Hurricane Katrina destroyed New Orleans in August 2005. The chaos and confusion of the days immediately after the storm had become, 4 months later, a slow tragedy, where the most effective attempts at recovery were those undertaken by volunteers or the victims of the storm themselves, rather than ineffective official efforts.
Flooded streets, New Orleans. Mike, homeless in the aftermath of the storm. A dog, abandoned in the 9th ward. Rebuilding the levees, over a flooded cemetery. An elderly man greets the 82nd Airborne. A holdout from the evacuation order refuses to go. Claudell Williams, evacuated from New Orleans, in a shelter in Charlotte NC. Victim of Katrina, New Orleans. Flooded city. Behind the levee break, Lower Ninth Ward. Gutting a house in the Ninth Ward. Rann Barr-On, a volunteer guts a house. Common Ground, a volunteer recovery group, helps returning residents of the Ninth Ward. Malik Raheem, Common Ground founder. Dorothy Stone talks about the storm, Plaquemines Parish. Volunteer Eva LaBonty leans on recently returned evacuee Ed McGowan’s shoulder. A coffin, washed from it’s grave, Plaquemines Parish.
all photographs ©2006 by victor j blue