Overview

• Netflix’s three-part Katrina: Come Hell and High Water, executive-produced by Spike Lee and released Aug. 27, revisits the disaster through survivor interviews, home videos, news footage, and a Spike Lee–directed final episode.
• Critics highlight the series’ focus on racism in the response, delayed rescues, and media framing of “looting,” with the levee failures driving catastrophic flooding and a death toll widely reported at about 1,392.
• Coverage underscores uneven rebuilding: Louisiana’s Road Home program tied aid to pre-storm home values that favored wealthier areas, and Brad Pitt’s Make It Right faced construction defects and a $20.5 million settlement in 2022.
• Anniversary reporting brings forward the long-term toll on children, noting more than 370,000 school-age students were displaced and studies found persistent mental health impacts years after the storm.
• Experts warn vulnerability is growing as Louisiana rapidly loses protective wetlands and stronger storms increase flood risk, even as forecasting and street-level flood mapping improve and officials are urged to use them more effectively.