway in New Orleans, Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina struck. About 23,000 refugees were housed at the New Orleans Superdome arena after the hurricane flooded the city.
A New Orleans resident is rescued from the rooftop of a home by a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter as floodwaters from Hurricane Katrina engulfed the streets.
A woman and her children are rescued by a helicopter from the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina on Thursday, Sept. 1, 2005, in New Orleans.
The body of a Hurricane Katrina victim laid under a sheet on the front porch of her home on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2005, in New Orleans.
Refugees from Hurricane Katrina wait at a staging area on I-10 and Causeway Blvd. on Friday, Sept. 2, 2005, in Metairie, La.
Volunteers use boats to rescue residents from a flooded neighborhood on the east side of New Orleans on Aug. 31, 2005, after Hurricane Katrina left much of the city underwater.
A shocking aerial view shows an entire neighborhood submerged underwater after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, La. on Aug. 31, 2005. Hurricane Katrina strengthened into a rare top-ranked storm and barreled into the vulnerable U.S. Gulf Coast for a second and more deadly assault on the Gulf Coast.
Trapped residents wait to be rescued from the floodwaters on a rooftop after the destruction of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans on Sept. 1, 2005.
A man paddles on a floating door with supplies through the flooded streets of New Orleans on Aug. 30, 2005.
The damage of the Isle of Capri Casino and Resort in Biloxi, Miss. is shown on Aug. 30, 2005, after Hurricane Katrina made landfall the day before. Hurricane Katrina picked up several Gulf Coast casinos and hurled them hundreds of yards inland, crippling the region’s gambling industry for months and potentially even years.
A National Guard helicopter flies over a damaged highway searching for survivors after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, La. on Aug. 30, 2005.
A section of the I-10 bridge shows just some of the damage from Hurricane Katrina on Aug. 30, 2005 in New Orleans.
Water spilled over a levee along the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on Aug. 30, 2005, in New Orleans, La.
A pile of damaged boats are stacked on top of each other like toys after Hurricane Katrina on Aug. 30, 2005.
Coffins are seen removed from tombs in a cemetery at Port Sulphur, 30 miles south of New Orleans, on Sept. 10, 2005, after the hurricane damaged much of the city.
Hurricane Katrina survivors wait outside the Superdome and Convention Center in New Orleans on Sept. 2, 2005.
Stranded victims of Hurricane Katrina waved umbrellas with distress messages written on them from a balcony behind a flooded cemetery on Sept. 3, 2005, in New Orleans.
