Rebuilding process endured by the city of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina
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The reconstruction of New Orleans refers to the rebuilding process endured by the city of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina destroyed much of the city on August 29, 2005. The storm caused levees to fail, releasing tens of billions of gallons of water. The levee failure contributed to extensive flooding in the New Orleans area and surrounding parishes. About 80% of all structures in Orleans Parish sustained water damage. Over 204,000 homes were damaged or destroyed, and more than 800,000 citizens displaced—the greatest displacement in the United States since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.[1] Wind damage was less severe than predicted. The damage that took place that needed to be repaired cost about $125 billion.
Reconstruction was hindered by bureaucratic problems and funding issues with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Relief agencies provided supplemental relief. By mid-June 2006, the city was again hosting conventions and promoting tourism.
After the flooding: Building displays lines from various levels of long standing floodwaters and has been deemed "unhabitable".
Reconstruction
Residents were authorized to return to examine homes after the storm on Monday, September 5, 2005. In downtown New Orleans, several places were indeed producing power. Due to contaminated water and uninhabitable conditions, the Mayor ordered that all citizens be evacuated by September 6.
Water and sewage services were gradually restored. The first section of the city to have a "boil water" order lifted was in the high ground of the old crescent along the River from the French Quarter to old Carrollton on October 6, 2005. The last section of the city to have such an order lifted (a section of the Lower 9th Ward) was on October 9, 2006.[citation needed]
Educational institutions
Schools struggled in the months and years after Katrina.[2][3][4]
Federal funding debate
A car in the middle of the Great Mississippi Flood 1927.
Some people, including Speaker of the HouseDennis Hastert, questioned whether federal funds should pay to rebuild New Orleans. Others consider New Orleans's unique cultural heritage and history to be as important to the United States as, for instance, Venice is to Italy; they maintain that to not rebuild and reoccupy the city would be an immeasurable loss in that regard. The Times-Picayune ran a front-page editorial arguing for national help.[citation needed] It has been argued that since the US Army Corps of Engineers has had oversight over the levee system since the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and most of the destruction in the city occurred due to the levee failure, the federal government should be responsible for rebuilding. Senator Mary Landrieu said that Louisiana's offshore petroleum leases generate billions of dollars in revenues for the federal government's general fund, more than would be needed to restore wetlands and upgrade levee/flood control for South Louisiana to withstand category 5 storms. She argued that the federal government should either earmark some of that income for such projects or allow Louisiana to keep a significant portion of that revenue so the state could take care of its needs itself.
Rebuilding, social justice, and community life
Frederic Schwartz, the architect selected by the citizens of New Orleans and the New Orleans City Planning Commission to replan one-third of the city for 40% of its population[5] explained how the opportunity for rebuilding the city could be a chance to strengthen social justice and community life:
The planning of cities in the face of disaster (natural and political) must reach beyond the band-aid of short-term recovery. Disaster offers a unique opportunity to rethink the planning and politics of our metro-regional areas – it is a chance to redefine our cities and to reassert values of environmental care and social justice, of community building and especially of helping the poor with programs for quality, affordable, and sustainable housing.[6]
As lead planners for District 4, the district that includes the "largest concentration of public housing in the city" (Iberville, St. Bernard, Lafitte, and B. W. Cooper), Schwartz challenged his team to make "every effort to involve the residents and the community in the planning effort," while ensuring that the design of the new housing "could maintain the look and feel of surrounding neighborhoods with a mix of both modern interpretation of historic typologies and new urbanist models."[6]
Relief agencies
Lining up at a Red Cross food & supply center in a formerly flooded Uptown neighborhood, mid-October 2005
Relief agencies helped many returnees. The American Red Cross made a belated but nonetheless significant entry into the city in mid-September; and by the start of October had a number of relief centers set up around the city. These provided hot meals, packaged food, bottled water and other supplies like diapers, mops, and dust masks. The Salvation Army also had many stations giving food. Temporary free clinics provided some medical care. Towards the end of 2005, the relief centers were wound down, starting with those in functioning parts of the city. Red Cross meals continued at a much smaller scale into 2006 from trucks traveling around the worst-hit and poorest neighborhoods.
