KATRINA THEN AND NOW
Residents
from page AJ
She lived with her then
6-year-old daughter in the
Ninth Ward, one of the
low-lying, predominantly
African-American areas
hardest hit by the Category
5 storm that claimed 1,833
lives and left 705 people
missing. The levees, built
to contain a Category 3
hurricane, collapsed, and
80 percent of the city
drowned under its enormi
ty
"I went back about a
month after everything set
tled down. 1 cried because
the neighborhood was a
wreck. I mean, a wreck,"
she said. "The destruction
seemed unreal. It looked
like a bulldozer just came
through and tore up every
thing in sight. There was
nothing left to salvage. I
broke down because I had
a life in that place."
Richardson returned in
2011. "I was excited
because downtown looked
the same, if not better," she
said. "You would have
never guessed Katrina
came through there. Then I
got to the Ninth Ward and
my heart just sank. It
wasn't as bad as that first
time, but it still looked like
a hurricane had been
through there. It made me
cry.
She returned again in
spring. "I was praying to
see rebuilt houses, more
families - signs that real
change had been made. But
I saw only a little. Not
enough. So many houses
are just ruined and still
ruined. But in other places
in New Orleans, places that
were hit just as hard, you
can never tell anything
happened."
Richardson is not alone
in her observations. A wide
gap exists along racial lines
about attitudes regarding
New Orleans' recovery,
according to a survey by
Louisiana State University,
with 41 percent of whites
said living in New Orleans
improved since the hurri
cane clean up, while less
than 20 percent of African
Americans feel things are
better.
'We are unique'
"We don't talk the way
anybody else talks, we
don't dance the way any
body else [dances],"
Landrieu said while tour
ing Atlanta. "They don't eat
the way we eat. They don't
hug the way we hug. They
don't love the [same] way.
It's just different. And it's
wonderful. I love Houston.
Houston's one of the great
cities in the world. I love
Atlanta. But you know
what? New Orleans does
not want to be Houston or
Atlanta. What we want to
be is the best version of our
real selves, because we are
unique."
Unique does not mean
better for many Africa
Americans living in the
Ninth Ward, where home
owners either walked away
from their destroyed prop
erties or relocated to
Houston, Atlanta and other
cities. Many failed to
receive enough insurance
money, if any, to repair the
vast destruction.
The city did receive
$70 billion in federal aid
for $150 billion in dam
ages, but a tour of the city
revealed what neighbor
hoods were left on the side
lines.
"When you have that
kind of gap [in monetary
aid]," Landrieu conceded,
"not everyone gets every
thing all the time."
The mayor pointed to
the refurbishing of the
Mercedes Benz Super
Dome - where 30,000
mostly African-Americans
endured six days of
unseemly conditions as the
city drowned - and the
many rebuilt neighbor
hoods and the overall
growth in population of the
city as evidence of
progress.
"Y'all can come on
home," Landrieu said
while touring Houston.
"But come home to
what?" Anderson asked.
"New Orleans is in my
heart, in my blood. That
will never change. But it's
not like it was the best
place for jobs before the
hurricane. And with our
neighborhoods - not to say
that we have to live where
we always lived - but our
neighborhoods just haven't
gotten the attention it
deserves."
New Orleans will make
headlines again during the
lOth-year anniversary.
President Obama plans a
visit and so does former
President George W. Bush,
who was roundly criticized
by many, including film
maker Spike Lee, whose
2007 documentary on the
aftermath of Katrina,
When The Levees Broke,
won two Emmys.
On his tour, in a speech
at the National Press Club
in Washington, D.C.,
Landrieu called New
Orleans "one of the world's
most remarkable stories of
tragedy and triumph, resur
rection and redemption."
New Orleans will cele
brate the city's rebirth on
the anniversary of
Hurricane Katrina with
parades featuring Mardi
Gras Indians, and brass .
bands marching through
Uptown and downtown
New Orleans on Aug. 29.
The event is promoted as
the Katrina 10
Commemorative Parade,
created to be "a cultural
showcase that celebrates
New Orleans, its resilience
and the incredible spirit of
its people," said Flozell
Daniels Jr., president and
CEO of the Foundation for
Louisiana.
But many on the east
side and in the Ninth Ward
will not see reason to cele
brate. They are still drown
ing in tears.
Jo* Louis Ruffin Urban News Service
Floodwaters drowned parts of New Orleans 10 years ago after Hurrican Katrina
hit.
Charity
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ty of war zones, but I think
this was worse than that,"
he said.
The rescue and relief
efforts of the Federal
Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) were
widely critiqued as being
inadequate. The difficulty
in getting relief to those
struck by Katrina inspired
some Winston-Salem resi
dents to make their own
relief trips to the Gulf
Coast. The weekend after
Katrina hit, the local black
community filled a bus
with supplies, which
attempted to go to the Big
Easy. It made it as far a
Baton Rogue, where it was
able to give its supplies to a
shelter.
