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Today is the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which made landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005.
Katrina remains one of the most devastating natural disasters in U.S. history, killing over 1,800 people. Most of those deaths were in New Orleans, particularly in low-lying areas like the Lower 9th Ward, after the city's levee system failed.
Images of thousands of stranded residents living in squalor for days, waiting for basic supplies, stunned the nation.
The George W. Bush administration, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, and Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco were all blamed for the lack of preparedness and a slow response.
A wreath laying ceremony took place this morning on Canal Street, where a number of unidentified and unclaimed bodies of victims from the storm are laid to rest. Another wreath laying ceremony was scheduled in the Lower 9th Ward.
Hundreds gathered on Thursday night for an interfaith prayer service at St. Louis Cathedral. Mayor LaToya Cantrell attended the event in one of her first public appearances since her federal indictment for wire fraud and obstruction of justice.
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