Viral video of eye-level ship highlights New Orleans' persisting flood risk

A TikTok video showing a ship looming over a New Orleans street has gone viral, with more than 15 million views on X as of Aug. 26, 2025.

The clip, originally posted on TikTok and reshared on X, shows a woman standing on a neighborhood street as a massive cargo ship glides by behind a flood wall. From her vantage point, the ship appears level with the cars and houses, making it look as if the vessel is driving down the road.

"New Orleans being underwater and the only thing that’s separating them is a wall… yes, that’s a ship," the caption reads. "I’ve always wondered what below sea level looks like."

The post has shocked many viewers unfamiliar with the city’s geography. For residents, though, it’s a reminder of a reality that has defined New Orleans for centuries — and one that magnified the devastation of Hurricane Katrina 20 years ago.

Why New Orleans is below sea level

New Orleans was built along the Mississippi River, where natural levees provided the first high ground. Over time, man-made levees and drainage canals pushed development outward into swampy land that sat lower than the river and nearby Lake Pontchartrain.

Those levees stopped the natural process of sediment deposits that once built up the land, leading to gradual sinking. By the early 2000s, entire neighborhoods sat 6 to 10 feet below sea level, according to government studies.

That bowl-like topography meant that when Katrina hit, floodwaters pooled with nowhere to go.

The backstory:

When Hurricane Katrina struck on Aug. 29, 2005, the storm surge overtopped and broke through the city’s levees. Water rushed in from both the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, flooding 80% of New Orleans.

Some neighborhoods ended up under 20 feet of water. More than 1,000 people in Louisiana died as a result of the storm, and the images of stranded families on rooftops became defining scenes of the disaster.

What happened when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans

By the numbers:

The scale of flooding after Hurricane Katrina was staggering, leaving much of the city submerged for weeks. Federal agencies later documented the extent of the disaster in detail:

• 80% of New Orleans was underwater after Katrina.
• About 103,000 homes flooded with at least 2 feet of water, according to the EPA.
• Nearly 20,000 homes were submerged by more than 7 feet.
• It took 43 days for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to fully drain the city.

What they're saying:

Social media users who shared the viral video expressed shock at the scale of the risk. "Surprised that people are just now realizing that the city of New Orleans is essentially in a bowl," one user posted alongside a diagram showing the city’s position below the river.

Experts say the city’s vulnerability spurred major changes in storm surge forecasting.

"We have high resolution mapping that shows people how high the water could get above ground level," Michael Brennan, director of the National Hurricane Center, told LiveNOW from FOX. "A lot of that was started in the aftermath of Katrina when we realized the need to focus on storm surge predictability."

What's next:

Billions have been invested in New Orleans’ levees and flood walls since Katrina. Engineers say the system is much stronger than it was in 2005. 

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers states that "since the catastrophic flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, system repair and improvements have made the current hurricane and storm damage risk reduction system stronger than ever before."

Still, experts warn no levee is fail-proof, and the city’s below-sea-level geography means flood risks remain.

As social media users continue to marvel at the sight of ships towering above city streets, the viral moment is serving as a reminder of why New Orleans’ vulnerability remains a national concern two decades after Katrina.