Page 30 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - New Orleans

28  INTRODUCING NE W ORLEANS

The Impact of Hurricane Katrina the Gulf Coast. This storm surge
inundated entire commu nities
Hurricane Katrina was a disaster of unprecedented outside of the region’s protection
magnitude for New Orleans, combining the destructive levees. In New Orleans itself, the
force of a powerful hurricane with levee failures that left levee walls collapsed, allowing
much of the city inundated by floodwaters for weeks. It was water from Lake Pontchartrain
to pour into the city.
clear from the start that the city’s recovery would take years, The paralyzed city descended
and early results materialized very slowly as bureaucratic into chaos, with thousands of
issues mounted. However, the spirit and improvisation that desperate citizens pleading for
have long made New Orleans such a captivating place for help from their rooftops. The
visitors have also fueled the city’s recovery. As the rebuilding Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) was criticized
work continues, New Orleans has emerged as a showcase for its disorganized, slow
and proving ground for new ideas, while the warm response, but eventually the
atmosphere and unique charms of the historic city have military arrived in force to
survived to greet visitors once again. oversee a massive evacuation.

A Modern Diaspora
Amid the turmoil were
moments of great courage and
generosity. The US Coast Guard
rescued an estimated 33,500
people from the area, and
countless individuals stepped
up to help those displaced
and in dire need. When the
evacuation was complete,
the flooded city and its suburbs
sat virtually empty as residents
spread out across the US in
search of temporary shelter.
On September 15, President
George W. Bush delivered a
Destruction in the wake of Hurricane Camille (1969) televised speech from Jackson
Square to pledge that the nation
would do “whatever it takes” to
A History of Hurricanes Levee Failures and a rebuild New Orleans. Recovery
Fitful Response
Like many other communities efforts began by plugging levee
on the Gulf of Mexico, New Hurricane Katrina formed over breaks and draining the flooded
Orleans has had to contend the Atlantic in late August 2005. neighborhoods, leaving behind
with powerful, devastating As storm-track forecasts zeroed endless vistas of washed-out
hurricanes throughout its in on the New Orleans area, destruction. The body count
history. In particular, Hurricane government officials and after the disaster exceeded
Betsy in September 1965, and residents began making 1,400 in Louisiana alone.
Hurricane Camille in August pre parations. On August 26,
1969, caused much destruction the Louisiana governor
in the metro area. declared a state of emergency,
Each hurricane season, local and on August 28, Mayor Ray
residents would follow the Nagin ordered a mandatory
storm forecasts, but while evacu ation of New Orleans.
there had been several close Several thousand residents
calls, the city had managed took to the highways, but many
to escape major damage for others stayed put; the Mercedes-
many years. However, rapidly Benz Superdome was opened
accelerating coastal erosion as a refuge to shelter them.
was stripping away the massive Katrina made landfall on
wetlands that stand between August 29: winds knocked
New Orleans and the open down trees, shattered windows,
waters of the Gulf. These and tore roofs across the area.
wetlands would prove crucial as But much worse damage came
they provide a natural buffer from the wall of seawater the Aerial image of the city revealing the
against tropical storms. hurricane had driven towards extent of the devastation

028-029_EW_New_Orl.indd 28 05/08/16 3:48 pm
Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Catalogue template “UK” LAYER
(Source v2.6)
Date 12th July 2013
Size 125mm x 217mm