NEW ORLEANS — Nineteen years ago one of America's deadliest hurricanes struck the city of New Orleans. Hurricane Katrina was a category three storm that ended up being one of the country's most costly natural disasters. Nearly two decades on, the city is still healing.
Now city and state officials are pushing for August 29th to be a state holiday.
Here in New Orleans, too many families share the same heartache as Robert Green. At a press conference including Louisiana State Representative Alonzo Knox, Hip Hop Caucus, and the New Orleans Katrina Commemoration Foundation, Green said, "I am a survivor, I am a resident of the Lower Ninth Ward as I walked up you saw the pictures of two people who died that day, my three-year-old granddaughter, my 73-year-old mother our house floated away with us on top of the roof."
Artist Dawn Richard said, "It was a day of extreme loss, me losing my grandfather, me losing my family dynamic."
August 29th, 2005, Hurricane Katrina unleashed catastrophic destruction on New Orleans, flooding the city and leaving a trail of unimaginable loss and despair in its wake. Councilman Oliver Thomas shared one story saying, "My cousin Bryce, whose house was on Tennessee [Street], was rescued in a tree."
For 43 days much of the 'Big Easy' was underwater. Residents flocked to the Superdome seeking refugee. Others trapped in their homes, prayed they'd be found. Poet, Sunni Patterson said, "Finding a way with memories of floating bodies still on our minds, memories of other cities not accepting us when we arrived on their doorstep."
19 years on, no matter the weather, New Orleans is still here. Representative Knox said, "The fact of the matter is New Orleanians are just strong, unbroken people, doing their best to survive and make the best of what we have here."
The death toll reached 1,392, and many bodies were never identified. The economic damage Hurricane Katrina caused is about $125 billion. The travesty of this storm is pushing city and state leaders to take action, to ensure the heartache the storm caused is never forgotten.
Knox said, "I am actively pursuing that we recognize this day as a state holiday."
The horrors witnessed during Hurricane Katrina, though seared into memory with pain. New Orleanians say future generations need to understand where they came from, and understand the profound human cost those before them endured.
Dawn said, "40 years, 20 years those that didn't experience Katrina understand what their parents and grandparent's went through to sustain their lineage in these communities."
The wounds left by the storm may never fully heal, but the indomitable spirit of the city's people will live on forever. Because this is New Orleans, and that's what New Orleanians do.
Representative Knox plans to introduce a resolution to make August 29th Katrina Day when the legislative session starts next year. He also wants to introduce a bill to officially make the date a state holiday.
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