Hurricane Katrina in photos, 20 years later: "We're the land they forgot about"

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Hurricane Katrina was described arsenic "a slow-motion catastrophe" connected "60 Minutes" connected Sept. 4, 2005, six days aft slamming the Gulf Coast. Twenty years later, the tempest is known arsenic the costliest and 1 of the deadliest to ever deed the United States.

Katrina archetypal made landfall arsenic a Category 1 tempest successful Florida connected Aug. 25, 2005. It past intensified to a Category 5 hurricane successful the Gulf. Weakening to a Category 3, it made landfall again connected Aug. 29, 2005, successful southeast Louisiana and past successful Mississippi.

While the toll didn't go wide for days, the tempest yet led to astir 1,400 deaths, the bulk successful New Orleans, according to the National Hurricane Center.

satellite representation of Hurricane Katrina; 2005

Initial reports suggested the harm successful New Orleans wasn't worse than past hurricanes the metropolis had weathered — until the levees failed.

"That's erstwhile each hellhole broke loose, erstwhile each the h2o started inundating the city," Eddie Compass, the New Orleans Police superintendent astatine the time, told CBS News successful a caller interview. "That's erstwhile we knew we had thing that was overmuch antithetic than a regular hurricane."

At slightest 80% of New Orleans was flooded. Roads were impassable without boats, and radical were stranded connected roofs.

Thousands of radical had taken structure successful New Orleans' Superdome up of the storm, but became trapped determination for days with constricted nutrient and h2o erstwhile the metropolis flooded.

Thousands much ended up connected the interstate aft escaping rising waters. They were stuck successful the vigor with nary assistance for days.

Many weren't capable to evacuate up of time.

"We don't person transportation. I mean, we're surviving paycheck-to-paycheck," 1 pistillate told CBS News arsenic she stood connected the broadside of the road connected Aug. 30, 2005.

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People are stranded connected a extortion owed to flo

Weary refugees driven from their homes by Hurricane Katrina

The national effect to New Orleans was harshly criticized for taking excessively long. It was 3 days earlier the National Guard arrived.

When then-Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré — who led the subject effect and has been credited for bringing calm to a chaotic concern — arrived successful New Orleans, helium faced a humanitarian crisis.

"I saw radical waiting to beryllium evacuated. I saw aged radical connected the sidewalk. I saw women with babies there," helium told "CBS Evening News" co-anchor Maurice DuBois.

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Search and rescue operations and evacuations were hindered by respective factors, including a breached communications grid, Honoré said in an interrogation with CBS News.

"Katrina overmatched the infrastructure. It broke the communications grid," helium said. "So that was a large situation to find retired nonstop concern reports, and galore radical successful Baton Rouge and astatine the national authorities were getting their accusation from watching television."

An exaggerated representation of lawlessness besides analyzable the situation, Honoré said.

"This ended up being a large evacuation operational logistics issue, which was distracted by galore political-inspired quality that this was a looting occupation and not an evacuation problem," helium said.

20 years since Hurricane Katrina made landfall causing catastrophic flooding successful New Orleans and on the Mississippi coast.

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Storm surge from Katrina besides devastated parts of Mississippi and Alabama. Images showed buildings reduced to rubble and debris crossed the coast.

One antheral successful Gulfport, Mississippi, recounted to CBS News days aft the tempest deed however helium stood connected his stove arsenic h2o filled his kitchen.

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Gulf Coast Still Reeling From Aftermath Of Hurricane Katrina

Ben Stone and his woman Nancy look done the remains of the

A formation location connected the westbound extremity of Dauphin Island, Alabama successful t

Today, immoderate communities, including Dauphin Island, Alabama, are inactive warring to support themselves from the adjacent disaster.

Residents of New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward, a predominantly Black assemblage that was afloat inundated erstwhile the flood partition broke, accidental the historical vicinity has ne'er returned to what it was earlier Katrina.

"We're the onshore they forgot about. We're the past ones to get our streets fixed, the past ones to get immoderate benignant of assistance from the city. If you travel done present astatine nighttime it's acheronian — there's nary thoroughfare signs, nary moving halt signs, there's thing down here. Two stores and 1 simple schoolhouse successful the full neighborhood, erstwhile determination utilized to beryllium tons of resources," Ethelynn and Michael Vaughn told Getty Images.

Another resident, Frank Parker, said the vicinity "still looks similar a dormant zone."