28 moving photos of the Gulf Coast 10 years after Katrina’s devastation

Friday, August 28, marks the 10-year anniversary of the costliest natural disaster in US history. 

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Hurricane Katrina leveled entire neighborhoods, destroyed livelihoods, and brought thousands of lives to an abrupt end across the Gulf Coast.

Even with the $81 billion in property damage, there is also ample opportunity for growth. Towns rebuild, relationships strengthen.

katrina then and now
Mario Tama/Getty Images

Keep scrolling to see the transformation for yourself.

 

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Ten years ago on Friday, Hurricane Katrina arrived on the Gulf Coast.

Katrina from space
Getty / NOAA

The storm tore through 90,000 square miles of land in New Orleans and Mississippi, an expanse of land larger than the entire state of Minnesota.

katrina_aftermath
Landsat/NASA
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It left nothing but destruction and loss in its wake. The best estimates suggest 1,833 people died and 124,000 more lost their jobs.

hurricane katrina aftermath woman crying
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

In places like Biloxi, Mississippi; Waveland, Mississippi; and New Orleans, Louisiana; relief didn't arrive for weeks.

katrina aftermath biloxi
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
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Life in New Orleans deteriorated as thousands waited to get evacuated outside the Superdome, living for days on end in urine-soaked, drug-infested conditions.

superdome evacuations
Mario Tama/Getty Images

When FEMA finally arrived, the relief effort delivered water, food, clothes, and medical services to the region.

katrina rescue effort
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
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Habitat for Humanity began constructing houses for those displaced by the storm. These homes were delivered from across the country and assembled in the region itself.

habitat for humanity rebuilds after katrina
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Ten years later, photographers revisited the people they captured in the aftermath. Their transformations are nothing short of unbelievable.

katrina then and now
Mario Tama/Getty Images
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Once home to more than 20,000 helpless, emotionally wrung-out New Orleans residents, the Superdome has resumed its role as home of the New Orleans Saints.

superdome before and after
Mario Tama/Getty Images

Carlos Barria recreated shots he took in 2005, like this one of Michael Rehage squatting on the roof of his car.

then and now katrina
Carlos Barria/Reuters
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Or this one, of Errol Morning sitting on his boat on a flooded street.

katrina then and now
Carlos Barria/Reuters

And this shot, of the Memorial Medical Center that lost power and scrambled to care for hundreds of critically ill patients.

katrina then and now
Carlos Barria/Reuters
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Photographer Joe Raedle traveled all over the region. In visiting Gulfport, Mississippi, utility crews were dispatched to thousands of homes to restore power.

GULFPORT katrina
Joe Raedle / Getty

Brian Mollere lost his mother and his house in the storm. Ten years later, his house in Waveland, Mississippi, sits on the same slab left behind in 2005.

hurricane katrina before and after
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
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Mario Tama captured the restoration of New Orleans' severely damaged Ninth Ward. With help from the Make It Right Foundation, the area was able to get back on its feet.

new orleans then and now
Mario Tama/Getty Images

The federal government allocated over $14 billion to the region, which now boasts the best flood control system of any US coastal city.

katrina then and now
Mario Tama/Getty Images
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Major infrastructure has been put in place to avoid another disaster. Located in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway West Closure Complex houses the largest drainage pump system in the world.

gulf intracoastal waterway
Jonathan Bachman/Reuters

The New Orleans Land Bridge is located in nearby St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana. It serves as a line of defense for approximately 1.5 million people.

land bridge new orleans
Jonathan Bachman/Reuters
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At 1.8 miles long, the "Great Wall of Louisiana" protects downtown New Orleans from flooding and storm surge. It is the mother of all infrastructural improvements.

great wall of louisiana
Carlos Barria/Reuters

10 years after the devastation, the Gulf Coast — and New Orleans especially — is finally back to doing what it does best.

New Orleans Jackson Square
Shutterstock
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Celebrating culture through music, food ...

New Orleans jazz funeral
Sean Gardner / Getty

...and the people that live in — and are in love with — the city.

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Sean Gardner / Getty
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