The Southern Baptist Convention sent feeding units to New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast the day after Katrina struck New Orleans. Since this time, the Southern Baptist Convention through its North American Mission Board established an ongoing project called Operation Noah Rebuild, (not to be confused with the Operation Noah sponsored by the City of New Orleans) which has hosted thousands of volunteers and teams from all over the United States. The volunteer teams helped in the reconstruction efforts in New Orleans and the surrounding parishes. First Baptist Church of New Orleans worked hand-in-hand with Habitat for Humanity with the Baptist Crossroads Project, in an effort to rebuild homes in the Upper Ninth Ward.
Food Not Bombs was active in providing food early after the disaster. A community kitchen was set up first in Washington Square in Faubourg Marigny; after a few months it was moved to a park by Bayou St. John before being closed down. A number of church groups and smaller charities set up aid for a time.
Common Ground Collective had two relief centers in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, providing food, clothing, and a tool library. The larger center was in the Upper 9th Ward, with a smaller one in the worst hit part of the Lower 9th Ward. They also helped gutting houses.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints began bringing in load after load of food and water for local members and residents to several areas of the city. Thousands of church members came in on rotating weekends to help clean up debris, gut houses and cut up fallen trees all over the city. In addition to the home repairs, the church full-time counselors were available to provide mental health assistance; and church employment centers—offices that aid with finding jobs—opened their doors to everyone, regardless of religion.
Habitat for Humanity has been active in building homes at an accelerated pace since the storm. Initially, the organization had volunteers gutting homes; but since returned to its primary mission of fighting poverty housing. Catholic Charities also was very active with volunteers repairing damaged houses and churches throughout the area. Camp Hope in Violet, Louisiana housed volunteers in the Hurricane Katrina recovery effort of St. Bernard Parish since June 1, 2006.
Clearing out trashed possessions and gutting flood damaged home, Gentilly neighborhood, January 2006.
Build Now is a non-profit organization that played an active part in bringing New Orleans families back home. The non-profit, a licensed and insured residential contractor, constructed site-built, elevated houses on hurricane-damaged lots. The homes reflect the style and quality of traditional New Orleans[citation needed] architecture. Build Now brought more than a dozen New Orleans families back home, including construction around the Lakeview, Gentilly and the Upper and Lower Ninth Ward areas. The organization moved New Orleans families back home since beginning operations in 2008.
The Jazz Foundation of America is a non-profit organization that helped New Orleans musicians directly by paying the first month's rent for new homes, getting nearly $250,000 worth of donated instruments to musicians, giving pro bono counseling, advocacy, legal counseling, and creating a long term employment program that put displaced musicians back to work performing free concerts in schools and nursing homes, in eight states. In 2005 The foundation held an auction to benefit musicians affected by Hurricane Katrina[7] Thanks to the generosity of the foundation's chairwoman, Ms. Agnes Varis,[8] they were able to create employment programs which have made it possible to keep the artists and their music alive in New Orleans.[9]
Repopulation and restoring homes
The corner of Wilton Drive and Warrington Drive, November 2005The same corner, September 2006The same corner, March 2007
Repopulating the city has been steady but gradual, with neither the rapid return of most evacuees hoped for by some optimists nor the long term "ghost town" desertion of the city feared by some pessimists. In early 2006, the RAND Corporation estimated that, even in 2008, the city's population would only be little more than half what it was before the storm hit; however by July 2007 the city's population was estimated at about two-thirds (or close to 300,000 residents) of that before the disaster.[10]
Even in 2009, many homes and homeowners were still devastated. Some organizations, like the statewide Louisiana Disaster Relief Foundation or the neighborhood-based United Saints Recovery Project, are still working to provide support to homeowners in rebuilding their homes.
The areas with little or no flooding were the first to be officially reopened, have utilities restored, and a sizable portion of residents and businesses return.
