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Ärende: FidoNews 28:35 [02/05]: General Articles
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                        GENERAL ARTICLES
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Katrina - 6 Years Later
by Lee Lofaso

August 29, 2005.  A date few people in New Orleans and the entire USA
will ever forget.  America's Atlantis was underwater, its levees
breeching as a result of a massive hurricane coming ashore.

Hurricane Katrina slammed into the coast of Louisiana as a Category 3
storm, just under a Category 4.  But it was not the winds that caused
so much damage, as the city of New Orleans had survived the storm.
Rather it was the tidal forces (storm surge) that caused the levees to
breech, inundating over 80% of the city.  The loss of life was
staggering, at over 1,300 dead.  But if the storm would have made
landful just ten miles to the west, the loss of life could easily have
surpassed 100,000 or even a quarter of a million.

Louisiana and other states along the Gulf Coast have always been prone
to hurricanes.  Some of the more memorable hurricanes that have hit
the Gulf Coast or Atlantic seacoast are -

Hurricane Katrina (2005)
Hurricane Gordon (1994)
Hurricane Andrew (1992)
Hurricane Hugo (1989)
Hurricane Gilbert (1988)
Hurricane Camille (1969)

Earlier storms include -

Hurricane Betsy (1965)
Hurricane Hilda (1964)
Hurricane Carla (1961)
Hurricane Aubrey (1957)
Hurricane Agnes (1935)
The September Storm (1906)
The Galveston Hurricane (1900)

The costliest hurricane in American history was Hurricane Katrina.
Next in order of costliest hurricanes are -

Hurricane Andrew
Hurricane Hugo
Hurricane Betsy
Hurricane Agnes
Hurricane Camille

I survived Hurricane Hilda.
I survived Hurricane Betsy.
I survived Hurricane Camille.
I survived Hurricane Andrew.
I survived Hurricane Katrina.
I survived Hurricane Rita.
I survived Hurricane Gustav.
I survived many other hurricanes, as well.

If it had not been for the levees not being able to withstand the
tidal forces brought forth by Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans would not
have been left underwater.  But nothing can undo the past. The city is
moving forward.  Its people have been returning home. But still much
work needs to be done.  And it will take years, even decades, for the
city to completely recover.  And even then, New Orleans will never be
the same city it once was.

The 9th Ward remains a place of desolation, only 14,000 residents
returning.  Most of the housing that exists is not liveable.  The
streets are full of potholes, and are in desperate need of repair.
This is six years after the storm.  Six years since people were forced
to leave their homes, and their communities.  Six years of wandering
in various places throughout the USA where they were in the complete
company of strangers.

But there is hope.  The Superdome has been repaired, and is better
than it has ever been.  The streets of the 9th Ward have finally being
given the attention - and $$$ - needed for repairs.  People who have
been displaced are continuing to return, although some have chosen to
remain in places they had relocated to.

The French Quarter was largely untouched by the storm and floodwaters.
As such, most of the places frequented by tourists (and locals) remain
in excellent condition.  Other places, such as Antoine's Restaurant,
which did suffer much damage, have been fully repaired and are open
for business.  And new places have opened.

The NCAA football championship game will be held in the Louisiana
Superdome in a few months.  The NCAA basketball championship will also
be held in the Louisiana Superdome, just a few months later.  And the
National Football League championship game, known as the Super Bowl,
will be played in the Louisiana Superdome after those two events.

The colors of the New Orleans Saints professional football team are
black and gold.  The color of mourning and the color of redemption.
There are Saints, and there are Sinners.  And it is always the Saints
who bring us redemption, as the local "mourner's bench" sing their
song, a literal view of heaven - "Oh when the Saints go marching in,
oh when the Saints go marching in, Lord, how I want to be in that
number, when the Saints go marching in."

Copyright © 2011 by Lee Lofaso, all rights reserved.  Permission to
publish in the FIDONEWS file echo and the FIDONEWS discussion echo as
originating from 2:2/2

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