Hurricane Katrina:
Tragedy in the Gulf
They thought that they had dodged a bullet. As the winds died down on Monday, Aug. 29, the thousands of remaining New Orleanians who had weathered the storm in their homes and in shelters learned that the eye wall of Hurricane Katrina, one of the strongest storms ever to hit the United States, had shifted slightly east. While Katrina destroyed most properties on the Mississippi coast, New Orleans, at first, looked battered but safe.
Today, we know that the agony for the Crescent City was only just beginning. After the levees failed and Lake Pontchartrain slowly filled the city with fetid water, the tragedy was compounded by a slow and ineffective response from state and federal governments. As of Sept. 20, the official death toll from the storm had reached 973 and was expected to climb further as the flood waters were pumped out.
The repercussions from Katrina have been staggering. The total cost of the storm may exceed $200 billion. In one of the largest mass-migrations in American history, more than half a million people from the region — mostly poor and African-American — have been made homeless, and many may relocate permanently. President Bush, stung by criticism of his administration’s handling of the crisis, saw his approval rating plummet to 40 percent, the lowest of his presidency.
Despite some attempts by FEMA and the military to restrict media access and to ban the photographing of dead bodies, photojournalists from around the country have risked life and health to come to the region and show the world what happened. PhotoMedia recognizes their efforts with this collection of images, provided by Polaris Images, World Picture News and ZUMA Press. PhotoMedia applauds the efforts of photojournalists who continue to document the suffering of the survivors, and we salute the courage of those determined to rebuild the Gulf Coast and the Big Easy to their former glory.
— Randy Woods
High flood waters engulf a “Welcome to New Orleans” sign. Because most of the city is
located below sea level, the flood waters of Hurricane Katrina had nowhere to drain away,
leaving a toxic soup of chemicals, garbage and dead animals to fester for weeks.
Copyright © Matthew McDermott / Polaris
The day before Katrina hit, thousands of New Orleans residents
who did not, or could not, evacuate queued outside the Louisiana
Superdome, used as a shelter of last resort. The roof was only
slightly damaged, but the loss of electricity soon made the stadium
unhabitable.
Copyright © William Luther / San Antonio Express-News / Zuma Press
In the weeks after the storm, some
residents, in defiance of manditory
evacuation orders, stayed behind to
protect their property from looters,
despite warnings of watborne diseases.
Others, like this man, refused to leave
their pets, who were not allowed in
most shelters.
Copyright © David Rochkind / Polaris
Beth Stump cradles her nine-week-old daughter Breanna, as the two wait for food from
The Salvation Army in East Biloxi, Miss., two days after the storm.
Copyright © Patrick Schneider / The Charlotte Observer / WPN
After a fourth day without rescue, musician Mark Smith, middle, walks with his sousaphone toward an area on the interstate where he planned to set up camp on Sept. 2. "If I lleave this I might as well jump in the water myself," he said of his prized instrumeent.
Copyright © Kathleen Flynn / St. Petersburg Times / WPN
Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Shawn Beaty, 29, of
Long Island, N.Y., looks for survivors over New Orleans. As
the days passed without an adequate display of federal
leadership, the Bush administration was sharply criticized in
the press for seeming indifference.
Courtesy of Nyxolyno Cangemi / U.S. Coast Guard via Zuma Press
Five days after the disaster, amid mounting anger from the
starving survivors, the military began to arrive, seen here evacuating people off the I-10 freeway via helicopter.
Thousands more evacuees from the Convention Center also were bused to Houston’s Astrodome.
Copyright © Paul Kitagaki Jr. / Sacramento Bee / Zuma Press
As the days passed with no sign of rescue or supplies, the Superdome became a symbol of governmental neglect and
mismanagement. Life became increasingly unbearable in the sweltering stadium. Reports of beatings and rapes inside caused many of the
estimated 25,000 survivors to move outdoors.
Copyright © Jessica Leigh / Shrieveport Times / Polaris
In the waning hours of the storm on the morning of Aug. 29,
before the true nature of the damage was known, Nick Myrick, left, and Andy Cosper feel the last gasps of Katrina
on the washed-out Popps Ferry Bridge on Biloxi, Miss., as a shrimp boat leans nearby.
Copyright © Alan Spearman / Commercial Appeal / Polaris
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