TWENTY years after Hurricane Katrina caused devastation on the Gulf Coast of the United States, stories of hope and resilience are being told in churches that it changed for ever.
Katrina, one of the deadliest and costliest natural disasters in US history, struck on 29 August 2005. More than 1800 people lost their lives, and 300,000 homes were destroyed after flood defences failed. Four-fifths of New Orleans was submerged, including many of its churches. The total cost of the disaster was estimated at more than $125 billion.
Those worst affected were low-income communities — often predominantly Black and Latino — living in low-lying, flood-prone neighbourhoods, where many had no access to private transport to escape. Survivors were stranded on roofs for days.
Most of the deaths were the result of flooding in Louisiana, which, with neighbouring Mississippi, bore the brunt of the destruction, although South Florida was also badly affected. The federal response was widely criticised as slow and inadequate.
Thousands of people had to live in hotels for more than a year, and the population of cities near by grew rapidly as evacuees stayed permanently. It took 19 years to rebuild the 110 destroyed or damaged schools in New Orleans alone.
The Bishop of Louisiana, the Rt Revd Shannon Duckworth, told the Episcopal News Service this week that communities had painstakingly rebuilt their lives over the years. “There’s always a sense of deep, deep faith and hopefulness. That’s one of the things I love about southern Louisiana. It’s sort of built into our DNA.”
But deep scars remained, she said. “I don’t think a week goes by where I don’t hear a reference to Katrina.”
Among the stories gathered by the diocese to mark the anniversary are video testimonies from worshippers at St Paul’s and St Anna’s, New Orleans: the latter now serves as a community centre.
St Paul’s was inundated with up to eight feet of water. One member, Natalie James, recalled: “It was traumatic at the time. But we lived through it, and I think we’re better off today because of it. We’re a lot more giving. We’re a lot more receptive to help others in their time of need, so all in all, we did it and here we are.”
Recovery has been long and uneven. Some communities have not returned in full: in St Bernard Parish, east of New Orleans, the population is only two-thirds what it was before the hurricane, because for many residents the cost of rebuilding proved prohibitive.
Diocesan leaders are also passing on the lessons that they learned to the diocese of Western North Carolina, hit by Hurricane Helene last year (News, 18 October 2024).
This week’s commemoration was due to conclude with an interfaith service at the Roman Catholic St Louis Cathedral, yesterday, the eve of the anniversary, with a focus on how the city and its people have rebuilt, in faith and hope.