On the Gulf Coast, lifelong residents were left with nothing in the wake of a storm that has caused what may well be the worst natural disaster ever to hit the United States. Katrina's lethal one-two punch of 145-mph winds and a 25-foot storm surge left 90,000 square miles of heartbreak, devastation, and unhinged lives, as rich and poor alike scrounged for food and water, searched for loved ones in rivers of foul, tea-colored water, and wondered, Why on earth was help so slow in coming?
