A Tour of Hurricane Katrina’s Disaster Zone
Many Americans, including the people who live here in the Northeast Kingdom, watched in bewilderment as Hurricane Katrina, a Category 5 hurricane, slammed into the Gulf Coast two years ago August 29. Louisiana and Mississippi were the hardest hit by the storm. Much of its fury was focused on New Orleans, Louisiana, a city known for its food, music, and Mardi Gras
The storm left death and destruction in its wake and thousands of people homeless. Upwards of 80 percent of the homes in New Orleans were damaged or destroyed by a combination of ferocious winds and a massive storm surge, a surge so great that it breached the levy system that protected the city for decades. Homes, businesses, and streets filled with water, in some spots 15 or more feet deep. While many people evacuated the city in the days leading up to landfall, many of the people who stayed behind were stranded in their homes – homes that became tombs for some of the unfortunate ones. The infrastructure that kept the city running previous to the storm was left in shambles.
Americans may have been stunned by the magnitude of the disaster, but it stunned them into action. People around the country pitched in to help the people of the Gulf Coast in a massive relief effort. Some of them traveled to the disaster area to volunteer their energy and muscles. Many others, including schools, church groups, and volunteer organizations, organized fund raising drives and collected goods and money to send to the men, women, and children whose lives were turned upside down by the storm. The people of the Northeast Kingdom were of no exception when it came to helping out.
In the week leading up to the second anniversary of the storm, I traveled to New Orleans to attend a three day healthcare conference (I should note that the trip was not paid for with state funds). While there, I and other legislators from around the nation took a three hour tour of the devastation. Our guide was a member of the Louisiana National Guard, among the many who helped in the heroic effort to save the lives of the thousands who were left stranded in the flood waters.
Two years following the arrival of Hurricane Katrina, portions of the city are flourishing. Yet other parts are still in ruins. Entire neighborhoods were destroyed, some of the houses wiped right of the map. Many people who lived in the hardest hit areas of the city are now dispersed around the country, forced to move when they couldn’t find any housing in New Orleans. Among those numbers, some hope to return, but others never will. They have started new lives in their new homes. Trailers provided by FEMA are everywhere in the disaster zone, used for emergency shelter for residents who want to stay put but their houses are destroyed or too damaged to live in.
Driving through the disaster zone was an eerie experience. Although the media can show us photos of the disaster, those photos, at least for me, could not show me the true magnitude of the horrors that occurred in New Orleans and other communities impacted by the storm. Not only was it an eerie feeling to drive through these neighborhoods, but it was an uncomfortable feeling knowing that we were aboard comfortable busses while many of the people we saw along our route were struggling to survive.
Nestled in amongst the destroyed or abandoned homes was an occasional family trying to make the best of the situation, working to repair their homes. They often waved as our busses passed. However, we passed one family living in a storm ravaged home that made it clear that they had grown tired of tourists passing through their neighborhoods, gawking at what is left of their lives. A sign on their lawn said that tourists should be ashamed about passing by without making a donation.
Rebuilding certain communities has proven a challenge for those trying to move on with their lives, our guide told us. Although the military still patrols the hardest hit sections of the city, crime is still a major problem. Opportunistic criminals pray on those who are trying to rebuild their lives. Copper wiring is a favorite target for criminals. They strip the damaged homes, even some of the newly wired homes, of every bit of wire, selling the copper to make money.
Probably the most aspiring person during our tour was a woman by the name of Doris Hicks. The principal of the Martin Luther King Academy for Technology and Science, which is located in the hard hit 9th ward of the city, lost students and the parents of students to the storm, yet she exudes optimism. Her school was filled with upwards of 14 feet of water during and after the storm. Many people thought the school would never open again. The principal, the teachers, the students and their parents, and the community, proved the skeptics wrong. The school is now filled with children and laughter. Hicks finds great comfort that a huge painting of Dr. Martin Luther King, which was submerged in water, was left wet but unscathed. She is confident that the 9th ward and the rest of New Orleans will overcome the nightmare of Katrina.
Although the school building has been cleaned and repaired, and the students are learning, Hicks said the school still has many needs, everything from books for the library, to computers for the classrooms. People interested in donating to the school can send them to: Martin Luther Kingdom Academy for Technology and Science, care of Doris Hicks, at 1617 Caffrin St., New Orleans, Louisiana 70117.
There are other signs that New Orleans is coming back to life. The commercial district, a section of the city left relatively unscathed by the hurricane, is bustling with activity. Filled with towering high rises, this section of the city is in stark contrast to the residential sections of the city devastated by the disaster. They are like two different worlds.
Although New Orleans is far from back to normal, there is at least signs of hope, thanks to the many Americans who dropped everything to help other Americans in need. But most of all, thanks to the spirit of the people of New Orleans who are determined to keep the music playing and the traffic flowing as they struggle to bring back their community from near destruction, I believe that New Orleans will survive.