New Orleans’ Worst Nightmare Comes True

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina — a Category 4 hurricane packing 232-kilometers-per-hour winds and a 6-meter storm surge — much of the city of New Orleans is now under water. The Aug. 30 satellite image (directly above), taken by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on NASA’s Terra satellite, shows what happened when the storm-damaged levees that protect the city from Lake Pontchartrain (northwest of the city) gave way, flooding the city.