Never Forget - K+14

Fourteen years ago.  When you say it like that, it seems like a long time.

When you've experienced it - the storm AND the aftermath (still going on) - it seems like last week.

Katrina - the storm that keeps on giving.

My direct experiences were more on the outer edge, but witnessing the pain and suffering and the devastation is enough to leave an indelible mark on your heart.  

Yes, strides have been made in rebuilding, lessons have been learned and implemented.  The American people and the WORLD showed us the good in humanity.  Much appreciation to all of those people.  But - as is the case every time - the cruel people who lie in wait for a situation like Katrina to happen so they can bash those affected to satisfy their black souls showed their ugliness.  Their time will come.

Anyway, I have dug through my blog here to find pictures and stories of the aftermath of Katrina so we never forget how far we've come.

Here's a video taken right after Katrina in Slidell where it meets with Lake Pontchartrain.

Photographer Edward P. Richards documented Katrina devastation in New Orleans on this webpage https://biotech.law.lsu.edu/katrina/html/index.htm in extraordinary black and white photography.

This car was suspended over the marsh in Slidell for several months before it succummed to the mud.

NOLA Blogger Michael Homan posted about his experiences as he stayed in New Orleans during the storm.  Here's the link:  http://michaelhoman.blogspot.com/search?q=katrina+diary

Slidell Cleaners in Olde Towne Slidell flooded and never re-opened as a cleaners.  The building has been an art gallery, an art school and is now a Wine Garden.  

One of the wildest things I saw after Katrina was the boats that were moved by the winds and storm surges.   To see more, here's a link to a page I created after the storm: http://www.angelfire.com/la3/judyb/orphan_boats.html    

The boats shown above were pushed over the levee from Lake Maurepaus

NOLA.COM put together this graphic to show how Katrina's surge pushed through the area as she passed by on her way to the Mississippi Coast

 Click on this link to watch:  https://www.nola.com/news/environment/article_238e35b0-e52a-5ed8-aed1-ec5da3ef16da.html.

"There were over 50 failures of the levees and flood walls protecting New Orleans, Louisiana, and its suburbs following passage of Hurricane Katrina and landfall in Mississippi. The levee and flood wall failures caused flooding in 80% of New Orleans and all of St. Bernard Parish." (from wikipedia)

1,833 people lost their lives to Katrina, as a result of drowning, injury, trauma and heart conditions in Louisiana and Mississippi.  Katrina's diaspora spread all over the country.  Many people never came back.  Some just walked away from their homes.  You can still drive through parts of New Orleans and see where time stood still.   Here on the Northshore you can find lots overgrown and if you look thru the growth you will find old, dilapidated homes that have probably not been touched in 14 years.  

Conversations often come around to peoples' Katrina experiences - still.  We think of time as "before" and "after"  the storm. Katrina is many times referred to as "the storm".  While searching the internet the other day I discovered that "Katrina Tours" are still active.  Anything for a buck.  

People still live with PTSD from their Katrina experiences.  My late brother was stuck in New Orleans for the storm.  He was a raging alcoholic and stayed at a casino on the lake where he was working. He was flown to Massachusetts in about a week after the storm, but he came back in a year.  He only fit in in New Orleans.  PTSD and all.

I named this blog "Thanks, Katrina", which is something I said a lot after the storm.  Katrina took a lot away, and whenever I'd reach for some something, or look for something at the store, or want a certain food then realize it was no longer there, I'd utter "thanks, Katrina".  

Sure, there are things that were born in the storm's aftermath: stores, restaurants, hotels, etc.  But we'll never get back the people who were in our every day lives.  They're gone, moved on, passed on.  And that sucks.  But we move on.