Photo sets of Waveland, Mississippi, pre- and post-Katrina

The top image was taken off the coast of Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, in July 1998 by researchers at the University of New Orleans. In this image, notice the large multi-story houses, some of which are built on stilts to protect the homes from flooding. The bottom image shows the same location on August 31, 2005, two days after landfall of Hurricane Katrina. The storm surge, estimated to have exceeded 20 feet in Waveland, destroyed homes and left only their foundations. The trees have been denuded of all vegetation, in sharp contrast to expected levels of vegetation in late August.