August 29, 2005
Peering through the latticed brickwork of The New Orleans police headquarters parking garage, New York Times journalist Joseph B. Treaster is watching the devastating power of a hurricane up close. Packing winds of 118 miles per hour, Hurricane Katrina is attacking New Orleans, uprooting trees, tearing down power lines, and flattening homes. Inside headquarters, phones are ringing off the hook as more and more people, trapped by the rising floodwaters, call for help. But rescue workers cannot leave the safety of the building until the hurricane has passed. From this harrowing vantage point, Treaster is poised to report on what may prove to be the most infamous storm in American history.

But as with all hurricanes, the story of this storm began weeks before, off the coast of North Africa. Treaster details the evolution of the storm as it unfolds in the sky above the Caribbean Sea and is anxiously tracked by the National Weather Bureau in Florida before it strikes. This is a complete behind-the-scenes account of one of nature's most terrifying and fascinating disasters.