Education Week Teacher: The Storm

Students of Biloxi, Mississippi, Remember Hurricane Katrina

When Hurricane Katrina smashed into the Gulf Coast port of Biloxi, Mississippi, it killed 52 people and destroyed homes, historic buildings, and two brand-new schools. But the storm may have done some of its worst damage invisibly—to the minds and spirits of Biloxi’s children. One student poet writes of August 29, 2005, the day Katrina made landfall: “A morning of thunder/ A morning of rain/ A morning of sorrow/ A morning of pain.”