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BEFORE: New Orleans on August 26, 2000. (NASA image by Jesse Allen using data provided by USGS Center for EROS and the Landsat Project Science Office at Goddard Space Flight Center.)

The Brief

NEW ORLEANS - Hurricane Katrina swept through New Orleans 20 years ago, overpowering the city’s levees and seawalls in a matter of hours.

Thousands of people fled to higher ground or rooftops to escape the dangerous storm surge and, later, the sewage- and chemical-contaminated floodwaters.

Why you should care:

Ultimately, over 1,000 people died in Louisiana as a result of the storm. The scope of the flooding – and the days-long struggle of those caught in it – became a defining event for the first part of the century.

Why did New Orleans flood?

Dig deeper:

New Orleans is

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