New Orleans marks 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina with solemn memorials, uplifting music
NEW ORLEANS AP Twenty years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the U S Gulf Coast with catastrophic storm surge and flooding New Orleans marked the storm s anniversary Friday with solemn memorials uplifting music and a parade that honored the dead the displaced and the determined survivors who endured and rebuilt Dignitaries and longtime residents gathered under gray skies at the memorial to Katrina s casualties in a New Orleans cemetery where dozens who perished in the storm but were never identified or claimed are interred We do everything to keep the memory of these people alive explained Orrin Duncan who worked for the coroner when Katrina hit He comes to the memorial every year opening the cemetery gate and making sure the grass is cut A Category hurricane when it made landfall in Louisiana on Aug Katrina inflicted staggering destruction The storm killed nearly people across five states and racked up an estimated billion in damage flattening homes on the coast and sending ruinous flooding into low-lying neighborhoods Two decades later it remains the costliest U S hurricane on record according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The failure of New Orleans federal levee system inundated about of the city in floodwaters that took weeks to drain Thousands of people clung to rooftops to survive or waited for evacuation in the sweltering under-provisioned Superdome football stadium In New Orleans Lower Ninth Ward a predominantly Black neighborhood devastated by flooding when parts of the protective levee collapsed hundreds watched Friday as an ensemble of white-clad children atop the levee wall sang a song of sorrow and survival We are the children of the ones who did not die they sang We are the children of the people who could fly And we are the children of the ones who persevered Mayor says New Orleans came back better and stronger At the cemetery memorial revered jazz clarinetist Michael White played When the Saints Go Marching In as a procession carried several wreaths to lay beside mausoleums of the storm casualties Mayor LaToya Cantrell recalled the city s sacrifices and projected optimism for its future New Orleans is still here New Orleans still stands Cantrell disclosed New Orleans came back better and stronger than ever before A sense of exuberance and communion filled the streets where hundreds joined a brass band parade known as a second line The beloved New Orleans tradition has its roots in African American jazz funerals in which bands accompanied grieving families marching beside a loved one s casket Second line parades have been a staple of Katrina anniversaries since On Friday people on bikes and stilts moved among dancers in bedazzled outfits as they marched to the snap of snare drums and the brassy thump of tubas Michael Jenkins painted his face and wore his black-and-gold feathered Mardi Gras costume to march in the parade He fled New Orleans as the storm bore down years ago and wasn t able to return for two years It s a joyful time but it s also a somber time because we remember that we overcame a lot Jenkins stated adding By the grace of God we re still here In the Lower Ninth Ward a minute of silence in front of the levee was followed by defiant speeches from district leaders recalling the delayed authorities response to Katrina that exacerbated suffering in New Orleans and worries that President Donald Trump s talk of dismantling the Federal Crisis Management Agency if carried out would have grave consequences Establishment neglect killed us local civil rights attorney Tracie Washington explained We will never forget it Katrina s impact still felt In Mississippi where hundreds perished as Katrina s storm surge demolished homes overlooking the Gulf residents and personnel gathered to mark the anniversary in Gulfport Haley Barbour Mississippi s governor when the hurricane struck recalled the utter obliteration he witnessed from a helicopter after the storm passed It looked like the hand of God had wiped away the coast Barbour explained The population of New Orleans nearly half a million before Katrina is now after displaced residents scattered across the nation While New Orleans remains a majority Black city the exodus disproportionately affected its Black residents Tens of thousands were unable to return after Katrina In the storm s aftermath the levee system was rebuilt residents schools were privatized largest part society housing projects were demolished and a hospital was shuttered New Orleans resident Gary Wainwright explained never misses the cemetery memorial function on Katrina s anniversary On Friday he wore a frayed red necktie covered with the phrase I love you He salvaged it from his battered home in the storm s aftermath It s a little bit tattered like the city Wainwright mentioned But it s still beautiful Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press Overview for America Statehouse News Initiative Analysis for America is a nonprofit national system initiative that places journalists in local newsrooms to summary on undercovered issues Source
