Fourteen Years Later, New Orleans is Still Trying to Recover from Hurricane Katrina

This past spring, I went down to the Lower Ninth Ward to volunteer for the New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity, which has been working to provide homes at an affordable price for survivors of Hurricane Katrina. The rebuilding of New Orleans, 14 years after the hurricane's landfall, is still a work in progress. Although communities are trying to get back on their feet and return to pre-hurricane conditions, some of the disaster's impacts will likely never be fully erased from the city. Driving around the Lower Ninth Ward, a community just east of the French Quarter, I was taken aback by the empty plots that still break up the community. Houses that used to stand right next to one another are now spaced haphazardly away from each other, separated by empty land that is overgrown with weeds and brush. Trash piles on the corners of the streets and signs warning against loitering further accentuate the impression that things haven't improved. Businesses are staying away as well. A single grocery store, Burnell’s Lower Ninth Ward Market, holds the sole responsibility of providing a small range of packaged foods and fresh produce to the 1,200 people who live in the community.

Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Louisiana on August 29, 2005. While “only” a Category 3 hurricane when it hit the coast, Katrina and its aftermath resulted in 1,863 deaths. Although 90 percent of New Orleans’s pre-storm population is back and much of the city has been rebuilt, neighborhoods such as the Lower Ninth Ward have not had the same amount of post-Katrina growth. The historically low-income, African American area boasted a 14,000-strong population back in 2000, but the community was hit the hardest by the storm. During the hurricane, a barge broke into the levee protecting the ward, causing the area to be overrun with 12 feet of water, which destroyed homes in a matter of minutes. That single failure was the source of 80 percent of New Orleans’s flooding. Concerns over the levee’s durability were made public after the hurricane, as some argued that the wayward barge merely revealed the levee's fundamental weakness; they accused the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which built the city's levees, of failing to build strong enough. Ten years after the Hurricane, the Corps finally acknowledged, following numerous studies conducted by experts, that there had been flaws in the flood protection system it had built for the city.

Prior to Katrina, many areas of New Orleans were not classified as floodplains by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Thus, residents were not only ill-prepared for when the hurricane hit, but they were also not required to have flood insurance. Flood insurance is regulated by the National Flood Insurance Program and required for those who are living in areas that are deemed prone to flooding. Because most of New Orleans's residents were not required to have flood insurance, the monetary impacts of the disaster were only further exacerbated. Today, 53 percent of the city’s properties are not considered to be in high-risk flood areas by FEMA and so are not required to purchase flood insurance, even though many of these properties were flooded during Hurricane Katrina. Indeed, updated federal flood maps released in 2016 moved more than half of the population of the city out of the high-risk zone, which releases them from having to purchase flood insurance and creates a false sense of security.

Hurricane Katrina is often cited as not being an “equal opportunity storm” due to the fact that minority populations were hit the hardest. They also received the least amount of funding in the rebuilding process. Not only was the area ill-prepared for a massive storm, but funding afterwards was often unreliable and inadequate for the damage the hurricane inflicted. While many organizations came into the area following the immediate aftermath of Katrina, most notably Brad Pitt’s celebrity project, The Make It Right organization, the storm and its effects soon lost national attention. And along with national attention went the public support to try and piece back together the remains of the Lower Ninth Ward.

Rebuilding the Lower Ninth Ward

Habitat for Humanity, founded in 1976, is a nonprofit organization that relies on volunteers, Americorp members, donations, and sweat equity in order to build homes for those who express financial need or are currently in a dangerous living condition. In the past decade, New Orleans has remained a popular destination for Habitat for Humanity volunteers, especially students like myself. Prior to Hurricane Katrina, Habitat for Humanity was averaging 10-12 homes a year. However, due to the large number of volunteers who still come to the area, the organization has completed 450 homes post-Katrina, around 25-30 homes a year.

Not only does Habitat for Humanity continue to play a crucial role in the New Orleans area, but many nonprofit organizations have also sprung up over the years to try and rebuild its communities. Another organization that I had the opportunity to work with was The Green Project, a nonprofit focused on the reuse of building materials and on educating the community about proper recycling practices. Upon noticing that the rebuilding of New Orleans involved many wasteful practices, the founders decided to create an organization that valued sustainable building while also providing materials at an affordable cost to community members. Some of their projects included refurbishing old wood and furniture while also promoting their reuse. In addition, the organization has a paint recycling program which diverts 40,000 gallons of paint a year from being thrown in the trash (improper paint disposal can often run off into water sources or contribute to greenhouse gas emissions). Instead, The Green Project either mixes the old paint to create new colors or recycles the liquids properly.

Over the years, several nonprofits and small businesses devoted to community growth have decided to call New Orleans home. One such project is Garden on Mars, a local organic garden whose aim is to bring beauty and hope to the Ninth Ward. Other projects, including the Common Ground Relief Wetlands, which aims to regrow and restore wetlands in New Orleans, were already based in New Orleans and have continued to grow thanks to volunteer and community activists.

Looking Ahead to Prepare for Future Climate Impacts

Many believe that another Hurricane Katrina level disaster will hit the city again, and the past couple of years have demonstrated that climate change is making extreme weather both more likely and more intense. Climate disasters, whether it be hurricanes, floods, or wildfires, are occurring more frequently and affecting larger areas of the country. Areas that have already been affected by climate disasters, like New Orleans, Puerto Rico, and Texas, are still not receiving the proper attention, funding, and support they need.

Due to the fact that the effects of climate change are growing more violent and more frequent, the push for resilient infrastructure is becoming ever more critical. In a National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) report released last year, the Institute found that if buildings were able to adopt 2018 I-Code flood standards, communities would save $6 for every $1 invested. Even more impressively, if 2018 I-Code hurricane standards were adopted, $10 would be saved for every $1 invested. The report demonstrates that by adopting resilient infrastructure now, communities will be able to save money—and lives—later, when disasters hit. By embracing more green spaces, recycled building materials, and renewable energy, communities will not only be more resistant to the effects of climate change but they will also bounce back more rapidly from natural disasters.

Author: Nicolette Santos

Photos courtesy of Nicolette Santos