Hurricane Katrina Topics

Democracy Now! stories, posts and pages that relate to Hurricane Katrina

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  • Isaac

    Hurricane Isaac Makes Landfall in Louisiana, Threatening New Orleans with Heavy Flooding

    Hurricane Isaac has made landfall in southern Louisiana as it heads toward New Orleans on the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The Category 1 storm is producing winds of at least 80 miles per hour and is expected to bring heavy flooding. It marks the most serious test of New Orleans’ rebuilt levees. At least 200,000 people have lost power throughout the Gulf Coast area, and some 50,000 were slated to evacuate New Orleans. We go...
    Aug 29, 2012 | Story
  • 2012-0828_vo_isaac

    On Katrina's 7th Anniversary, Tropical Storm Isaac Poses Biggest Test to NOLA's Rebuilt Levees

    Tropical Storm Isaac is heading through the Gulf of Mexico, threatening to batter the Gulf Coast. Federal officials expect the storm to develop into a Category 1 hurricane and make landfall on Wednesday. The storm will mark the most serious test of New Orleans’ rebuilt levees in the seven years since Hurricane Katrina. We go to New Orleans to speak with Washington Post reporter Manuel Roig-Franzia. [includes rush transcript]
    Aug 28, 2012 | Story
  • Rikersisland_button

    NYC Criticized for Failing to Evacuate Prisoners at Rikers Island Ahead of Hurricane

    Even though Hurricane Irene prompted a series of extraordinary measures in New York City — a complete shutdown of the public transit system and mass evacuations on an unprecedented scale — officials did not take any steps to evacuate some 12,000 prisoners held in a city jail on Rikers Island. According to the New York City Department of Corrections website, more than three-quarters of Rikers Island’s 400 acres are built on landfill,...
    Aug 29, 2011 | Story
  • Danziger_officers_button

    Jury Still Out on New Orleans Police Accused of Shooting Unarmed Katrina Survivors on Danziger Bridge

    This week federal prosecutors in New Orleans finished presenting their case against police officers involved in the infamous Danziger Bridge shooting in the days after Hurricane Katrina. Four police officers are charged with shooting six unarmed civilians, killing two. A fifth officer is accused of helping them cover up their crimes. On Wednesday, the trial culminated in final arguments, leaving the case in a jury’s hands. A verdict could...
    Aug 05, 2011 | Story
  • Play-big_uneasy

    "The Big Uneasy" - In New Doc, Harry Shearer Makes the Case that Katrina Was an Unnatural Disaster

    On the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, a new documentary, The Big Uneasy, argues that the destruction of New Orleans was an unnatural disaster and how it could have been prevented. We speak with the filmmaker: actor and satirist Harry Shearer. [includes rush transcript]
    Aug 30, 2010 | Story
  • Play-katrina_voices

    Remembering Hurricane Katrina: Voices from the Storm

    This Sunday marked the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Early on the morning of August 29th, 2005, the storm slammed into the Gulf Coast, just south of New Orleans. It ravaged the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama and left over 1,800 people dead. Eighty percent of the city of New Orleans was under water after the levees failed. We go back to 2005 to air some of the voices from New Orleans in the aftermath of the storm. [includes...
    Aug 30, 2010 | Story
  • Play-t-washington-floodlines

    Community & Resistance After Katrina: Jordan Flaherty and Tracie Washington on the Fight to Save New Orleans

    President Obama visited New Orleans on Sunday and praised the recovery of the city and the resilience of its people five years after Hurricane Katrina. We talk to lifelong New Orleans resident and civil rights attorney, Tracie Washington, and Jordan Flaherty, a community organizer and author of Floodlines: Community and Resistance from Katrina to the Jena Six. [includes rush transcript]
    Aug 30, 2010 | Story
  • Play-s_patterson

    Displaced New Orleans Poet Sunni Patterson: I Will Be a "Cultural Ambassador to Bring a Light to Every Injustice"

    We go to New Orleans to speak with poet and performer Sunni Patterson. She’s from the Lower Ninth Ward, but like thousands of the city’s residents has been forced to live outside and is now based in Houston, Texas. [includes rush transcript]
    Aug 30, 2010 | Story
  • Doublezeitounbutton

    EXCLUSIVE...Zeitoun: How a Hero in New Orleans After Hurricane Katrina Was Arrested, Labeled a Terrorist and Imprisoned

    Today, a personal story of a national tragedy. Five years ago, Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans. Abdulrahman Zeitoun, a Syrian-born New Orleans building contractor, stayed in the city while his wife and children left to Baton Rouge. He paddled the flooded streets in his canoe and helped rescue many of his stranded neighbors. Days later, armed police and National Guardsmen arrested him and accused him of being a terrorist. He was held for nearly...
    Aug 27, 2010 | Story
  • Swimmingupstream

    Swimming Upstream: Eve Ensler Marks Fifth Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina with Performances of New Play

    The award-winning playwright Eve Ensler plans to mark the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina by staging performances of her new work Swimming Upstream in New Orleans and New York City. The piece was written by sixteen women from New Orleans who describe surviving the flood and living through the aftermath of the storm, which permanently changed their city and many of their lives. [includes rush transcript]
    Aug 26, 2010 | Story