Response Updates

New Orleans: 10 Years After Katrina

USA Reported by Convoy of Hope

While exploring the streets of New Orleans, it’s easy to understand why the city deems itself the “birthplace of jazz.” Every note touches your soul and evokes an array of emotions. But ten years ago today, the scene was much different.

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Sandbags lined the sidewalks as store owners frantically tried to prevent the inevitable. Streets once lively with performers and a familiar tune echoing on every corner soon brimmed with water. Cries of help sounded out as water submerged buildings and survivors witnessed terror that would pass through their minds for years to come.

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It’s hard to imagine that out of such destruction hope would arise, but this catastrophic event would, in time, restore the lively reputation New Orleans once had as one of America’s greatest cities.

“We knew this was about an overall recovery,” says New Orleans Saint Drew Brees. “An overall resurrection of this city and of this community.”

A storm that was surely set to devastate a community only succeeded in making it stronger. A community, backed by an entire nation, regained the flair it had long been searching for.

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“I’m very proud of how far New Orleans has come over the last 10 years,” Brees adds. “I would say that not only has New Orleans come back, but it’s come back stronger in so many ways.”

A decade later, the city that stands is still a work in progress, but New Orleans is making a relentless effort to establish a new, greater tune.

For Convoy, it was a first at responding to a disaster of this magnitude. Like the people of New Orleans, it taught us more about ourselves than about a hurricane. It taught us what it meant to be prepared and how to respond stronger and better in the midst of utter chaos.

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