Hurricane Katrina

A massive storm that hit New Orleans, Louisiana and the rest of the southern Gulf coast in late August of 2005. Rated a Category 5 storm, it inundated large parts of the southern US shore, and was the deadliest US hurricane since 1928. It was also the costliest disaster in American history, doing over $80 billion of property damage.

The storms infamy was heightened by the apparent inaction of a number of US government agencies, foremost the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and US Army Corps of Engineers. FEMA and the Bush administration, as well as local and state leaders, are often blamed for having neglected the people of the storm areas not only during the storm but afterward as well. Massive depopulation occurred in the below sea-level New Orleans, especially in the poorest neighborhoods.