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cbabe

(5,648 posts) Sun Jul 27, 2025, 12:55 PM Jul 27

'There's New Orleans before and after': revisiting Hurricane Katrina in a new docuseries

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/jul/27/hurricane-katrina-race-against-time-national-geographic-docuseries

‘There’s New Orleans before and after’: revisiting Hurricane Katrina in a new docuseries

With the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaching, a powerful five-part docuseries, produced by Ryan Coogler, takes a look back at the many lives affected

Andrew Lawrence
Sun 27 Jul 2025 05.00 EDT

Earlier this year, NFL fans from across the country descended on New Orleans for the Super Bowl. But even as the Big Easy rushed to put its best face forward for the big game and quickly turn the page from a New Year’s Eve attack on its famed tourist district, there was no way of concealing the derelict homes, watermarked buildings and other ravages of Hurricane Katrina. “On the surface, New Orleans is still the New Orleans of our imagination, where there’s Bourbon Street, the French Quarter and you’re drinking in the middle of the day outside,” says the Oscar-nominated director Traci A Curry. “But for the people of this place, the people who know it, there’s New Orleans before Katrina and after Katrina. A lot of us who experienced it as spectators think of it as something that happened to America – and it wasn’t.”

Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time review – a gripping, epic look at the New Orleans tragedy 20 years on
Read more
Curry’s solo directorial debut, Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time, re-examines the epic storm 20 years later. The five-part series, which was made for National Geographic and counts Ryan and Zinzi Coogler and Alexis Ohanian as producers, isn’t a requiem in the vein of When the Levees Broke – Spike Lee’s superlative series that was just one of many works that informed this project – Curry says. Rather, it’s a tragedy thriller told through forensic analysis. The biggest jump scares come in the hindsight revelations. The first episode provides a refresher on Hurricane Pam – the multi-agency, worst-case scenario planning exercise that was conducted a year before Katrina and essentially predicted everything that would happen, down to the reports of violence breaking out across the city.

… more …

Trailer at link

Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time premieres on 27 July on National Geographic and will be available on Disney+ and Hulu afterward

4 replies

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'There's New Orleans before and after': revisiting Hurricane Katrina in a new docuseries (Original Post) cbabe Jul 27 OP

K'n'R! justaprogressive Jul 27 #1

Another failure from the George W. Bush administration PJMcK Jul 27 #2

There was Traildogbob Jul 27 #3

Thank you for this. Tom Dyer Jul 27 #4

justaprogressive

(5,539 posts)

1. K'n'R!

Reply to cbabe (Original post)

Sun Jul 27, 2025, 01:04 PM

Jul 27

Whitewashing of The Big Easy

PJMcK

(24,255 posts)

2. Another failure from the George W. Bush administration

Reply to cbabe (Original post)

Sun Jul 27, 2025, 01:07 PM

Jul 27

There was so much Bush could have done and this 20+ year devastation is the result.

With all of Trump's cuts, we can expect more and worse damages from future storms.

New Orleans' ruination is an example of the effects of Republican administrations' cuts to vital services. Trump's dismantling of our government is the nadir of these conservative and MAGA impacts.

Traildogbob

(11,902 posts)

3. There was

Reply to cbabe (Original post)

Sun Jul 27, 2025, 01:26 PM

Jul 27

A mini series based on actual events on Prime called “5 Days at Memorial” best I remember the title.
It was based in the pure hell the hospital went through to save people, after Katrina, but some died because they just had no support, no power, no food or water.
The heroic attempts by nurses, doctors and staff is just amazing.
After things got back to some state of functioning, the CEO of the For Profit owners, that refused help for the mostly black patients, tried to put all blame on the head nurse in charge of catastrophic events.
It will put you into the shoes of those hospital employees and the hell they endured trying to save everyone of them.
It hit home to me, my daughter is ICU trauma nurse here that went through 5 days of hell after Helena.
It nearly broke her, and may have done more damage internally I don’t see.
Fuck Rick Scott and all for profit fat cats. They will bury the nurses and doctors to protect the cash flow.
The series shows lots of Bush Failures and reminds you, GQP are Evil and glad to let you die.
Trump is just the latest front man, but is every bit as good as the GQP puppets,, like the Asian that took Steve Perry’s front man job. Seamless transition with a great band behind him,
I highly recommend seeing the series.
We will see an event that trump and his clowns will allow massive amounts of death and destruction. With no FEMA.
Good job Browny.

Tom Dyer

(266 posts)

4. Thank you for this.

Reply to cbabe (Original post)

Sun Jul 27, 2025, 02:04 PM

Jul 27

August 29 is going to be rough. I lived in New Orleans 47 years, and lived through Katrina. And yes, there is before Katrina and after Katrina.
I now live in Panama - no hurricanes! - and hope/don’t hope I’ll be able to watch this. I know I’ll be crying most of the day, like so many others.
I worked at the Aquarium there, and getting animals to safety…
We did the best that we possibly could.
Good luck to other DUers who lived through it.

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