Mendez said the
response was "negligent"
and showed a "lack of car
ing" for the largely black
population that had been
stranded in New Orleans.
"One of the things that
Katrina woke the nation up
to was the fact that people
actually lived and suffered
and were impoverished in
this country," he said.
Mendez said that his
trip let him know what help
was needed, such as water,
first aid and volunteers for
both the cleanup and the
massive rebuilding efforts.
He said many churches
helped in the effort. The
Ministers Conference of
Winston-Salem and
Vicinity helped with relief
and also protested the
response to Katrina.
Though the tederal
response did have difficul
ties, like in every storm, it
did help many when they
needed it. The North
Carolina-1 Disaster
Medical Assistance Team
(NC-1 DMAT), comprised
of 35 members, including
doctors, paramedics and
other medical specialists,
helped at Gulfport
Memorial Hospital, which
was facing a surge of
patients and operating on
generator power after
Katrina hit Gulfport,
Mississippi. The team,
made of medical profes
sionals from around the
area who are called up to
respond to emergencies, set
up five tents that acted as a
completely self-sufficient
overflow emergency room
with its own generator
power. The team saw
1,200 patients in 10 days.
"We saw a lot patients
and did a lot of good," said
Elizabeth Newsome, NC1
DMAT team commander.
DMAT teams were
under FEMA at the time
and are now under the
Department of Health and
Human Services.
Newsome said that there
have been many lessons
learned and improvements
made in emergency
response since then.
DMAT teams now respond
faster and have more effi
cient tailored responses to
disasters.
One thing that made
Katrina unique was the 1
million Gulf Coast resi
dents displaced by the dis
aster that dispersed across
the nation. FEMA sent
some evacuees to other
states. None where sent to
the Triad, but many ended
up there on their own.
More than 500 evacuees
came to Winston-Salem.
Susan Smith, Red
Cross of Western North
Carolina senior disaster
program manager, said
some came because they
had friends or families in
the area. Others were
familiar with or had been to
North Carolina before or
heard the area was a good
place for evacuees.
They often came with
only what they could fit in
their car or carry on a bus.
To help evacuees, Winston
Salem created Project
Welcome. Evacuees were
directed to head to the Red
Cross location on Coliseum
Drive, where they would be
evaluated and connected
with needed resources.
Smith said Red Cross
offices across the country
were working overtime.
Locally, volunteers where
being trained and mobi
lized to not just to go to the
Gulf Coast to do relief
work, but to also respond to
the flow of evacuees.
She said some evacuees
stayed only until they were
given the OK to go back
and check on their homes.
Fill Photos
Louisiana evacuee
Rendell Bartholomew
steps off the supply bus
that returned to
Winston-Salem from
Baton Rogue, Louisiana.
He was the only evacuee
who took volunteers up
on a trip out of the Gulf
Coast after they dropped
off supplies. He was met
by his brother-in-law,
who drove him to
Virginia to stay with
family.
Others stayed months or
years, some even relocating
to the area. Regardless, the
needs they had when they
came required a,multitude
of agencies \tfbrking
together to help them.
"It was caring hands
and hearts coming together
and really embracing these
evacuees," said Smith.
One of those agencies
was Experiment in Self
Reliance, which found
housing for evacuees. ESR
Executive Director Twana
Wellman-Roebuck said
ESR regularly finds hous
ing for those in need, so it
used its resources and rela
tionships with landlords to
help. She got daily updates
via phone from FEMA on
its housing efforts.
"Sometimes the rules
you had heard the day
before, the next day had
changed or there was an
update to it," she said.
She said that there were
weekly meetings between
the different local agencies
involved, constantly find
ing ways to improve things,
like bringing in pastors to
minister to the emotional
and spiritual needs of evac
uees. She said the commu
nity really pulled together
to help the displaced Gulf
Coast residents.
"That was just an
impressive time," she said.
Mayor Allen Joines
said that overall, Winston
Salem really rose to the
challenge in helping those
struck by Katrina.
"I was pretty proud of
A bus filled with sup
plies leaves from
Winston-Salem for the
Gulf Coast the weekend
after Hurricane Katrina
hit. The trip was organ
ized by a variety or
organizations and lead
ers in the local black
community.
the way our citizens, our
businesses, our churches
and others organizations
stepped up," he said.
Mendez said that he felt
disaster response had got
ten better under the current
U.S. administration. One
thing that hasn't gotten
better is the poverty that
left many vulnerable and
disadvantaged when disas
ter struck.
"The issue of poverty
has to be addressed to
avoid these kinds of crises
in the future because they
will happen again," he said.
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Friday, July 31st Frozen (Disney) PG
Friday, August 7th Annie (2014) PG
Friday, August 14th Spongebob: Sponge Out of Water PG
Friday, August 21st Shrek (DreamWorks) PG
Friday, August 28th Home (Dream Works) PG
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