Flooded-out areas presented more problems. The city had no comprehensive plan for what to do about flooded areas. Thousands of property owners have been gutting and repairing their property, some in the lowest lying areas of town. Contractors and workers from out-of-state and other countries came in great numbers doing demolition and reconstruction work, some filling hotels and rental property, others living in trailers and tent cities set up in city parks and parking lots. Sportscaster Mike Tirico incorrectly generalized on Monday Night Football in September 2006, some areas, like the Lower Ninth Ward and Gentilly, still looked as badly damaged as the day the storm passed through. However, in each of those neighborhoods thousands of truckloads of debris were removed, hundreds of unsalvageable houses demolished, and work on gutting and repairs has been constant since the city has reopened.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of New Orleanians lived in the largely intact upper stories of their homes while the flood damaged downstairs got repaired, often being stripped to the wall studs in the process.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers set up the "Blue Roof Program" of putting blue tarps over damaged roofs. The tarps kept out rain until more permanent roof repairs could be made. Thousands of blue tarps were seen throughout the city; however, a number of official restrictions meant some residents were unable to benefit from this recovery program. Likewise, a number of subcontractors paid by the Corps only did "easy" low-pitch one-story roofs, choosing not to return to do more difficult roofs.[citation needed] Some New Orleanians lived for months in homes with sizable holes in their roofs. Among the popular handouts at Red Cross relief stations were 5-gallon buckets, many put to use as rain catchers. Six months after the storm, many of the hastily placed blue roof tarps were in tatters, leaving those homes vulnerable again. Many people did not succeed in getting permanent roof repairs from such reasons as long waiting lists for reliable contractors and waits for insurance payment.[citation needed]
Trailer outside formerly flooded house in Broadmoor has complaint about no electricity painted on side; April 3, 2006
Seven months after the storm, two-thirds of the requested FEMA trailers (designed for short term emergency housing immediately after a disaster) had been delivered. Many of these trailers, however, could not be occupied or, if occupied, were not properly functional. Delays of weeks or months in hooking up electricity and water to trailers were common, and mechanical and bureaucratic problems prevented use of the trailers.[citation needed]
In June 2006, the State of Louisiana finally awarded a contract to DRC, Inc. of Mobile, Alabama to remove thousands of abandoned cars strewn throughout New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
Differing circumstances
Reconstruction has been easiest and quickest in the areas least damaged by the storm, mostly corresponding to the parts of the city developed before about 1900. These areas were built on naturally higher ground along the River front (such as Old Carrollton, Uptown, the Old Warehouse District, the French Quarter, Old Marigny, and Bywater), along with areas along natural ridges (such as Esplanade Ridge, Bayou St. John, Gentilly Ridge). Most of these older areas had no flooding at all or escaped serious flooding because of the raised design of older architecture which prevented floodwaters from entering homes. Another high area, much of which escaped serious flooding, was the set of Lake Shore developments between Lake Pontchartrain and Robert E. Lee Boulevard, built at a higher level than nearby land from mid-20th century dredging.
Due to the direction of the storm and the movement of storm surge, the West Bank section of the city, Algiers was spared flooding and became the first part of the city itself to officially reopen to residents.
In neighboring Jefferson Parish, the West Bank communities were similarly spared all but some wind damage (with a few spots of minor rain-generated flooding). On the East Bank, while parts of Metairie and other Jefferson communities experienced some flooding, due to lack of levee breaches this was much less severe than across the Parish line in Orleans (or the devastation of the 1947 Fort Lauderdale Hurricane which flooded most of Jefferson's East Bank).
Reconstruction of each section of the area has been addressed in the Army Corps LACPR Final Technical Report which identifies areas to not be rebuilt and areas buildings need to be elevated.[11] The Technical Report includes locations of possible new levees; suggested existing levee modifications; "Inundation Zones"; "Water depths less than 14 feet, Raise-In-Place of Structures"; "Water depths greater than 14 feet, Buyout of Structures"; "Velocity Zones"; and "Buyout of Structures" areas for five different scenarios. The Corps of Engineers will submit the report to Congress for consideration, planning, and response in mid-2009.
A larger percentage of white residents returned to their homes than did black residents. This was attributed to an unwillingness of planners to rebuild low-income housing.[12] In September 2005, the Washington Post noted former 10-term Republican Congressman Richard H. Baker from Baton Rouge reportedly told lobbyists, "We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did", and criticized his lack of concern for the lower income residents.[13]
FEMA caseworkers were charged with the responsibility of helping evacuees find housing and employment. Caseworkers had to help some former residents realize that moving back was unrealistic because some of the city was not being rebuilt. This created a diaspora as many evacuees wished to return to New Orleans but were not able to.[14]
Large areas of the city's public housing were targeted for demolition, inciting vocal protests from some, including architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff.[15]
The first new homes after Katrina in the Lower Ninth Ward were completed in 2007.[16][17]
On August 2, 2007, a judge ruled that some insurance companies were not liable for the damages sustained during Katrina.[18][19]
Homeless residents
Duncan Plaza Tent Encampment November 2007.
