Hurricane Katrina in Zeitoun by Dave Eggers

Headshot of Dave Eggers. Accessed from the author's website (daveeggers.net); the site did not provide a photographer credit.

Who is Dave Eggers?

Born on March 12, 1970, in Boston, Massachusetts, Dave Eggers is an American author, editor, and philanthropist known for his innovative and socially conscious writing. He grew up in Lake Forest, a Chicago suburb, in a close family. Eggers was the third of four children, and when he was 21, he was left to care for his 8-year-old brother after their parents died of cancer around the same time. Eggers attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and studied journalism. However, he had to leave school after his parents’ death, and then he and his brother moved to California. There he worked as an editor and writer. Dave Eggers rose to national fame in 2000 with the publication of his first book, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. This is a memoir that detailed his experiences raising his brother and dealing with grief.

Over the years, Eggers has published a wide range of works, including fiction, nonfiction, and children’s books. Some of his notable works include What Is the What, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and The Circle, a dystopian novel about technology and privacy. The Circle was later adapted into a movie starring Tom Hanks and Emma Watson. In addition to his literary success, Eggers has received several awards such as the American Book Award, the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award for Education, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, the TED Prize, and has also been a finalist for the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize.

Beyond writing, Dave Eggers founded McSweeney’s, an independent publishing company that produces a humor website in addition to books, magazines, and journals, all based in San Francisco. He also is a co-founder of 826 Valencia, a nonprofit writing and tutoring center for youth. In addition, Eggers co-founded Voice of Witness, a nonprofit that amplifies the voices of people impacted by injustice through oral history projects. These organizations reflect his dedication to fostering literary talent and providing educational opportunities for all.

Cover of Zeitoun by Dave Eggers (McSweeney's, 2009)

What is Zeitoun?

Written by author Dave Eggers, Zeitoun is a work of creative nonfiction that tells the very true story of Abdulrahman Zeitoun, a Syrian-American man living with his family in New Orleans, as Hurricane Katrina devastates his hometown and his life. 

In the book, Zeitoun chooses to stay behind as Hurricane Katrina approaches to help safeguard his property and to be as supportive as he can for his neighbors, while his wife and their children evacuate. In the wake of the storm, Zeitoun uses a canoe to navigate the city, helping stranded neighbors and feeding abandoned pets and animals. However, the story takes a dark turn when Zeitoun is wrongfully arrested under suspicion of looting and eventually accused of terrorism. Detained in a makeshift prison, he faces harsh conditions and systemic injustice. With no access to legal recourse, Zeitoun cannot even contact a lawyer or engage in any legal defense whatsoever. Eventually, after being wrongfully held for over twenty days, Zeitoun is released and finally reunited with his wife and children.

Through Zeitoun's story, Eggers highlights broader societal issues, including the erosion of civil liberties, an increase in fear and anxiety in a post-9/11 world, and the challenges facing marginalized groups, especially Muslims, in America. Zeitoun serves as a deeply personal account and an exploration of faith, identity, and race, and also identifies many of the issues that plagued the preparation and response to Hurricane Katrina and the devastation it caused.

Hurricane Katrina Thermal Image

Photo Credit: National Environmental Satellite, Date, and Information Service

Hurricane Katrina was devastating.  It has now been twenty years since this "murderous mother" of a storm, as Jesmyn Ward calls Katrina in Salvage the Bones, swept through the Gulf Coast area. Many places are still feeling the effects today: lost property, departed or displaced loved ones, or the permanent change of the place that they love. These losses are why Katrina will forever be in the history books as a Mother storm. 

Hurricane Katrina was a category 5 storm, downsizing to a category 3 storm before making landfall in Louisiana and then Mississippi.  Although she shrunk, she was menacing and more than capable of devouring everything in her path.  Unfortunately for New Orleans, they were in her path.  She struck the coast on August 29th, 2005, unleashing her 120-140 mph winds across her 400-mile radius. While these winds alone did serious damage, the real tragedy for New Orleans came from the flood waters that Katrina herself caused to rise.

Hand Drawn Sketch of Historic Flood of 1953

Photo Credit:

Alred Rudolph Waud and Samuel S. Kilburn, Jr.

New Orleans has an average level of elevation of six feet below sea level and is surrounded by lakes, rivers, and of course, swamplands.  These are all factors that have made New Orleans prone to serious flooding throughout history. Ever since the floods of 1849 and 1953, New Orleans residents have been well aware of the dangers.

The installation of levees has occurred over the years, but the levee system in place was no match for Mother Katrina. The levees failed. Over fifty times the storm surge pushed the water to rise over the edge.

Photo of Severe Flood Waters

Photo Credit: Frank L. Stewart

Due to the levees overflowing with every new surge of the storm, not only did New Orleans face massive amounts of water falling from the sky, but residents faced the flooding of their streets from the surrounding areas.  It was more than anyone could have imagined. 

Hurricane Katrina caused 70% of New Orleans to be under water.  It was not light flooding, but 5 to 7 feet of water.  Houses were lost, furniture floated on the streets, and cars were flipped and drowned. New Orleans might as well have washed away.

Artistic Photo of Flood Waters

Photo Credit: Frank L. Stewart

No one was expecting this level of water, and not everyone saw a reason to evacuate.  The streets were flooding, houses were ripped to shreds, and New Orleans seemed to be lost. 

Evacuees had to rely on the help that was being offered by the government. The Superdome was the only option available for all those who had decided to stay, but even it was unprepared, and ultimately unsafe in the wake of Katrina. Nearly 30,000 people who were left looking for somewhere to escape the storm wound up in the dome, and conditions quickly descended into chaos abd violence. It was as though humanity had been lost to the storm.