
The disruption that hurricane Katrina caused on a large part of the South East in August of 2005 is unlike any other storm that we’ve ever seen. Many call Katrina a “100 year storm” since storms of its magnitude only come around once every hundred years. It ravished New Orleans, La the worst, leaving 80% of the city completely under water and causing an estimated $81 billion in property damages. Katrina also racked up a death toll of 1,836, one of the highest numbers caused from a natural disaster in recent history. Hurricane Katrina was truly a devastation that no one could ever prepare for.

The picture that I have chosen was taken very shortly after Hurricane Katrina ran through the state of Louisiana. You can see in the middle of the photo a downed and uprooted tree with a torn up American flag hanging from the largest branch it has left. In the far left of the picture there’s only a spotty forest, with some tree’s still standing and some having already fallen, and a large portion of water still on the ground. On the far right there’s two trucks that have been completely destroyed and left for dead. There’s also some cardboard all over the ground in what I’m thinking is an attempt to dry the ground as quickly as possible. All in all, it’s just a picture filled with mass destruction, and the only thing standing that is still meaningful is an American flag. The photo itself is primarily directed towards anyone that could possibly help. It’s a call of distress for anyone to hear. That is why this picture is designed to catch your eye. It wants you to dig deeper and find more of a meaning then there might actually be. Lastly, this image is demanding me as the viewer to take in the real damage that hurricane Katrina caused on so many people. With eye-opening numbers like 1,836 people dead and $81 billion racked up in property damages, anyone can see that this storm was very disastrous, but when you actually see any picture of Louisiana post-Katrina, including this one, it really hits you. This storm ruined many people’s lives, and this picture is demanding me to realize that. To take a small step into a life that actually lived through it.

As I’ve stated previously, the only thing really left in my picture is an American flag. The flag itself is barely hanging on, but nonetheless it is still hanging on. I feel like the flag in this particular picture is a true representation of our country as a whole. The way that it has been hit so hard by something so powerful, yet it’s still standing strong through thick and thin. America has dealt with its fair share of hardships throughout time, hurricane Katrina being one of them, and we’re still standing stronger than ever. This definitely appeals to our emotions as it gives you a chip on your shoulder in a way. A feeling in the back of our minds that no matter what hits us a nation, we can get through it, and always come back stronger and better than before. Another emotion hit by this picture is a feeling of sorrow for the people that had to actually deal with this. Having to either evacuate your home and leave it to be destroyed or stay and risk death is an awful predicament to be put in, one which I hope I never have to make. On another hand, any assumptions can be made when viewing this image. One very specific assumption is that the storm is over and it's time for recovery. We really don’t know if there’s a chance that the storm will come back again, or if there’s a break, or anything really. Everything is an assumption except for what’s visually clear in the picture, which is the destruction that has already occurred. Lastly, in my mind there aren’t many ways that this picture can be perceived. It’s a fairly straight-forward image. I guess if you were to dig deeper you could perceive it as the exact opposite that I have, being that this shows how American is crumbling and that we’re barely holding on to what we have left. This is a bit of a stretch, but I would still include it as valid. 

Personally, I was too young to actually take in what hurricane Katrina did to our country. I remember seeing the news stories on TV but that was as far as it went. Living my entire life in Maryland, I’ve never actually felt the damage of a true natural disaster and I pray to god that I’ll never have to. Even though things like this bring us closer together as a country and give us a feeling of morale, this is still something that I wish would never happen. To see that we got through this and are still as powerful as we are is something that I, and everyone around me, can take pride in.