A challenge facing New Orleans was the exceptionally large homeless population created by Katrina. The number of homeless people living in New Orleans doubled to 12,000 people between the hurricane and mid-2007.[20] With a post-Katrina population of 300,000 people, this meant that 1 in 25 people were homeless, an extremely high number and nearly three times that of any other US city.[21] Most of the homeless were Katrina evacuees who returned to higher rents or who fell through the cracks of the federal system that was to provide temporary housing after the disaster. There were also some workers who came from out of state for the post-Katrina rebuilding boom but who subsequently lost their jobs. [22] Compounding this problem, the number of beds for the homeless in the city decreased from a count of 2,800 before the storm to 2,000 as of May 2008.[23]
In January 2009, the New Orleans Legal Assistance Corporation's Homeless Department reevaluated the homelessness rate. They found that the post-Katrina homeless population decreased by 64% since the last survey two years prior.[24]
UNITY of Greater New Orleans reported 1,188 homeless people after their 2018 Point-in-Time count performed in January.[25] As of 2018, New Orleans has maintained a "functional zero" in veteran homelessness for three years. Going forward, UNITY's efforts are focused on support for chronically homeless people with physical and/or mental disabilities.
Neighborhood and community-based organizations
Neighborhood and community-based organizations played a significant role in the reconstruction effort after Katrina. Neighborhood associations and resident-leaders from communities across the city established an information-sharing network called the Neighborhoods Partnership Network (NPN)[26] where they shared lessons learned through the rebuilding process with each other as well as information about important upcoming citywide or neighborhood planning meetings, resources (on volunteers, tools, programs and application processes, etc.), and calls and offers for help and collaboration. Network members shared information and resources identified through the network with their own communities and neighbors.[27] Early on, members also used NPN as a way to identify and collectively point out issues and collective priorities to local government officials and agencies and propose possible solutions. The network eventually established a newspaper, The Trumpet, that was circulated locally to disseminate information, highlight and celebrate progress, and to facilitate connections for collaboration.[28]
Businesses
Bars were the first businesses to reopen in many areas; two remained open in the French Quarter even during the worst of the storm and the official mandatory evacuation. Most other businesses, such as gas stations, appliance stores, and supermarkets, followed somewhat later as they required more work before they could reopen. Three months after the storm, most open restaurants were serving food and drink in disposable plates and cups because of the shortage of dishwashers. Despite many restaurants offering wages double pre-Katrina levels for dishwashers, there were few takers as untrained laborers were able to make more money in demolition- and reconstruction-related industries. Ten months later, things had improved, though there were still labor shortages in many service industries.
Some of the few businesses to do significantly better business after Katrina than before were new car dealers. Flooding totaled an estimated 200,000 vehicles in Metro New Orleans, and dealers able to get in shipments of new cars quickly found customers. After local reporters found a used car dealer selling partially cleaned up flooded cars with restored engines but still soggy trunks, the state legislature quickly passed legislation mandating that cars declared totaled must be dismantled, crushed, or otherwise disposed of and could not be resold.
Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu (who later became Mayor of New Orleans) declared that Louisiana housed America's soul, and its revival was of paramount importance.[29] As New Orleans began reviving its local businesses, the reestablishment of the city's restaurants, particularly mom and pop eateries, received fervent local and national support. New Orleans's cuisine has largely maintained its cultural distinctiveness, linking its citizens with the city's creole roots. Long before Hurricane Katrina, 'local' food in New Orleans represented a framework for discussing America's racial binary—a paradigm in which the city has generally attempted to resist. Thus, even if race prevented a portion of New Orleanians from "[acknowledging] that they do, indeed, share one culture", culture became recognized as "something shared around which the city's residents could rally" during an arduous rebuild.[30] By emphasizing the restoration of not only New Orleans's economic but also its cultural capital, the city yielded the additional benefit of a reinvigorated social capital.
