Hurricane Katrina

Outcome

unknown

Hurricane Katrina made landfall on August 29, 2005, devastating the Gulf Coast and causing catastrophic flooding in New Orleans after 53 levees failed. The disaster killed over 1,800 people and displaced more than one million residents. Black communities, particularly the Lower Ninth Ward, bore the brunt of the devastation. Nearly 70% of poor people impacted by the storm were Black, and about three-quarters of Black residents experienced serious flooding compared to half of white residents. Among those who could not evacuate, 93% were Black, often because they lacked vehicles or resources to leave. The federal government's response, particularly FEMA's, was widely criticized as slow, ineffective, and racially biased. FEMA provided trailers to 63% of residents in the predominantly white St. Bernard Parish but only 13% of residents in the predominantly Black Lower Ninth Ward. Two-thirds of African Americans polled believed the government would have responded faster if most victims had been white. The inadequate response prompted Kanye West's famous statement during a televised fundraiser: "George Bush doesn't care about Black people." The disaster exposed deep racial and economic inequities in American society. Years of federal neglect had allowed the levee system to deteriorate, and the Army Corps of Engineers later admitted faulty design contributed to the failures. A decade after Katrina, while 70% of white residents felt New Orleans had recovered, only 44% of Black residents said the same about their neighborhoods. White residents returned at higher rates than Black residents, partly due to the reluctance to rebuild low-income housing. Katrina became a defining moment that shaped discussions about environmental racism and helped lay groundwork for the Black Lives Matter movement.