New Orleans Commemorates 20 Years Since Hurricane Katrina with Ceremonies and a Brass Band Parade

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Two decades after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, New Orleans plans on marking the anniversary this Friday with a series of memorials, performances, and a parade in remembrance of those impacted.

When it reached southeast Louisiana on Aug. 29, 2005, Katrina was a Category 3 hurricane. It stands as the most costly storm in U.S. history, with damages estimated to exceed $200 billion, taking inflation into account, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Approximately 1,400 lives were lost across five states.

The collapse of the federal levee system left roughly 80% of the city submerged in floodwaters that lingered for weeks before receding. Many residents clung to rooftops for survival or endured the sweltering conditions in the inadequately supplied Superdome stadium while awaiting evacuation.

Survivors and city officials will gather in the Lower Ninth Ward, a largely Black neighborhood where a levee breach caused severe flooding, worsened by a slow government response.

Katrina Commemoration Inc. and Hip Hop Caucus are overseeing the event, which will include prayers and performances by prominent local artists such as Dawn Richard and Mia X. The organizers also aim to highlight issues like the city’s sinking infrastructure, gentrification, and its susceptibility to climate change.

A brass band parade, known as a second line, is expected to draw thousands of participants. This cherished New Orleans custom is rooted in African American jazz funerals, where mourning family members march alongside the deceased with a band, followed by a second line of dancing friends and onlookers.

A parade has been staged on every Katrina anniversary since local artists organized it in 2006 to help neighbors heal and unite the community.

“Second line allows everybody to come together,” said the Rev. Lennox Yearwood, president of Hip Hop Caucus. “We’re still here, and despite the storm, people have been strong and very powerful and have come together each and every year to continue to be there for one another.”

Other commemorations include a wreath-laying ceremony at a memorial for dozens of unidentified storm victims and a minute of silence, to be observed at 11:20 a.m.

There are also museum exhibitions, documentary screenings and city-organized discussions Saturday on the future of New Orleans’ culture, infrastructure and ongoing recovery.

City leaders are pushing for the anniversary to become a state holiday.

Katrina’s impact still felt

The city’s population, nearly half a million before Katrina, is now 384,000 after displaced New Orleanians scattered across the nation. Many ended up in Atlanta, Dallas and Houston.

In the aftermath, the levee system was rebuilt, public schools were privatized, most public housing projects were demolished and a hospital was shuttered. About 134,000 housing units were damaged by Katrina, according to The Data Center, a nonprofit research agency.

The storm had a disproportionate impact on the city’s Black residents. While New Orleans remains a majority Black city, tens of thousands of Black residents were unable to return after Katrina. A botched and racially biased federal loan program for home rebuilding, coupled with a shortage of affordable housing, have made it harder for former residents to come back.

“(Katrina) wasn’t just a New Orleans moment,” Yearwood said. “It was a national moment, and it’s a time for reflection and commitment to a better way of how we’re handling these issues moving forward.”