SHELL BEACH, La. — St. Bernard leaders, friends and loved ones gathered on the banks of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO) at the Hurricane Katrina memorial.
They met to remember those who died during the hurricane and the storm that dramatically changed life as they knew it on August 29, 2005.
More than 160 people perished when a 25-foot storm surge came in from the gulf, up the MRGO.
The water swallowed entire subdivisions and swept homes and businesses off their foundations.
Katrina survivor Terry Petre puts a wreath in the water every year to honor his mother Joyce McGuire.
She had a heart attack while being rescued from her home.
“I just think about it all the time, you know. I think of the good times we had, not the bad times,” Petre said. “The good times.”
Petre showed us where his mother’s home stood on Plaza Drive in Chalmette.
“It just brings back childhood…I grew up here,” Petre said as he walked along the empty slab of his mother’s home. “I come and knock on the make-believe door and yell, hey ma, got anything to eat, you know. I come over here and I get down sometimes and I just wish I could turn everything around, but things happen for a reason."
Parish President Louis Pomes watched Katrina hit his community from on top of a three-story building.
“All of the debris was in the front of the surge, the marsh grass and the trash and everything, so all you saw was debris coming at you,” Pomes said. “When it hit the levees, it was a big splash, it was a huge splash and the water just started pouring over.”
*Story continues below video
Katrina not only changed the landscape in St. Bernard, it also changed the demographics.
After the storm, about half of the parish population didn’t return.
Now, nearly 20 years after Hurricane Katrina, St. Bernard has gone from tragedy and destruction to a comeback story. In recent years, it has become one of the fastest-growing parishes in Louisiana.
“We went from a population here in St. Bernard Parish from 72,000, we’re finally back up to around 50,000 which is great,” Pomes said.
There are now fewer and fewer abandoned buildings along Judge Perez Drive in Chalmette
The empty lots that once dotted the landscape are slowly being filled by new families.
While Katrina is still top of mind, parish leaders are now moving forward with a whole new generation sold on St. Bernard.