Drew Brees holding up his son after winning Super Bowl XLIV.
Tourism and events
The American Library Association held its annual convention in New Orleans in June 2006; the estimated 18,000 attendees represented the first citywide convention in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina. The National Association of Realtors also held their annual convention in New Orleans bringing 30,000 attendees to the city in November 2006.[31] The HIMSS healthcare information technology convention and the American College of Cardiology convention, both held in the spring of 2007, each had more than 24,000 attendees.[32] The Essence Music Festival returned to the Crescent City in July 2007 after being displaced to Houston in 2006. Several national travel guides have once again listed New Orleans as one of the top five places to visit in the country.
The Greater New Orleans Urban Water Plan (UWP) is a collaborative, multibillion dollar post-Katrina redevelopment plan for the New Orleans metropolitan area. Originally released in 2013, the UWP is the result of collaborative efforts among Greater New Orleans, Inc., local civic leaders, and stormwater management experts.[34] Waggonner & Ball Architects, a private firm based in New Orleans, coordinated the project with the support of Greater New Orleans, Inc. The project sought to rethink New Orleans's stormwater management and drainage infrastructure to ensure the city's longevity amidst subsidence and climate change concerns. Additionally, a major component of the project was the revitalization and economic development of areas within the city that had been severely impacted by the hurricane. In November 2013, Waggonner & Ball produced the UWP in three parts: Vision, Urban Design, and Implementation.
Waggonner & Ball coined the term "living with water"[35] to describe the UWP's emphasis on storing and holding water within the city limits rather than pumping water out into major waterways, such as the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain. The project views water as an asset and draws upon the Dutch model for flood control in the Netherlands. The plan relies on green infrastructure practices, such as bioswales, greenways, blueways, rain gardens, and permeable pavement, to capture and store excess stormwater.[36] The project is divided among the Jefferson–Orleans basin, the Orleans East Basin, and the St. Bernard Basin, and is a coordinated effort among Jefferson, Orleans, and St. Bernard Parishes. Waggonner & Ball estimates that fully implementing the UWP would cost $6.2 billion with long-term projected benefits of $22 billion,[37] whereas maintaining the pre-Katrina infrastructure model would cost New Orleans more than $10 billion over the next few decades.[36]
The Ninth Ward or 9th Ward is a distinctive region of New Orleans, Louisiana, which is located in the easternmost downriver portion of the city. It is geographically the largest of the 17 Wards of New Orleans. On the south, the Ninth Ward is bounded by the Mississippi River. On the western or "upriver" side, the Ninth Ward is bounded by Franklin Avenue, then Almonaster Avenue, then People's Avenue. From the north end of People's Avenue the boundary continues on a straight line north to Lake Pontchartrain; this line is the boundary between the Ninth and the city's Eighth Ward. The Lake forms the north and northeastern end of the ward. St. Bernard Parish is the boundary to the southeast, Lake Borgne farther southeast and east, and the end of Orleans Parish to the east at the Rigolets.
Hurricane Katrina was a powerful and devastating tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. It is tied with Hurricane Harvey as being the costliest tropical cyclone in the Atlantic basin. Katrina was the twelfth tropical cyclone, the fifth hurricane, and the third major hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. It was also the fourth-most intense Atlantic hurricane to make landfall in the contiguous United States, gauged by barometric pressure.
As the center of Hurricane Katrina passed southeast of New Orleans on August 29, 2005, winds downtown were in the Category 1 range with frequent intense gusts. The storm surge caused approximately 23 breaches in the drainage canal and navigational canal levees and flood walls. As mandated in the Flood Control Act of 1965, responsibility for the design and construction of the city’s levees belongs to the United States Army Corps of Engineers and responsibility for their maintenance belongs to the Orleans Levee District. The failures of levees and flood walls during Katrina are considered by experts to be the worst engineering disaster in the history of the United States. By August 31, 2005, 80% of New Orleans was flooded, with some parts under 15 feet (4.6 m) of water. The famous French Quarter and Garden District escaped flooding because those areas are above sea level. The major breaches included the 17th Street Canal levee, the Industrial Canal levee, and the London Avenue Canal flood wall. These breaches caused the majority of the flooding, according to a June 2007 report by the American Society of Civil Engineers. The flood disaster halted oil production and refining which increased oil prices worldwide.
