WASHINGTON — Hurricane Katrina claimed hundreds of lives, destroyed homes and changed how emergency response is dealt with forever.

In this episode of “The Story Behind the AP Story,” retired Associated Press journalist Chevel Johnson Rodrigue recalls the eerie calm before the storm and AP photographer Alex Brandon shares his experience working with the New Orleans Police SWAT team during the hurricane.

Alex Brandon, AP photographer: New Orleans, the city, Louisiana, the state, and I believe the United States, the whole United States -- what happened to that city during Katrina will forever change, I hope, the response of the federal and state governments to something of this magnitude.

Haya Panjwani, host: Hurricane Katrina was a major natural disaster that made its landfall near New O

See Full Page