The Passion: New Orleans Perry emphasized the significance of using the city of New Orleans as the setting for the special; drawing parallels between Hurricane Katrina and the resurrection of Jesus, he stated that New Orleans had "literally [risen] again from a liquid grave." The special was an American adaptation of a Dutch television special of the same name, which has been broadcast annually since 2011, and was, in turn, a localized version of the BBC's 2006 special "Manchester Passion". Creator Jacco Doornbos, who conceptualized the special in 2007 after learning that only 25% of people in the Netherlands were aware of the story
1915 New Orleans hurricane seas produced by the hurricane along the Louisiana coast arrived shortly before the storm made landfall. Evacuees departing the coast as late as September 28 reported no abnormal tides along the shore. However, sea levels began to rise at abnormally rapid rates on the morning of September 29 as the hurricane neared. By the afternoon hours, low-lying lands south of New Orleans and east towards Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, as well as areas adjacent to Lake Pontchartrain, were inundated by the quickly rising storm surge. Levee overtopping along Lake Pontchartrain resulted in the flooding of much of western New Orleans.