NEW ORLEANS — Nineteen years ago, Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. The storm, a moment in history, left a lasting impact.
That history is now on display at a museum in the Lower Ninth Ward, a part of the city that was obliterated by the hurricane. Now, that museum is fighting to keep its doors open.
Set on Douglas Street, in the Lower Ninth Ward, is the Katrina National Memorial Foundation Museum. Omar Casimire with the museum said, "We have over $5 million of archives in here."
The museum is dedicated to a hurricane that the city will never forget and video out-of-towners will never forget watching.
Handwritten lists of those who sought shelter in the convention center are kept in binders.
"Katrina's list is the quintessential part of our foundation; that was the 10,000 families that were in the Ernest Morial Convention Center after Katrina," Casimire said.
Thousands of pictures and letters preserved for nearly 20 years could soon be without a home. The building is owned by Global Green USA — a company that aims to improve sustainability and resilience in communities. They are selling the facility for close to a million dollars.
"We offered them $600,000, they came back and counter-offered $650,000, so now we have to raise $90,000," Casimire said.
The museum is now rallying to raise money for the down payment.
People from all over come to visit the museum. Chris Powell and his family are some of them.
Powell said, "We live in Houston, Texas, and the whole experience with Katrina was on our television sets. People that we knew were effected, so when we visited New Orleans for Spring Break.. we had to come to the museum. It's a big part of our life."
Powell believes places like this museum in the Lower Ninth are important to the history of the city and the preservation of remnants following Hurricane Katrina.
"Things like this are really important, I think, historically, as well as people to learn from what happened," he said.
WWL Louisiana reached out to Global Green USA and has not yet heard back.