Years After Katrina
Following Katrina, redevelopment occurred. Although the city was warned not to redevelop on levels below the sea level, the warning went unheard, thus redevelopment was able to occur anywhere throughout they city. Just in 2017, the city has had problems with flooding. This was due in part to the fact that four years following Katrina 10% of the cities trees died. This is important because the trees acted as the first line of defense in soaking up water from heavy rainfall in order to help prevent flooding. Another contributor to the cities flooding is due to the cities water pumps and sewage systems.There are about 67 of these pumps throughout the east side of the city, however eight of them reportedly do not work, and the boards dedicated power system only allowed 38 pumps to be used at a time, which is just a little over half of the number of pumps that should be used. If that's not already bad enough, the system is only able to pump out about 1inch of water within the first hour, and 0.5 inches every hour following that. This just goes to show that the city is still having major flooding problems. Although flooding can still be an issue, the city has worked hard to repair damage that occurred from the Hurricane.
Here is a link to an article by Alan Taylor, which looks at a bunch of photos showing the comparisons to what occurred right after Hurricane Katrina, and how the city looked 10 years later in 2015:
Click Here For Link to Website
Here is a link to an article by Alan Taylor, which looks at a bunch of photos showing the comparisons to what occurred right after Hurricane Katrina, and how the city looked 10 years later in 2015:
Click Here For Link to Website
(Above: An image on the link which shows the difference in the aftermath of the Hurricane compared to how it looked in 2015)
(Above: this image shows a house in 2015 in the lower Ninth Ward neighborhood, which had got hit the hardest.)
Unfortunately, the Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood is located in an area where the ground is below sea level, thus it got hit harder than any other place. It is also home to some of the poorest people in the city. Due to this fact, many of the people in this area, were not able to rebuild their homes, and many had to relocate if possible or seek shelter elsewhere. However, the amount of homelessness has decreased about 90% from 12000 to 1300 in 2016 following Hurricane Katrina. It also helped to effectively end veteran homelessness by placing veterans who are homeless or living in shelters, in a home within 30 days of them being found living in the streets or in a shelter. So although Katrina brought about a destruction that no one in the States had ever witnessed before, it also brought about some change, and helped many of those in needs. It brought together a nation.
(The Ninth Ward flooding after Katrina hit)
Today New Orleans still thrives, and the city that party and brings about cheer, is still going strong. Madi Gras was still celebrated six months after the Hurricane hit, and still remains a yearly tradition. This city shows us that although it may suffer and have its downs, it still breaths with life and colors a beautiful picture for those willing to explore its city's life.
Another great thing that has become of this event is that their is now an exhibit in the Presbetyere museum that talks about not only all that bad that occurred during Hurricane Katrina, but as well as how the people prospered, worked together, and how they have come to a way of explaining how to fix the problems. This museum just goes to show, how the city has incorporated this into a part of it's culture instead of tucking it away. Even during the trip to New Orleans, and talking with people I meet there, it was clear to see the pride they had for their home. Several of the people who we talked to, stated that although the left during the storm, they came back shortly after to help rebuild the city simply for the fact that it was there home. The fact that even a massively destructive storm couldn't keep these people from their home town speaks volumes about not only the city its self, but also its people.
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