NEW ORLEANS — Heavy hearts filled the Charity Hospital Cemetery to remember the lives lost in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina 18 years later. That site is the home of one of many memorials around the city, but it's where the 108 unclaimed people who lost their lives after the storm have their final resting place.
A hand full of city leaders including Mayor Latoya Cantrell attended the solemn service that started at 8:29AM. Like many in attendance, many have their own Katrina story, just like Debbie Stewart.
Stewart said, "I was on duty for Hurricane Katrina. It was rather hectic, because so much was going on outside. We worked on different units."
Back on Aug. 29, 2005, she was working in what was then Charity Hospital. Every year on this day, those memories resurface. She says it was truly an all-hands-on-deck effort.
"We helped out in the Neuro-ICU and in the ER. We carried patients down 12 flights of stairs to be able to be evacuated."
Every year she makes an effort to attend a memorial service to honor the day but it's an experience she carries with her day after day.
"It touched my heart and my soul in so many ways you could never imagine because I had to look at my own mortality wondering if we would get out of there or not," said Stewart.
The Hurricane Katrina Memorial is a labor of love spearheaded by the nonprofit, New Orleans Katrina Memorial Corporation. The wreath laying ceremony was hosted on the site designed after the eye of the storm, with six mausoleums on site.
"This is a very solemn and hallowed place, but it also is representative of the fact that in the midst of the tragedies our citizens chose to rebuild." said New Orleans City Councilman Eugene Green.
While the city has received millions in federal funding, Mayor Latoya Cantrell says there is still more to be done.
"We're leveraging still those dollars that were realized after Hurricane Katrina, and also maximizing new funding that we received from the Federal Government. That's what my administration is doing," said Cantrell.
With each memorial service year after year, it's a reminder of where we've been and where we're going.
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