One year after Hurricane Katrina, what is New Orleans - or the rest of the country - doing to avert future disaster?

by Jason Berry (08/23/06).

Katrina's winds shredded through the Gulf South like a giant scythe, but it was the flood in New Orleans that jolted the national psyche, leaving the deepest memory. The flood turned the Big Easy into a disaster zone, planting the image of a Third World backwater.

Songwriter Chip Wilson takes his guitar back to New Orleans

Back in 1929, blues singer Memphis Minnie recorded "When the Levee Breaks," a mournful number about a catastrophic flood. British rockers Led Zeppelin, who likely never had to flee high water, put their heavy spin on the tune in 1971. Residents of New Orleans - including guitarist and songwriter Chip Wilson - experienced the real thing last year.

Vermonters rallied for storm victims - did those efforts pay off?

When Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast last summer, Vermonters rallied to help people affected by the storm. Dozens of fundraisers occurred in the weeks after those first horrific broadcasts from Mississippi and Louisiana towns, particularly New Orleans.

Large organizations such as the American Red Cross collected money for hurricane relief - the Northern Vermont chapter alone raised $1.