Drowned City: Hurricane Katrina & New Orleans: Pages 49–93

by Don Brown
This acclaimed nonfiction book tells the story of Hurricane Katrina in graphic form.

This list covers vocabulary from pages 49–93.

Here are links to our lists for the work: List 1, List 2, List 3

Here is a link to our list for Unwanted by Don Brown.
15 words 9 learners

Learn words with Flashcards and other activities

Definition First
Print Flashcards

Other learning activities

Answer a few questions about each word. Use this to prep for your next quiz! Compete with other teams in real time to see who answers the most questions correctly! Test your spelling acumen. Read the definition, listen to the word and try spelling it!

Teaching tools

Create and assign quizzes to your students to test their vocabulary. Assign learning activities including Practice, Vocabulary Jams and Spelling Bees to your students, and monitor their progress in real-time.

Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. smother
    deprive of oxygen and prevent from breathing
    We [are] just in there smothering.
  2. remote
    located far away spatially
    People rescued from the water, from buildings and homes, are dropped off on remote bits of high ground.
  3. aide
    someone who acts as an assistant
    The President's aides complain that gloomy TV news reports contradict information they are receiving from New Orleans.
  4. gloomy
    filled with melancholy and despondency
    The President's aides complain that gloomy TV news reports contradict information they are receiving from New Orleans.
  5. taper
    diminish gradually
    The storm surge tapers away, making the level of the lake fall.
  6. havoc
    violent and needless disturbance
    While heading back to the White House from a Texas vacation, President Bush flies low over New Orleans and the Gulf Coast to glimpse the havoc.
  7. efficient
    being effective without wasting time, effort, or expense
    Within days, Texas provides efficient care to more than 220,000 Katrina evacuees.
  8. frail
    physically weak
    Scores of sick, frail, and elderly people swamp emergency medical clinics.
  9. makeshift
    done or made using whatever is available
    Many are still strapped to doors used as makeshift stretchers.
  10. viscous
    having a relatively high resistance to flow
    The floodwaters are now filthy and viscous and smell of petroleum.
  11. petroleum
    a dark oil consisting mainly of hydrocarbons
    The floodwaters are now filthy and viscous and smell of petroleum.
  12. waft
    be driven or carried along, as by the air
    Smoke from several fires wafts through the city center.
  13. rubble
    the remains of something that has been destroyed
    Rubble and garbage are everywhere; piled up, it would be two hundred times bigger than Egypt's Great Pyramid.
  14. squalid
    foul and run-down and repulsive
    Young soldiers, some of whom have suffered the same squalid conditions of the evacuees, help old people board the buses.
  15. swamp
    fill quickly beyond capacity, as with a liquid
    It stops fifteen-foot-high waves from swamping the city during Hurricane Isaac in 2012.
Created on Mon Jul 14 15:54:47 EDT 2025 (updated Mon Jul 14 16:10:56 EDT 2025)

Sign up now (it’s free!)

Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.