An Uncertain Future

On this day in 2005 Hurricane Katrina made landfall near New Orleans and the effects of the storm were amplified due to the loss of barrier islands and wetlands. Since the 1920's 1,883 square miles of the Louisiana coastline have disappeared.

In 50 years, most of southeastern Louisiana not protected by levees will be part of the Gulf of Mexico. The state is losing a football field of land every 48 minutes — 16 square miles a year — due to climate change, drilling and dredging for oil and gas, and levees on the Mississippi River.

LINK (via: ProPublica)