Tracing the scars of Katrina
Jeyhoun Allebaugh & Marcus Gilmer
Ten years ago, Hurricane Katrina made landfall along the Gulf Coast. While the storm's wrath was felt throughout the Southeast, the iconic images associated with the hurricane show a great American city submerged: New Orleans. At least 1,100 people died as a result of the hurricane, though the exact figure isn't known and could be much higher. In the year after Katrina, the suicide rate in New Orleans tripled.A decade later, neighborhoods have been rebuilt, the damage paved over. And while the city still struggles with issues of economic and racial disparity, what has been accomplished is a testament to the resilience of the Crescent City. Mashable sent a photographer to New Orleans to capture then and now.
When the levees broke, roughly 80% of the city flooded, including Canal Street and sections of downtown. Water levels were lower in these areas, though, and the historic French Quarter escaped the storm without any major flood damage. The city's tourism industry has largely rebounded. New Orleans today boasts a bustling restaurant scene, and millions still flock to the French Quarter. The city's tourism board estimated that 9.5 million people visited New Orleans last year.
More than half the population of New Orleans left because of the hurricane. Though the city has bounced back, not everyone has returned. A month before the hurricane struck, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated New Orleans' population at around 455,000. A year later, that had dropped to 208,000 people. By July last year, the number of residents in the city had grown to 385,000 — or about 80% of its pre-Katrina population. However, only a little more than a third of the residents in the hard-hit Ninth Ward have returned, according to the New Orleans Data Center.
In the aftermath of Katrina, the city's education system underwent dramatic reform as schools were rebuilt and restructured. Nearly all the schools have since been converted to the charter school system. But the restructuring has been controversial. While education officials cite test scores as proof that the reform has been a success, others say the new school system has selectively released data.
Ten years later, Hurricane Katrina remains the costliest hurricane in American history, though the total cost varies by source. In 2012, The New York Times reported total costs amounted to $148 billion. FEMA has estimated a cost closer to $108 billion. But the cost of Katrina goes beyond dollars and cents. In addition to the death toll, Katrina displaced more than one million people and damaged more than a million homes. In New Orleans, that amounted to 70% of the city's housing units.While parts of the media reported rampant violence in the storm's wake, 10 years later it's clear that while there was some looting and violence, it was grossly over-reported. Still, the image of lawless chaos, real or imagined, has left a dark cloud.
