Ten years ago, Hurricane Katrina destroyed several cities surrounding the Gulf of Mexico. New Orleans and Morgan City in Louisiana; Mobile, Alabama; and Biloxi, Mississippi are some of the places that were hit hard. All of the places in between these cities were demolished, too.

What many people don’t know, and what I just found out from visiting New Orleans this week, is that Katrina did not actually hit the city of New Orleans. The Big Easy was flooded with water due to the levees and flood walls collapsing – putting the city underwater. If the city had been more protected, hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses still may be standing today.

President Barack Obama and Former President, George W. Bush both visited New Orleans in honor of the ten year anniversary. This means a lot of the residents down there. When my friends and I were visiting New Orleans earlier this week, we observed several businesses and people having hometown pride and honoring those who were lost. Hurricane Katrina was one of the deadliest and most costliest storms to hit the United States.

Click here to view the Hurricane Katrina: Then and now slideshow from CNN.com.