Sixteen Years After Katrina, Hurricane Ida Strikes Gulf Coast

GUEST: Kali Akuno, co-founder and co-director of Cooperation Jackson. Also formerly the Co-Director of the US Human Rights Network and the Executive Director of the Peoples’ Hurricane Relief Fund (PHRF) based in New Orleans, Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina.

BACKGROUND: On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall off the coast of Louisiana as a Category 3 hurricane. The resulting disaster that unfolded over as the storm turned into a Category 5 storm, ended up killing at least 1,800 people and devastating New Orleans and surrounding cities and states like Mississippi. The real death toll was likely much higher.

Exactly 16 years later, Hurricane Ida hit Louisiana as a Category 5 storm with winds of 125 miles per hour and up to 20 inches of rain. Now, more than a million residents of Louisiana and Mississippi are without power as the storm knocked out major portions of the power grid. Ida has now devolved into a tropical storm that’s dropping rain over Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky.

Climate change will continue to fuel stronger and more devastating storms each year, begging the question: is there a long-term plan for safety and security of the residents of the area?

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