It has been 20 years since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama coasts.

More than 1,300 lives were lost in the storms awake.

The majority in New Orleans, while Katrina remains the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history,

the deepest impact is found in the human suffering and the long difficult journey toward recovery.

For our series' tipping point, Lisa Desjardin recently traveled to the region to explore the lessons learned

and what still lies ahead as weather has become even more extreme.

I didn't even realize how much music vibrates through the city all the time until it wasn't there.

For Michael White, the most difficult part of Hurricane Katrina was the silence that came after.

Every footstep I made had a different kind of sound.

You realize that the heartbeat of the city is this vibrant pulse of

music and life and joyous expression, and that was completely gone. White is a clarinetist and

among New Orleans most beloved musicians, dedicating his life to the rich heritage of the city

he loves. For him and so many others, Katrina divided life in two, before and after.

Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast hard today from Louisiana to the Florida panhandle.

On August 29, 2005, the Category 3 hurricane slammed into southwest Louisiana.

After levees failed, 80 percent of New Orleans was underwater.

Thousands were rescued from rooftops.

Tens of thousands more sought refuge in the Superdome. Across the region, over a thousand people died from the storm.

I mean the line right there?

Yeah, that's the highest point, and that was at least nine feet.

In 2005, White showed NewsHour the destruction.

The storm made some 300,000 homes uninhabitable.

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