Eye-opening photos show how New Orleans is still struggling 10 years after the costliest natural disaster in US history
New Orleans sits at an average between 1-2 feet below sea level next to marsh wetlands like the one pictured here. When Katrina blew through, this put the city's water removal system to the test.
New Orleans is protected by a series of flood walls and levees — structures that have for centuries been able to keep the city from going underwater. But Katrina was too much for the under-maintained levees, and they quickly broke from the force of incoming water, destroying houses like this one in the city's Lower Ninth Ward.
At its worst, about 80% of New Orleans, seen here from an aerial view, was submerged in water that had breached the levees.
Since then, the federal government has poured billions of dollars into rebuilding levees like this one in the Lower Ninth Ward.
Nicknamed "The Great Wall of Louisiana," this 1.8-mile-long concrete wall near downtown New Orleans is one segment of the 133-mile system of levees and floodwalls that have been built since Katrina.
Experts have also turned to sediment on the wetland marshes near New Orleans to help prevent floods. They argue that having a border of sediment and artificial islands along the coast will hold back the floodwaters from causing as much damage farther inland.
But unfortunately, the marsh wetlands, where these dead trees are, have been shrinking, in part due to Katrina and other hurricanes that pick up sediment and carry it elsewhere.
During Katrina, about 80% of the city evacuated New Orleans. And many didn't — or couldn't — return, leaving houses like this one in the Lower Ninth Ward abandoned.
Before the storm, the city had almost half a million residents. Right after, that number fell to 230,000, the Washington Post reports.
The Lower Ninth Ward, where these abandoned houses are, was one of the neighborhoods hit hardest by Katrina. Two years ago, Al Jazeera reported that only 30% of the neighborhood's residents had returned, compared to a 90% return rate for the rest of New Orleans.
Even as the city bounces back, with tourism and the music scene flourishing, some parts seem to have cut their losses and abstained from repairing damage from the storm, such as this abandoned gas pump in Port Sulpher, an area about 50 miles south of the Lower Ninth Ward.
Rusted-over oil tanks on the Mississippi river delta float by, serving as a permanent reminder of the most costly hurricane in American history. The government estimates that 8 million gallons of oil was spilled and rendered useless from holding tanks like these during the storm.
New Orleans received $14 billion from federal funding to build sturdier flood protection to make sure neighborhoods like the Lower Ninth Ward, pictured here, never go through a similar disaster, ever again.
Popular Right Now
Popular Keywords
Advertisement