Five Years After Hurricane Katrina

We are approaching the five-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.  There is a video posted on the website of the New Orleans Times Picayune of two of the newspaper’s reporters remembering a bicycle ride on the Monday after hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans.  It is a moving video that reminds us how dangerous a hurricane can be.

There is also an article in yesterday’s Times Picayune which details how Hurricane Katrina changed the demographics of the city of New Orleans.   The city is now about twenty-two percent smaller and not quite as poor as it was before the hurricane. 

The article points out how the population has shifted:

“The suburbs are different. St. Tammany has grown by an estimated 8 percent since the storm, and St. Bernard and Plaquemines have lost about 37 percent and 15 percent of their populations respectively, according to census data gathered by the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center.”

The local economy has been helped by the recovery money that has come in for the rebuilding of the city, but the city has been impacted by the nationwide recession.  The city has remained poor, however, and apartment rental costs have climbed to the point where it is difficult for people to afford the rent. 

New Orleans is an amazing city.   Hopefully it will be able to continue as a center for arts and music in the future.