Learning from Other Writers: Hurricane Katrina Pictures: Then & Now, Ruin & Rebirth
Instructor's Notes
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Hurricane Katrina Pictures: Then & Now, Ruin & Rebirth
National Geographic
Photo Essay
National Geographic compiled a series of images showing how New Orleans has recovered since the immediate impact of Hurricane Katrina, which hit the area in 2005. Click through the slideshow to view all of the pictures and read the accompanying text, and then answer the questions that follow.
Mario Tama/Getty Images
A New HopeOn August 20 children play in a new development in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward built by the Make it Right Foundation, which is constructing houses for families who lost their homes during Hurricane Katrina.The low-lying Lower Ninth Ward took the brunt of the storm’s devastation five years ago but later attracted an army of volunteers eager to help rebuild (pictured, Amish student volunteers tour the area on February 25, 2006).Ng Staff/National Geographic StockSource: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/08/photogalleries/100826-hurricane-katrina-pictures-fifth-anniversary-nation-before-after/
A New HopeOn August 20 children play in a new development in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward built by the Make it Right Foundation, which is constructing houses for families who lost their homes during Hurricane Katrina.The low-lying Lower Ninth Ward took the brunt of the storm’s devastation five years ago but later attracted an army of volunteers eager to help rebuild (pictured, Amish student volunteers tour the area on February 25, 2006).Ng Staff/National Geographic StockSource: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/08/photogalleries/100826-hurricane-katrina-pictures-fifth-anniversary-nation-before-after/
Mario Tama/Getty Images
Hurricane Katrina Waiting GameThe New Orleans Saints play a preseason game Saturday against the Houston Texans in the Louisiana Superdome (top)—a whole different ball game from five years ago, when the stadium was a makeshift shelter for victims of Hurricane Katrina.As the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s Gulf Coast landfall approaches, many hurricane survivors are still homeless, according to a new report by the homeless-advocacy group Unity of Greater New Orleans, local TV station WWLV.com reported.Hundreds of Katrina victims are living in the more than 55,000 ramshackle buildings that were abandoned after the hurricane destroyed much of the city, according to the report.Katrina, the most destructive and costliest natural disaster yet to occur in the United States, killed more than 1,800 people. In total, five million people were affected by the storm and its aftermath, according to Harvard University’s Hurricane Katrina Community Advisory Group.Ng Staff/National Geographic StockSource: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/08/photogalleries/100826-hurricane-katrina-pictures-fifth-anniversary-nation-before-after/
Hurricane Katrina Waiting GameThe New Orleans Saints play a preseason game Saturday against the Houston Texans in the Louisiana Superdome (top)—a whole different ball game from five years ago, when the stadium was a makeshift shelter for victims of Hurricane Katrina.As the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s Gulf Coast landfall approaches, many hurricane survivors are still homeless, according to a new report by the homeless-advocacy group Unity of Greater New Orleans, local TV station WWLV.com reported.Hundreds of Katrina victims are living in the more than 55,000 ramshackle buildings that were abandoned after the hurricane destroyed much of the city, according to the report.Katrina, the most destructive and costliest natural disaster yet to occur in the United States, killed more than 1,800 people. In total, five million people were affected by the storm and its aftermath, according to Harvard University’s Hurricane Katrina Community Advisory Group.Ng Staff/National Geographic StockSource: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/08/photogalleries/100826-hurricane-katrina-pictures-fifth-anniversary-nation-before-after/
Mario Tama/Getty Images
Come Hell or High WaterA Virgin Mary statue tops a crypt in an above-ground cemetery in Buras, Louisiana, on August 19 (top). The same scene in February 2006 shows the jumble of debris created when Hurricane Katrina floodwaters swept through the cemetery.The deluge opened several crypts and caused some coffins to float away, according to the Getty news service.In some areas, storm surges nearly three stories high wreaked havoc on coastal and inland communities alike.Ng Staff/National Geographic StockSource: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/08/photogalleries/100826-hurricane-katrina-pictures-fifth-anniversary-nation-before-after/
Come Hell or High WaterA Virgin Mary statue tops a crypt in an above-ground cemetery in Buras, Louisiana, on August 19 (top). The same scene in February 2006 shows the jumble of debris created when Hurricane Katrina floodwaters swept through the cemetery.The deluge opened several crypts and caused some coffins to float away, according to the Getty news service.In some areas, storm surges nearly three stories high wreaked havoc on coastal and inland communities alike.Ng Staff/National Geographic StockSource: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/08/photogalleries/100826-hurricane-katrina-pictures-fifth-anniversary-nation-before-after/
