WASHINGTON —

This week marks 20 years since Hurricane Katrina, one of the costliest and deadliest natural disasters in U.S. history.

The storm increased focus on flood mitigation and altered the nation's approach to disaster management, a strategy that could soon shift once again as the Trump administration downsizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Advertisement

In August 2005, Katrina struck the Gulf Coast as a Category 3 storm, leading to nearly 1,400 direct and indirect deaths. Thousands of homes and businesses were destroyed, causing an inflation-adjusted $186.3 billion in damage, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

"The world knows it wasn't just the storm; it was that these levees should've held," said Sandy Rosenthal, who founded Levees.Or

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