Hurricane preparedness in New Orleans has been an issue since the city's early settlement because of its location.
Criticism of the government response to Hurricane Katrina was a major political dispute in the United States in 2005 that consisted primarily of condemnations of mismanagement and lack of preparation in the relief effort in response to Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. Specifically, there was a delayed response to the flooding of New Orleans, Louisiana.
The disaster recovery response to Hurricane Katrina in late 2005 included U.S. federal government agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the United States Coast Guard (USCG), state and local-level agencies, federal and National Guard soldiers, non-governmental organizations, charities, and private individuals. Tens of thousands of volunteers and troops responded or were deployed to the disaster; most in the affected area but also throughout the U.S. at shelters set up in at least 19 states.
Hurricane Katrina had many social effects, due the significant loss and disruption of lives it caused. The number of fatalities, direct and indirect, related to Katrina is 1,833 and over 400,000 people were left homeless. The hurricane left hundreds of thousands of people without access to their homes or jobs, it separated people from relatives, and caused both physical and mental distress on those who suffered through the storm and its aftermath, such as Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
This article contains a historical timeline of the events of Hurricane Katrina on August 23–30, 2005 and its aftermath.
From 1890 through 2006, the Orleans Levee Board (OLB) was the body of commissioners that oversaw the Orleans Levee District (OLD) which supervised the levee and floodwall system in Orleans Parish, Louisiana. The role of the OLB changed over time. Prior to Hurricane Betsy in 1965, the OLB developed land and sold it to raise money to build and improve flood protection levees. After Betsy, Congress passed the Flood Control Act of 1965 which directed the Army Corps of Engineers to design and build the hurricane flood protection system enveloping New Orleans. Owing to the 1965 legislation, the OLB's duties were limited to collecting the 30% cost share for project design and construction, and to maintaining and operating completed flood protection structures.
Hurricane Katrina struck the United States on August 29, 2005, causing over a thousand deaths and extreme property damage, particularly in New Orleans. The incident affected numerous areas of governance, including disaster preparedness and environmental policy.
The 17th Street Canal is the largest and most important drainage canal in the city of New Orleans. Operating with Pump Station 6, it moves water into Lake Pontchartrain. The canal, along with the Orleans Canal and the London Avenue Canal, form the New Orleans Outfall Canals. The 17th Street Canal forms a significant portion of the boundary between the city of New Orleans and Metairie, Louisiana. The canal has also been known as the Metairie Outlet Canal and the Upperline Canal.
The Lower Ninth Ward is a neighborhood in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana. As the name implies, it is part of the 9th Ward of New Orleans. The Lower Ninth Ward is often thought of as the entire area within New Orleans downriver of the Industrial Canal; however, the City Planning Commission divides this area into the Lower Ninth Ward and Holy Cross neighborhoods.
On Monday, August 29, 2005, there were over 50 failures of the levees and flood walls protecting New Orleans, Louisiana, and its suburbs following passage of Hurricane Katrina. The failures caused flooding in 80% of New Orleans and all of St. Bernard Parish. In New Orleans alone, 134,000 housing units—70% of all occupied units—suffered damage from Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent flooding.
Drainage in New Orleans, Louisiana, has been a major concern since the founding of the city in the early 18th century, remaining an important factor in the history of New Orleans today. The central portion of metropolitan New Orleans is fairly unusual in that it is almost completely surrounded by water: Lake Pontchartrain to the north, Lake Borgne to the east, wetlands to the east and west, and the Mississippi River to the south. Half of the land area between these bodies of water is at or below sea level, and no longer has a natural outlet for flowing surface water. As such, virtually all rainfall occurring within this area must be removed through either evapotranspiration or pumping. Thus, flood threats to metropolitan New Orleans include the Mississippi River, Lake Pontchartrain, canals throughout the city, and natural rainfall. Artificial levees have been built to keep out rising river and lake waters but have had the negative effect of keeping rainfall in, and have failed on numerous occasions.
