Collection

Was Barack Obama President During Hurricane Katrina?

On Aug. 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall along the Gulf Coast, eventually taking thousands of lives and causing billions in damage.

by Joey Esposito, Aug. 30, 2017


Image courtesy of Getty Images


Aug. 29, 2025, marked the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina making landfall in Southeast Louisiana, the beginning of what would become one of the most devastating hurricanes in the history of the United States.

Katrina was eventually estimated to be responsible for more than 1,400 deaths, according to The Associated Press, to say nothing of its near-$200 billion in property damage and the exposure of infrastructure failures and slow government emergency response times that exacerbated the impact of the storm.

Reflecting on the storm's impact, Snopes collected 10 stories in the 20 years since the day of its landfall, from portrayals of looting based on race to purported satellite images of the storm. 


By Joey Esposito

Joey Esposito has written for a variety of entertainment publications. He's into music, video games ... and birds.

Were Hurricane Katrina 'Looting' Photographs Captioned Differently Based on Race?

Sept. 1, 2005

News photographs alternately described subjects of different races as 'looting' or 'finding' sup ...

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Did Barbara Bush Say Living in the Astrodome Was 'Working Very Well' for Hurricane Refugees?

Sept. 8, 2005

Barbara Bush reportedly said that Hurricane Katrina refugees being housed in the Astrodome were ...

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Crocodile in New Orleans

Sept. 9, 2005

Do photographs show a 21-foot crocodile found swimming in the streets of New Orleans?

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Does the Red Cross Charge Disaster Victims They Assist?

Sept. 11, 2005

False rumors that the American Red Cross collects fees from those whom they assist have dogged t ...

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Mockup of a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico

Hurricane Rules

Oct. 7, 2005

A diatribe "list of hurricane rules" prompted by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was wrongly attribute ...

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katrina storm surge

Storm Surge

Jan. 11, 2006

Does a photograph show a storm surge created by Hurricane Katrina?

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Despite its reputation as an all-purpose storm photograph, this picture is actually a satellite image of Hurricane Floyd from September 1999

Does Photo Show a Satellite View of Hurricane Katrina?

Dec. 9, 2012

On Aug. 23, 2005, meteorologists identified the storm that would become Hurricane Katrina about ...

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Did Mexican Troops Aid the U.S. After Hurricane Katrina?

Sept. 5, 2016

As Hurricane Harvey hit Texas in 2017, so too did a rumor that Mexico sent troops to assist U.S. ...

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Hands gripping the bars of a jail cell.

Were Inmates Abandoned at Orleans Parish Prison During Hurricane Katrina?

Sept. 13, 2018

Inmates at Orleans Parish Prison reported that they spent several days in flooded cells without ...

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Was Barack Obama President During Hurricane Katrina?

Aug. 30, 2017

Twitter users tried to pin the blame for Katrina relief issues on Obama, though he wasn't even p ...

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