Hurricane Katrina: Five Years After

Satellite image taken at 10:15 a.m. EDT shows Hurricane Katrina passing through Gulf of Mexico, taking aim at New Orleans (NOAA)

Within a week, Hurricane Katrina would pass over Florida, barrel into the Gulf and make landfall again, devastating New Orleans and other coastal communities, killing nearly 2,000 and displacing more than 250,000 others. (AP)

Satellite image taken at 9:15 a.m. EDT captures Tropical Storm Katrina passing over the Bahamas. (NOAA)

Satellite image taken at 9:15 a.m. shows Hurricane Katrina approaching Florida. (NOAA)

A tree blows over on top of a car in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., as Hurricane Katrina comes ashore late in the day. Two deaths are reported, along with people trapped in cars and downed trees.  (AP)

Satellite image taken at 3:15 p.m. EDT shows Hurricane Katrina passing Florida before heading into the Gulf of Mexico. (NOAA)

Cars drive past downed trees on Brickell Avenue in downtown Miami in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The storm floods streets, darkens homes and downs trees as it plows across South Florida before entering the Gulf of Mexico. (AP)

Traffic crawls along Highway 90 in Metairie, La., as some people leave New Orleans in anticipation of Hurricane Katrina making landfall. The National Hurricane Center posts a hurricane watch for the southeastern coast of Louisiana.  (AP)

Satellite image taken 11:45 a.m. EDT shows Hurricane Katrina approaching New Orleans, at one point reaching Category 5 status, with maximum sustained winds near 175 mph. (NOAA)

Only a sign is visible as flood waters submerge a highway in southern Mississippi. (AP)

A restaurant in Biloxi, Miss., is submerged after flooding from Hurricane Katrina. (AP)

Bumper-to-bumper traffic flows north in Hattiesburg, Miss., as some Gulf Coast residents evacuate their homes ahead of Hurricane Katrina. (AP)

Kelsey Travis of Ashland, Ala., back, and her friend Dana Owens of Robertsdale, Ala., get splashed by waves hitting the sea wall in Orange Beach, Ala. (AP)

A Louisiana National Guardsmen watches residents as they gather in New Orleans outside the Superdome, which opens to residents seeking shelter from Hurricane Katrina before it makes landfall. (AP)

Residents flock to the Superdome a day before Hurricane Katrina makes landfall. (AP)

Hurricane Katrina, shown in satellite image taken at 9:15 a.m. EDT, makes landfall as a Category 3 storm, with maximum winds estimated near 125 mph. (NOAA)

Shante Gruld carries Janeka Garner, 5, to safety after they are rescued from their flooded home by boat in New Orleans. Despite a mandatory evacuation of the city, many residents remain.  (AP)

Petty Officer 1st Class Steven Huerta hoists two children into a Coast Guard rescue helicopter as others watch from below. Flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina forces many rooftop rescues. (AP)

The Mound Underpass on Interstate 10, near downtown New Orleans, is flooded as Hurricane Katrina batters the city with wind and torrential rain. (AP)

Palm trees bend from the force of hurricane winds in the Grande Lagoon area of Pensacola, Fla., an area that was hit by hurricane Ivan the previous September. (AP)

The roof of the Superdome in New Orleans bears the scars of Katrina's Category 3 winds. (AP)

A tattered American flag flies in front of the blown-out Hyatt Hotel in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina devastates the area. (AP)

Bryan Vernon and Dorothy Bell are rescued from their rooftop after Hurricane Katrina hits. (AP)

Water covers Royal Street in downtown Mobile, Ala. (AP)

Satellite image taken at 9:15 a.m. EDT shows the storm traveling further inland and dissipating, but the devastation along the Gulf Coast was far from over. (NOAA)

Times-Picayune staff photographer Alex Brandon swims away from the newspaper's offices in the flooded city of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. (AP)

Emanuel Honeycutt is followed by his son Emanuel Jr., 11, as he carries his daughter Eman, 9, through floodwaters in the French Quarter of New Orleans. (AP)

National Guard trucks haul residents through flood waters to the Superdome, a shelter of last resort, after their neighborhoods are flooded. (AP)

William DeKing climbs over rubble from Hurricane Katrina after checking on a friend's grandmother in Biloxi, Miss.  (AP)

People negotiate neighborhood flooding in boats in Arabi, a suburb of New Orleans. (AP)

Floodwaters from Hurricane Katrina pour through a levee along Inner Harbor Navigational Canal near downtown New Orleans, a day after Katrina. (AP)

A resident is rescued from the rooftop of a home by the U.S. Coast Guard as floodwaters cover the streets of New Orleans.  (AP)