Two days and ten years ago, Hurricane Katrina rocked the coasts of Louisiana and Mississippi.
It was a year that “used up all the names dedicated for hurricanes and tropical storms,” according to NPR.com. The National Hurricane system had to move into naming storms using letters of the Greek alphabet for the first time ever.
But even in a season full of storms, Katrina is the one most Americans remember. It was both incredibly costly and deadly, with $100 billion estimated in damage and more than 1,800 killed.
Though rebuilding efforts were strong and help across America was offered—especially at the beginning—ramifications from Katrina are still felt. From those who were forced to relocate from their home of New Orleans to the city and surrounding towns themselves, Katrina has left a mark that is not easily forgotten by those effected.
While many point to the rejuvenated economy in New Orleans, a greater tourism industry and their ambitious plan to overhaul the school systems as signs of recovery. But like it or not, the face of New Orleans has changed since Katrina, and a lot of those changes have effected one population specifically: the black middle class.
According to fivethirtyeight.com, over 175,000 black residents left New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and only about 100,000 returned. All-in-all, the black population has been reduced to 59 percent in 2013 from 66 percent in 2005.
While the economy seems to be looking up for other members of the New Orleans population, for black community member things aren’t looking quite so good. In 2013 “the median black household earned just more than $25,000, $5,000 less than in 2000, after adjusting for inflation” (fivethirtyeight.com).
Even some of those who relocated after Katrina haven’t managed to make their way as well as they had hoped. In a profile in The Washington Post, the Williams family—a black family who moved to the tiny town of Auburn, Nebraska—tells the story of their ups and downs since their move. Battles with post-traumatic stress disorder, alcoholism and crime have become part of the Williams’ life.
Unfortunately, many of the problems caused by Katrina have yet to dissipate. It’s easy to forget, ten years after a tragedy like this so far from where it happened that homes, economies and lives are still being repaired. The city and its residents have been effected forever by this event, and ten years later it is time to pause and remember what was lost.