Sunday marks the five-year anniversary of the Louisiana landfall of the infamous Hurricane Katrina, which hurtled through the Gulf of Mexico as a Category 5 storm, the most intense classification. Katrina caused devastating damage in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast, and its effects are still being felt today. This week’s links look back on the storm’s history and impact.
What caused Hurricane Katrina to grow to such force? This short video from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center offers satellite photos of the developing storm and uses high-tech imagery to show the factors that created the monster.
Website NOLA.com, affiliated with New Orleans daily newspaper The Times-Picayune, has an archive of Times-Picayune coverage of the storm and its effects. The information goldmine includes PDF scans of back issues, interactive maps, videos, photos, reader stories, and more.
Just how high does the storm surge get during a dangerous hurricane? This amateur video, filmed by an unknown guest at a Biloxi, Mississippi hotel, shows the water rising with the approach of Hurricane Katrina.
The human, economic, and structural toll caused by Katrina wasn’t the only havoc wreaked by the storm; there was also a devastating effect on the ecological balance of the Gulf region. This video shows how the wetlands were damaged, and what it means for future storms in the area.
