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This combination of Sept. 11, 2005 and July 29, 2015 aerial photos show the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans flooded by Hurricane Katrina and the same area a decade later. Before Katrina, the Lower Ninth Ward was a working-class and predominantly African-A David J. Phillip, Gerald Herbert, Associated Press
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This combination of Sept. 3, 2005 and July 29, 2015 aerial photos show the 17th Street Canal flood wall breach and the Lakeview section of New Orleans flooded by Hurricane Katrina and the same area a decade later. Katrina's powerful winds and driving rain Haraz N. Ghanbari, Gerald Herbert, Associated Press
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This combination of Aug. 30, 2005 and July 29, 2015 aerial photos show the Mid City and Palmetto areas of New Orleans flooded by Hurricane Katrina and the same area a decade later. The storm went down in history as the costliest natural disaster to strike David J. Phillip, Gerald Herbert, Associated Press
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This combination of Sept. 3, 2005 and July 29, 2015 aerial photos show downtown New Orleans flooded by Hurricane Katrina, and the same area a decade later. The storm went down in history as the costliest natural disaster to strike the U.S., with $150 bill David J. Phillip, Gerald Herbert, Associated Press
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This combination of Aug. 30, 2005 and July 29, 2015 aerial photos shows downtown New Orleans and the Superdome flooded by Hurricane Katrina and the same area a decade later. Katrina's powerful winds and driving rain bore down on Louisiana on Aug. 29, 2005 David J. Phillip, Gerald Herbert, Associated Press
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This Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015 photo shows shops in an abandoned strip mall, which was flooded by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans East. A decade ago, polluted water up to 20 feet deep flooded 80 percent of the city. Katrina killed more than 1,500 people in Gerald Herbert, Associated Press
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Debris lies in the street on an abandoned block in a residential section of New Orleans East, Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015. A decade ago, polluted water up to 20 feet deep flooded 80 percent of the city. Gerald Herbert, Associated Press
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Plants grow on an abandoned home destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in a residential section of New Orleans East, Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015. Gerald Herbert, Associated Press
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A pile of gabage sits in front of an abandoned section of an apartment complex which was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans East, Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015. Katrina killed more than 1,500 people in Louisiana, many of them drowning inside their hom Gerald Herbert, Associated Press
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An abandoned home destroyed by Hurricane Katrina sits in a residential section of New Orleans East, Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015. Katrina killed more than 1,500 people in Louisiana, many of them drowning inside their homes, and hundreds more simply disappeared, Gerald Herbert, Associated Press
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In this Aug. 29, 2005 file photo, Jonathan Harvey wades through flood waters after rescuing his dog, Cuddles, from his home in Gulfport, Miss., after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast earlier in the day. AP photographer John Bazemore, who worked the John Bazemore, Associated Press
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In this Aug. 29, 2005 file photo, Gulfport, Miss. Police Officer Terrence Gray, right, helps evacuate Lovie Mae Allen and group of children from their flooded homes after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast. This image was taken shortly the storm pass John Bazemore, Associated Press
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In this Aug. 30, 2005 file photo, people walk through floodwaters on Canal Street in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts. On seeing this scene one day after the storm hit land, photographer Bill Haber recall Bill Haber, Associated Press
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In this Aug. 30, 2005 file photo, a woman carries bottled water as she walks in oil-coated floodwaters in downtown New Orleans. For photographer Bill Haber, Katrina wasn't just a story. It was personal. Many of Haber's family members lost their homes. Dur Bill Haber, Associated Press
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In this Thursday, Sept. 1, 2005 file photo, Milvertha Hendricks, 84, covered with a blanket depicting an American flag, waits in the rain with other flood victims outside the convention center in New Orleans. When taking the photo, photographer Eric Gay r Eric Gay, Associated Press
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Newlyweds Todd Ledet and Megan Bendig dance their way out of St. Louis Cathedral at Jackson Square in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Saturday, Aug. 15, 2015. New Orleans is nearly three centuries old, mixing African-American, French, Spanish and Carib Max Becherer, Associated Press
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Visitors walk down stairs on Jackson Square in the heart of the French Quarter of New Orleans, Saturday, Aug. 15, 2015. New Orleans is nearly three centuries old, mixing African-American, French, Spanish and Caribbean traditions to create unique forms of Max Becherer, Associated Press
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Students from Jesuit High School of New Orleans take an early morning run past the newly opened $1.1 billion University Medical Center, built to replace Charity Hospital, which was flooded during Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Saturday, Aug. 15, 2015. Max Becherer, Associated Press
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A percussion band performs for tourist dollars on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Saturday, Aug. 15, 2015. New Orleans is nearly three centuries old, mixing African-American, French, Spanish and Caribbean traditions to create unique f Max Becherer, Associated Press
