This Day in History: 2002-06-27

Predicting Hurricane Katrina On this day in 2002, Mark Schliefstien and John McQuaid conclude a five-part newspaper series describing the impact of a Category 5 hurricane on the city of New Orleans — three years before a Category 5 hurricane named Katrina slammed into New Orleans. They publish a history of the Katrina disaster in 2006: “Path of Destruction: The Devastation of New Orleans and the Coming Age of Superstorms.” The series won the American Society of Civil Engineers’ 2003 Excellence in Media award and the 2003 National Hurricane Conference media award. And it was among the stories on coastal science issues that were honored in 2006 with a special award from the American Geophysical Union.