Hurricane on the Bayou

Hurricane on the Bayou is an American 2006 documentary film that focuses on the wetlands of Louisiana before and after Hurricane Katrina.

The film begins in the bayou itself, as a family of alligators frolic in the water to the tune of the Cajun classic Iko Iko. The story then sets off on an historical exploration of how New Orleans rose up hundreds of years ago out of an untamed swampland and went on to became celebrated around the world as The Big Easy, a place where a feeling of joyful freedom permeated the music, the food and the citys inimitable talent for turning good times into an art form. Here, a spicy gumbo of African, Native American, Cajun, Creole and Southern influences forged a completely unique culture. Louisianas coastal location the state containsof all the coastal wetlands in the continental U.S. according to the National Wetlands Research Center was both a boon and a bane to the city. New Orleans evolved into the busiest port in the U.S., but after engineers diverted the Mississippi River, depleting the wetlands, the city became increasingly vulnerable to the killer winds and rising waters of seasonal hurricanes.Today, the situation grows more and more dangerous as every year Louisiana loses enough land to make up the island of Manhattan. Setting out for the mysterytinged bayous with Tab Benoit and Amanda Shaw, Hurricane on the Bayou reveals how in the last 50 years, the natural coastal buffer that once sheltered New Orleans from severe storms has drastically deteriorated, endangering many unique animal and plant species and leaving the city wide open to Mother Natures ferocious forces. Spectacular flights over the Gulf of Mexico reveal the shocking reality that every half an hour, Louisiana loses a section of wetlands the size of a football field. Meanwhile, a sidetrip into the vibrant swamplands probes how the bayou provides a fragile home to a family of alligators with newborn babies. Here, Tab Benoit explains that hope for New Orleans future will lie in concerted efforts to not only preserve but restore these wetlands by redirecting the Mississippi Rivers silt and replanti

Source: Wikipedia