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Crowds gather for Sunday brunch at the newly renovated St. Roch market in New Orleans, Sunday, Aug. 16, 2015. Helped by billions of dollars in recovery money, buoyed by volunteers and driven by the grit of its own citizens, New Orleans has rebounded in wa Max Becherer, Associated Press
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This combination of Sept. 1, 2005 and July 29, 2015 aerial photos show buses parked in a lot flooded by Hurricane Katrina in downtown New Orleans, and the same area a decade later. The storm went down in history as the costliest natural disaster to strike Phil Coale, Gerald Herbert, Associated Press
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This combination of Aug. 30, 2005 and Aug. 14, 2015 photos shows people wading through floodwaters as they go in and out of the Circle Food Store in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and the grocery store a decade later. The storm went down in history Dave Martin, Gerald Herbert, Associated Press
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This combination of Sept. 2, 2005 and Aug. 14, 2015 photos shows damage to a railroad track in Waveland, Miss., from Hurricane Katrina, and the same site a decade later which is undergoing repairs to drainage pipes underneath the track which were washed o Marcio Jose Sanchez, Gerald Herbert, Associated Press
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This combination of Aug, 31, 2005 and July 31, 2015 photos shows a man pushing his bicycle through flood waters near the Superdome in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina left much of the city under water, and a cyclist outside the renamed Mercedes-Benz Su Eric Gay, Gerald Herbert, Associated Press
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This combination of Sept. 1, 2005 and July 29, 2015 photos show Harry and Silvia Pulizzano walking across debris from Hurricane Katrina in search of Silvia's brother's home in Waveland, Miss., and the same site a decade later. The storm caused major damag John Bazemore, Gerald Herbert, Associated Press
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In this July 23, 2015 photo, Efrem Garza stands before his new home built on the lot of his previous house that was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and holds a photograph taken by a friend of the remains of that house on South Seashore Avenue in Long Beach Rogelio V. Solis, Associated Press
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In this July 23, 2015 photo, Long Beach, Miss., Alderman Gary Ponthiuex, holds a photograph of the slab that was his 3,200 square-foot house built in 1971 after Hurricane Katrina. He now has a much small house and it sits higher than his previous home. Rogelio V. Solis, Associated Press
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Sisters Chevelle, left, and Champernell Washington tend to their sister Chelette Price in her hospital room in Houston on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2015. An estimated 1.5 million Gulf Coast residents fled Hurricane Katrina. Many thousands of them, like Chevelle, Pat Sullivan, Associated Press
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In this Aug. 29, 2006 file photo, Champernell Washington, left, is embraced by Donna Banks as Washington grieves for a relative who died in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans. A decade after Katrina struck, she recal Alex Brandon, Associated Press
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Steven Washington stands on the steps of the home on Lesseps Street in New Orleans on Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015, where his family rode out Hurricane Katrina. A decade ago, the water rushing through the city's breached floodwalls climbed all 17 of those front Allen Breed, Associated Press
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This combination of Dec. 10, 2005 and July 28, 2015 photos show Valerie Thomas, of New Orleans, left, and her nieces Shante Fletcher, 6, and Sarine Fletcher, 11, right, looking at the destruction of Valerie's brother's home in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Gerald Herbert, Associated Press
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This combination of Aug. 30, 2005 and Aug. 14, 2015 photos shows Odell Harville walking past debris from Hurricane Katrina on Lameuse St. in Biloxi, Miss., and the same site a decade later. The storm caused major damage to the Gulf Coast from Texas to cen Jay Reeves, Gerald Herbert, Associated Press
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This combination of Aug. 30, 2005 and July 29, 2015 aerial photos shows the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans flooded by Hurricane Katrina and the same area a decade later. Before Katrina, the Lower Ninth Ward was a working-class and predominantly African-A David J. Phillip, Gerald Herbert, Associated Press
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This combination of Sept. 4, 2005 and July 30, 2015 photos show a makeshift tomb at a New Orleans street corner, concealing a body that had been lying on the sidewalk for days in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and the same site a decade later with an arti Dave Martin, Gerald Herbert, Associated Press
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This combination of Dec. 16, 2005 and July 28, 2015 photos shows debris in front of the Church of God damaged by Hurricane Katrina in the Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood of New Orleans, and a decade later, an empty lot where it once stood. Before Katrina, t Jacqueline Larma, Gerald Herbert, Associated Press
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In this Aug. 17, 2006, file photograph, Cori and Kerri Rigsby, left to right, speak to the media, in Ocean Springs, Miss. The two women worked as independent adjusters for State Farm Fire & Casualty Co., to adjust insurance claims after Hurricane Katrina. Nicole LaCour Young, Associated Press
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In this June 2, 2015, photograph, Waveland, Miss., assistant police Chief Michael Prendergast. left, and Chief David Allen talk about surviving Hurricane Katrina by clinging to a bush in front of their station on U.S. 90 in Waveland, Miss. Prendergast was John Fitzhugh, The Sun Herald via AP
