| Days after a deadly terrorist attack in Afghanistan, a potentially deadly hurricane on the Gulf Coast is the next crisis facing President Biden. Hurricane Ida slammed into Louisiana Sunday, and there are reports of floods, levee failures and power outages that could last weeks. The latest is here. Successful leadership in an extreme weather event is an intangible thing to measure, but it can make or break presidencies. (We don't use the phrase "a politician's Katrina" for nothing.) And hurricanes will only become more of an issue as climate change fuels their fury. Here's a quick look back at the intersection of storms and presidential politics. President Bush and Hurricane Katrina  President Bush looks out the window of Air Force One inspecting damage from Hurricane Katrina in 2005. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) | The damage: Hurricane Katrina was among the deadliest and costliest storms in U.S. history. It flooded 80 percent of New Orleans and killed an estimated 1,800 people when it hit in 2005. The cleanup cost some $125 billion. The presidential response: Bush was seen as deeply aloof as his government struggled to respond. An image of him flying over the damaged area, looking out the window in dismay, became a symbol of government helplessness and detachment. Years later, Bush said the handling of the storm was one of the greatest regrets of his presidency. President Obama and Sandy  President Obama is greeted by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) in 2012 after Sandy hit. (Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images) | The damage: Sandy flooded New York City and whacked New Jersey particularly hard in 2012, killing more than 100 people and costing some $60 billion in damage as it spun over a crowded metropolitan area. A year later, a number of people were still out of their homes. The presidential response: The storm landed just days before Obama was up for reelection. He toured damaged homes and businesses with a Republican who also had presidential ambitions, then-New Jersey governor Chris Christie. The political focus at the time was on how competent Christie seemed to be, but Obama got ancillary feel-good benefits by being on the ground with the governor. Obama won reelection soon after. President Trump and Harvey (and Maria, and Sharpiegate)  President Donald Trump tosses out paper towels in Puerto Rico in 2017 after Hurricane Maria hit the island. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) | The damage: In 2017, Harvey was the deadliest hurricane to hit Texas in a century, and the costliest hurricane to hit the U.S. since Katrina. It dumped previously unthinkable amounts of rainfall on the state. The world watched daring water rescues on Houston highways. A month later, Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico and killed more than 3,000 people. Then came Sharpiegate with Hurricane Dorian. The presidential response: Harvey was Trump's first major storm as president. He sought to portray himself as focused on Texas, but he rather boldly mixed politics with storm response — pardoning controversial former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio as the storm hit and tweeting about his 2016 win. When Maria ravaged Puerto Rico, his critics latched onto an image of Trump tossing out paper towels to people in need as an example of a president incapable of empathy.  Trump holds a doctored image of Hurricane Dorian's path in 2019. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) | In 2019, Hurricane Dorian underscored the president's consistent attempts to rewrite reality to his benefit. The storm was headed to the East Coast when Trump tweeted erroneously that it might swipe Alabama. A few days later, he appeared before cameras with a map of the hurricane's path and a Sharpie-drawn balloon trying to extend it to Alabama. There was later an investigation into whether the Trump administration forced its top weather forecaster to wrongly say the storm could hit Alabama. President Biden and Ida  President Biden meets with governors and mayors affected by the storm and a federal emergency management official. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post) | The storm damage is yet-to-be determined. But the parallels between Bush and Biden will be inevitable because both hit New Orleans. The damage by Ida looks bad, but, "we did not have another Katrina," the New Orleans mayor said in relief as the storm downgraded to a tropical depression. Earlier today, Biden met virtually with a federal emergency management official and local politicians as he tried to portray the federal government as on top of the storm response, sending down generators and food and water. But Biden has more on his plate than arguably any other president on this list: He's navigating this storm in an ongoing pandemic and the possibility of more terrorist attacks in Afghanistan as Tuesday approaches and he officially ends the nation's longest war. | 
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