Author's Note: This is the story about one of the most devastating forces on Earth and how people had struggled through it and even today they are pushing through.
They rolled on the shoreline and crashed wildly against rocks. The sound was ear piercing. Their height towered even the tallest man. Howling wind pushed and pulled the waves every which way. The waves were being forced on to the shore by Hurricane Katrina which would be known as one as the most devastating hurricanes in history.
On August 25, 2005, Hurricane Katrina was rated a Category Five storm on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration sent a hurricane hunter named Mike Silah to investigate. He took pictures of the eye wall, the wall of clouds around the center of the hurricane otherwise known as the eye of the hurricane. When he reported what he had witnessed they investigated the images and immediately knew Katrina was a strong storm.
While Silah was up in the sky, below the waves were starting to grow taller and more powerful from the wind of Katrina. Water blew away nearly everything on the beach. People saw what was happening and braced for the worst and started to evacuate. The waves washed on to shore, but that was merely the beginning.
When the people were leaving, Katrina slowed its wind and became less destructive as it came toward land, but it did not leave Louisiana unharmed. The first area to be destroyed was along the Louisiana shoreline near the Gulf of Mexico. The people of Louisiana and the rest country watched on national television in horror as they saw a tiny bit of what Katrina was capable of.
The horror and fear spread quickly across the nation like wild fire as the hurricane made its way further into land. The land was uprooted from its grounds by 125 mph winds in large amounts. Tens of thousands of people were stranded in New Orleans with no place to go. There was no food, water, medicine, or medical care. People had no hope of the survival of their state.
As the people who were stranded at evacuation buildings had given up hope, the hurricane had finally worn out, though still affecting the other states. The aftermath was tremendously tragic. 1,800 people had lost their lives to Katrina. Make-shift graves were built on the streets of New Orleans, the area hit the hardest.
People’s houses looked as if they had died with the people who once lived inside. There was over $100 billion in damage, mostly caused by the flooding. Transportation in and out of New Orleans was near impossible with all the roads cracked and uneven. Power was out as well, for the water had broken the lines and poles.
New Orleans isn’t restored yet. Many people have reached out to help them, but there is still much to be done. To think what water is capable of. As one of the hurricanes ever to break land on Earth, was one of the most devastating hurricanes.