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In this Sept. 23, 2010, photograph, Bobby Mahoney tells a series of "Boudreaux" jokes during his comedy routine at the CEO Talent Show at the Hard Rock Casino in Biloxi, Miss. Mahoney presided over the recovery of the Mississippi coast's most famous resta Tim Isbell, The Sun Herald via AP
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In this Feb. 28, 2014, file photo, former Democratic congressman Gene Taylor, who lost his south Mississippi seat in 2010, speaks to reporters as he stands in the parking lot of the Mississippi Republican Party headquarters in Jackson, Miss. Taylor, who l Rogelio V. Solis, Associated Press
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In this May 29, 2015 photograph, former Bay St. Louis Mayor Eddie Favre was back wearing shorts again for his Katrina +10 presentation at the Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art in Biloxi, Miss. Favre described what it was like to see much of his city in ruins and Mary Perez, The Sun Herald via AP
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Eric Patterson, 28, dries off a pit bull puppy that he washed while supervising neighborhood kids at the Running Bear Boxing Club in New Orleans, Friday, Aug. 14, 2015. The boxing club is run by a resident of the Lower 9th Ward, Harry Sims, 62, to keep ki Max Becherer, Associated Press
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Harry Sims, 62, walks past a blighted building which was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans on the way to a park for warm up exercises with his boxing students, Friday, Aug. 14, 2015. Sims started the boxing club to keep k Max Becherer, Associated Press
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Darien Ford, 43, right, spars with Deshane Sims, 14, at the Running Bear Boxing Club in the Lower 9th Ward in New Orleans, Monday, Aug. 17, 2015. The boxing club is run by a resident of the Lower 9th Ward, Harry Sims, 62, to keep kids out of trouble in th Max Becherer, Associated Press
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Marquell Williams, 12, uses her phone to view videos on Facebook in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans, Friday, Aug. 14, 2015. Williams survived Katrina with her family in Mississippi and moved to New Orleans after the storm. Max Becherer, Associated Press
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Sandy Rosenthal, right, with microphone, of Levees.org, and others unveil a historic marker at Jourdan Avenue and North Johnson Street, Monday, Aug. 24, 2015, in New Orleans. The marker tells the story of the area flooding during Hurricane Katrina, which Eliot Kamenitz, The Advocate via AP
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This combination of Oct. 10, 2005 and Aug. 4, 2015 photos shows a tangle of fishing boats blocking the lanes of Highway 23 in Empire, La. after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the region, and the same site a decade later. Don Ryan, Gerald Herbert, Associated Press
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This combination of Sept. 2, 2005 and Friday, Aug. 14, 2015 photos shows the steeple from the Main Street Methodist Church blown down during Hurricane Katrina in Bay St. Louis, Miss., and the restored church a decade later. The storm went down in history M. Spencer Green, Gerald Herbert, Associated Press
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This combination of Sept. 2, 2005 and Aug. 14, 2015 photos shows the playing field of the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans littered with debris after serving as a shelter for victims from Hurricane Katrina, and a decade later, the renamed Mercedes-Benz Bill Haber, Gerald Herbert, Associated Press
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This combination of Sept. 1, 2005 and Aug. 14, 2015 photos shows flood victims in a pickup truck as hundreds of others wait for evacuation at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and the same site a Eric Gay, Gerald Herbert, Associated Press
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This July 29, 2015 aerial photo shows empty lots and mostly new buildings in the Lower 9th Ward section of New Orleans, foreground. Ten years after Katrina, New Orleans remains a work in progress, aiming to reverse historic racial and economic injustices. Gerald Herbert, Associated Press
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Steps lead to the empty foundation of a home destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in the Lower 9th Ward on Forstall Street in New Orleans, just behind a new charter high school being built in the neighborhood, Monday, Aug. 17, 2015. Ironically, the fact that ma Max Becherer, Associated Press
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The remnants of a home destroyed by Hurricane Katrina sits on a lot for sale on Deslonde Street in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans, Monday, Aug. 17, 2015. Max Becherer, Associated Press
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A hand made sign at North Rocheblave and Lamanche Streets in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans attempts to thwart the illegal dumping of tires and industrial waste, Friday, Aug. 14, 2015. Max Becherer, Associated Press
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A streetlight illuminates the corner of Florida and Tennessee Streets in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans, Friday, Aug. 14, 2015. Residents complain about the overgrown grass and shrubs on unkept empty lots and the maintenance of street lamps in the Lowe Max Becherer, Associated Press
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The foundation of a home sits next to a newly constructed home on North Rocheblave Street in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans, Friday, Aug. 14, 2015. The uneven rebuilding of homes in the Lower 9th Ward has clusters or single homes surrounded by vast are Max Becherer, Associated Press
Linsy Hunsaker
By Linsy Hunsaker
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Ten years ago, Hurricane Katrina swept through America's Southeast, devastating cities, lives and families. Today, many have bounced back, while others stay haunted by the tragedy. We have compiled Associated Press photos from then and now to reflect on the storm that changed so many lives.

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