Katrina 10 years later: New Orleans
Ten years ago the city of New Orleans suffered dramatically after Hurricane Katrina struck, when levees were breached and flood walls protecting the city gave way. Eighty percent of the city flooded. In the year after Katrina, New Orleans lost half its population.
The city has rebounded in many ways that seemed impossible in the immediate aftermath of the storm, but the "new" New Orleans is also whiter and more expensive. Gentrification is a buzzword that sparks considerable debate as old residents have been displaced and some worry a growing cosmopolitan atmosphere could threaten the traditions and culture that made the city unique.
In this photo, South Carrollton Avenue remains submerged a week after Hurricane Katrina, September 7, 2005.
Story: Voices of Katrina: 10 Years later
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Katrina - New Orleans
Rush hour on South Carrollton Avenue in New Orleans, 10 years later on August 13, 2015.
New Orleans is now the fastest growing large city in the country. The city center is vibrant once again, but many neighborhoods, especially African-American ones, still struggle.
Katrina - New Orleans
Storm-related graffiti was a common site all over the Gulf Coast 10 years ago. A grocery store stands in the St. Roch neighborhood on St. Claude Avenue with the word "Help" and "TFW" spray painted on it after Katrina in December 2005.
In a devastated post-Katrina city, graffiti made statements and conveyed information to those passing by. The precise meaning of the TFW code is still a source of speculation. Possibilities included: Toxic Flood Water, Totally Full of Water, or nicknames of National Guard units Task Force Wyoming or Task Force Wildcat.
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A grocery store before Katrina, the building in the St. Roch neighborhood is now a bike shop, August 11, 2015.
A 13-year resident of the St. Roch area, John Pastor, said the Vietnamese-owned Samko grocery re-opened for seven or eight months after it was damaged by the storm and looting, but the family didn't stay in business.
Now a bike shop, it's seen by some as part of the revitalized city and by others as a sign of the gentrification of an area where rents have risen and transplants have opened up "trendy" businesses catering to a changing population.
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Homes are submerged on Tulane Avenue in New Orleans days after Katrina on September 7, 2005. The city was desolate with many residents evacuated and just aid workers and journalists roaming around.
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Gail Grant and her husband stand outside the home they've owned for 23 years and fixed up on Tulane Avenue after Katrina, August 14, 2015.
"The water was up to the level of the bridge. So that meant the house was covered completely. And when it settled, it settled around the window. ... Everything was soaking," Grant explained. "And to see that picture, it just-- I don't know, it just sparked something. ... It just really brought us back. And it made us realize just how fortunate we were, and blessed, to get out of the city before that actually occurred."
Joseph Brock (L), started NOLA Green Roots to bring vegetables to places considered food deserts around the city, building the Wise Words Community Garden next door. A new apartment building (in the background) is home to many transplants to the city.
Katrina - New Orleans
"There was an open lot, two lots, in between our home and the corner house. There's now a garden there. ... And they do fresh vegetables. ... The children come in and I see them. And they're running around, playing, and having a good time," Gail Grant said.
Her neighbor, Brock's nonprofit Wise Words Community Garden, is a work in progress. Brock plans to apply for more grants to sustain the gardens he has created in several neighborhoods. He says, "You have to have all of the stuff in place first, before you can attempt to create a wonderful opportunity."
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A house has grim messages spray painted on it in the Marigny neighborhood, September 2005.
Katrina - New Orleans
Marya Earl, left, and Jane Esslinger recently moved into a renovated apartment in the traditional shotgun house that once carried the grim graffiti in Marigny, August 11, 2015.
Earl and Esslinger came to New Orleans after Katrina to study at Tulane. Like many others attracted to the city in the last 10 years, they stayed on. The once predominantly African-American neighborhood, along with nearby Bywater and St. Roch, has seen an influx of young transplants.
Katrina - New Orleans
New homes are seen next to the repaired Industrial Canal floodwall in the Lower Ninth Ward from Judge William Seeber Bridge (otherwise known as the Claiborne Avenue Bridge), August 11, 2015. Though the neighborhood is populated again and building continues, the number of people is still significantly lower than what it was 10 years ago: 14,008 people before Katrina and 2,842 now, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Christopher Williams of Joule Solar Energy described the company's work for the Make it Right foundation "as just trying to rebuild the Lower Ninth Ward, and trying to bring it back green ... and, you know, make this area come back to life."
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In December 2005, one lone house sits on a street in the Lower Ninth Ward. Most homes were demolished amid a debate about the wisdom of rebuilding the low-lying neighborhood.
