Photos: Hurricane Katrina made landfall near New Orleans on Aug. 29, 2005

NEW ORLEANS — August 29 marks the anniversary of the day Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Waveland, Mississippi, not far from New Orleans.

The powerful hurricane hit Louisiana on Aug. 29, 2005. It forced a storm surge that breached a system of levees built to protect New Orleans.

The storm would go on to cause significant damage to the Gulf Coast from Texas to central Florida. It would ravage New Orleans while displacing countless residents.

RELATED: Will Ida be worse than Katrina?

More than 1,800 people in the region died and the storm caused billions in damages.

The 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s ruinous strike on the Gulf Coast comes as Hurricane Ida is rapidly intensifying just hours from landfall in Louisiana. Comparisons to the Aug. 29, 2005, landfall oweighed heavily on residents bracing for Ida.