Lakeview is a neighborhood of the city of New Orleans. A subdistrict of the Lakeview District Area, its boundaries as defined by the City Planning Commission are: Robert E Lee Boulevard to the north, Orleans Avenue to the east, Florida Boulevard, Canal Boulevard and I-610 to the south and Pontchartrain Boulevard to the west. Lakeview is sometimes used to describe the entire area bounded by Lake Pontchartrain to the north, the Orleans Avenue Canal to the east, City Park Avenue to the south and the 17th Street Canal to the west. This larger definition includes the West End, Lakewood and Navarre neighborhoods, as well as the Lakefront neighborhoods of Lakeshore and Lake Vista.
When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts is a 2006 documentary film directed by Spike Lee about the devastation of New Orleans, Louisiana following the failure of the levees during Hurricane Katrina. It was filmed in late August and early September 2005, and premiered at the New Orleans Arena on August 16, 2006 and was first aired on HBO the following week. The television premiere aired in two parts on August 21 and 22, 2006 on HBO. It has been described by Sheila Nevins, chief of HBO's documentary unit, as "one of the most important films HBO has ever made." The title is a reference to the blues tune "When the Levee Breaks" by Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie about the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927.
People from the Gulf States region in the southern United States, most notably New Orleans, Louisiana, were forced to leave their homes because of the devastation brought on by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and were unable to return because of a multitude of factors, and are collectively known as the Gulf Coast diaspora and by standard definition considered internally displaced persons. At their peak, hurricane evacuee shelters housed 273,000 people and, later, FEMA trailers housed at least 114,000 households. Even a decade after Hurricane Katrina, many victims who were forced to relocate were still unable to return home.
Gert Town is a neighborhood in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the home to Xavier University of Louisiana and is near Mid-City. Gert Town played a major role in the industrial development of the New Orleans region. The Blue Plate Mayonnaise Factory, Coca-Cola Bottling Plant, Sealtest Dairy, and Thompson-Hayward Chemical Company were all fundamental manufacturing bases of the working-class neighborhood. Gert Town was also well known for being a center of development for jazz and other music genres. Musicians such as Buddy Bolden, John Robichaux, Merry Clayton, Bunk Johnson and Allen Toussaint all came from the neighborhood and helped shape the musical influence of New Orleans.
The Southeastern United States, extending from South Florida to Louisiana and areas inland, was severely affected by Hurricane Katrina, which caused many deaths and billions in damages. After developing on August 23, Katrina made landfall near the border of Broward and Miami-Dade counties with 80 mph (130 km/h) winds on August 25. After emerging from the state, Katrina intensified into one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes, becoming a Category 5 on the Saffir–Simpson scale. It weakened slightly before making landfall on August 29, 2005. It struck the Gulf Coast as a Category 3 hurricane. It moved ashore near the border of Louisiana and Mississippi and weakened as it moved inland, dissipating on August 31.
↑ for the role of civil society in the process of rebuilding New Orleans, see: Michael S. Falser: Der Wiederaufbau von New Orleans nach Hurricane Katrina – Gedanken zum Status der Zivilgesellschaft im Kontext von Natur- und Kulturkatastrophen. (also in english: Rebuilding New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina—Thoughts on the Role of Civil Society in the Context of Natural and Cultural Disasters) In: Meier, H.-R., Petzet, M., Will, T. (Hrsg.) Cultural Heritage and Natural Disasters. Risk Preparedness and the Limits of Prevention. ICOMOS-Reihe: Heritage at Risk, Special 2007. München, Dresden, 2008, S. 109–122.
↑ For comparison, Atlanta, which comes second nationally among major cities in its homelessness rate to post-Katrina New Orleans, has a homelessness rate of 1.4%.
↑ Landrieu, Mitch. Louisiana Recovery and Rebuilding Conference. New Orleans. Nov. 2005. Speech.
↑ Beriss, David (2015). "Claiming Culture, Defending Culture: Perspectives on culture in France and the United States". In Raulin, Anne; Rogers, Susan C. (eds.). Transatlantic Parallaxes: Toward reciprocal anthropology. New York: Berghahn. pp.84–105.
United Saints Recovery Project is a volunteer organization that provides rebuilding and recovery for homeowners in New Orleans, mainly in the Central City neighborhood
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