Katrina - New Orleans
With 150 sustainable homes built by the Make it Right organization founded by actor Brad Pitt, the Lower Ninth Ward has taken on an architecturally distinct look compared to the traditional shotgun houses associated with New Orleans, August 11, 2015. Many of the homes have had solar panels installed.
The non-profit's homes cost an average of $150,000.
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Robert Green sits on the steps of what was his mother's home in the Lower Ninth Ward, which he keeps on his property where he lives in a Make it Right home, August 15, 2015.
Green has vivid memories of the flooding in the neighborhood when the Industrial Canal levee was breached. He lost his granddaughter and his mother in the storm. They had been clinging to the roof of a house down the street after floodwaters swept them from their home.
"She was three years old when she actually was washed off the roof," Green said. "And my mother was 73 when she later died on the same roof."
Katrina - New Orleans
Robert Green keeps a memorial on a tree that includes a copy of a painting called "Rooftop Riders," by Ted Ellis, which Green sees as his own Katrina story, August 15, 2015. The tree is near where he lost his granddaughter and mother on Tennessee Avenue in the Lower Ninth Ward.
Every year on the anniversary of Katrina, a Second Line -- a traditional New Orleans brass band parade -- honors the two and the old wreath is replaced with a new one.
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Students walk through their Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood in the early morning, August 13, 2015. Most students in the Lower Ninth commute several miles to school, since only one school has reopened in the neighborhood.
Almost all the city's schools were taken over by the state and are run as charter schools since Katrina. Overall, the change in the education system has led to high school graduation rates increasing from 56 percent to 73 percent.
Katrina - New Orleans
This iconic graffiti on a building in the Garden District became a tourist attraction in the weeks after Katrina, a symbol of the humor and grit of the city's residents.
Katrina - New Orleans
Bob Rue stands outside his rug shop on St. Charles Avenue in the Garden District, August 11, 2015.
"There never was a woman. I didn't stay here. There wasn't a dog. I didn't have any guns. There was a claw hammer," said Rue. He recalled the attention it got at the time: "Tim Russert. I have a picture of him out there. Geraldo Rivera. Anderson Cooper. All these people came. And not only them, but every cop in the Western world. The Passaic, New Jersey, police department. The Portland, Oregon, police department. The Michigan State police."
Rue never left the city during Katrina. After the storm, he earned a living restoring carpets damaged by the flooding. His funny anti-looting signs became symbolic. He sold his plywood graffiti to the state of Louisiana for $5,000. The panels were eventually exhibited at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. and then stored at the Smithsonian, according to Rue.
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Crowds gather for Sunday brunch at the newly renovated St. Roch market in New Orleans, August 16, 2015.
The building, in the St. Roch neighborhood on St. Claude Avenue, was vacant for years, but was recently renovated by the city for $3.6 million and reopened in April 2015. Many long-time residents were upset that rather than a providing basic groceries in the poor neighborhood, the city went with a vision that catered to a new population in the city.
The high-end food court is a symbol of gentrification in New Orleans. Three weeks after reopening, it was vandalized. In bright pink, vandals wrote, "Yuppy=Bad," and windows were shattered. Recent Census data shows that 40 percent of the neighborhood lives in poverty. Rents have skyrocketed in the area since April.
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Lesley and Artis Turner discuss business details at a table in St. Roch Market, where fishmongers once hawked their catches. The new gleaming, white-columned food hall bustles with patrons who sample key lime pie, charcuterie and summer kale salad.
The couple run a food stall called Dirty Dishes in the market and are the only local, African-American vendors in the building.
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Students get after-school coaching at St. Roch Park, August 11, 2015. For decades the St. Roch neighborhood existed as a predominantly black working-class and low-income neighborhood.
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The 17th Street Canal was breached the morning Katrina struck, sending a torrent of water into the moderately affluent, predominantly white Lakeview neighborhood, seen here in September 2005. The water surge destroyed hundreds of homes in the neighborhood and caused many deaths.
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Homes have been rebuilt along the repaired levee and businesses are back. It was known for having bad roads that Katrina made worse.
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The French Quarter continues to be a huge draw for tourists in New Orleans, August 11, 2015.
In 2013, the city welcomed 9.28 million visitors compared to 8.5 million in 2003, according to the mayor's office. The influx of revenue, $6.47 billion, is vital to the city's recovery.
Story: Voices of Katrina: 10 Years later
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