Mario Tama/Getty Images
Hurricane Katrina’s Line of FireOn August 23 Robert Fontaine returned to the New Orleans street corner (top) where a house he’d been living in burned on September 6, 2005. Though others had evacuated the city, Fontaine stuck it out without electricity to take care of abandoned dogs, one of which knocked over a candle and caused the fire.“My whole life, my whole world crashed. For everyone, not just for me,“ Fontaine told Getty last week.Five years later, with many of Katrina’s scars still visible throughout New Orleans, the U.S. government announced it would contribute more than $26.8 million to Louisiana to help with rebuilding projects, CNN reported earlier this week.Ng Staff/National Geographic StockSource: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/08/photogalleries/100826-hurricane-katrina-pictures-fifth-anniversary-nation-before-after/
Hurricane Katrina’s Line of FireOn August 23 Robert Fontaine returned to the New Orleans street corner (top) where a house he’d been living in burned on September 6, 2005. Though others had evacuated the city, Fontaine stuck it out without electricity to take care of abandoned dogs, one of which knocked over a candle and caused the fire.“My whole life, my whole world crashed. For everyone, not just for me,“ Fontaine told Getty last week.Five years later, with many of Katrina’s scars still visible throughout New Orleans, the U.S. government announced it would contribute more than $26.8 million to Louisiana to help with rebuilding projects, CNN reported earlier this week.Ng Staff/National Geographic StockSource: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/08/photogalleries/100826-hurricane-katrina-pictures-fifth-anniversary-nation-before-after/
Courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey
Gone With the WavesA latticework of narrow beaches, sand flats, dunes, and marshes southeast of New Orleans, Louisiana’s Chandeleur Islands (seen at top in July 2001) were largely submerged by Hurricane Katrina’s powerful storm surge, pictured at bottom on August 31, 2005.Within days the surge stripped sand from beaches and ate away large sections of marsh from the island chain, leaving few recognizable landforms in its wake, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.Today the Chandeleur Islands are in hot water again due to the Gulf of Mexico’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which coated many of the area’s shorebirds with oil.Ng Staff/National Geographic StockSource: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/08/photogalleries/100826-hurricane-katrina-pictures-fifth-anniversary-nation-before-after/
Gone With the WavesA latticework of narrow beaches, sand flats, dunes, and marshes southeast of New Orleans, Louisiana’s Chandeleur Islands (seen at top in July 2001) were largely submerged by Hurricane Katrina’s powerful storm surge, pictured at bottom on August 31, 2005.Within days the surge stripped sand from beaches and ate away large sections of marsh from the island chain, leaving few recognizable landforms in its wake, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.Today the Chandeleur Islands are in hot water again due to the Gulf of Mexico’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which coated many of the area’s shorebirds with oil.Ng Staff/National Geographic StockSource: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/08/photogalleries/100826-hurricane-katrina-pictures-fifth-anniversary-nation-before-after/
Courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey
Hurricane Katrina Hits HomeNow you see it, now you don’t—beach homes in Biloxi, Mississippi—pictured in 1998 (top) and 2005—were wiped out after Hurricane Katrina made landfall.Katrina’s storm surge reached up to 12 miles (19 kilometers) inland in Mississippi.Ng Staff/National Geographic StockSource: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/08/photogalleries/100826-hurricane-katrina-pictures-fifth-anniversary-nation-before-after/
Hurricane Katrina Hits HomeNow you see it, now you don’t—beach homes in Biloxi, Mississippi—pictured in 1998 (top) and 2005—were wiped out after Hurricane Katrina made landfall.Katrina’s storm surge reached up to 12 miles (19 kilometers) inland in Mississippi.Ng Staff/National Geographic StockSource: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/08/photogalleries/100826-hurricane-katrina-pictures-fifth-anniversary-nation-before-after/
Questions to Start You Thinking
Meaning
- What was the occasion for the publication of this photo essay?
- Based on the images and text in “Hurricane Katrina Hits Home,” what was the extent of the impact of the storm on communities like Biloxi in Mississippi?
- Based on the text and images in “Come Hell or High Water,” how has New Orleans recovered since the hurricane?
Writing Strategies
- How is this photo essay organized? In what ways do you find the organization effective? Would you arrange anything differently? If so, how?
- How do the text explanations enhance your understanding of the photos? Would your understanding have been different if the text had been omitted? Why or why not?
- Which pairings offer the most compelling comparison and contrast? Which offer the least compelling comparison and contrast? What makes some pairs strong and the others weak?
- Compare and contrast the two photos in “A New Hope.” What is the purpose of this pairing?