Hurricane Katrina exposes racial inequality in disaster response

Hurricane Katrina makes landfall on August 29, 2005, and flooding devastates New Orleans after levee failures. The disaster kills more than 1,800 people across the Gulf Coast and displaces hundreds of thousands. Images of mostly Black residents stranded without adequate food, water, medical care, or evacuation support spark national debate over race, poverty, infrastructure, and government responsibility. Federal investigations later document failures at multiple levels of government. Disaster policy and infrastructure neglect can expose and deepen racial inequality in housing, health, wealth, and political power.