Katrina Practicum

New Orleans Images

Southwest view down North Rampart Street toward downtown New Orleans. Students gathered for dinner at the Praline Connection on Frenchman Street in the Fauborg Marigny area. Café Brasil, across from the Praline Connection, was lively during the March visit. The markings left by the National Guard as they surveyed the damage of the storm remained on many buildings in March, 2006. FEMA trailers were set up in public areas around the city to accommodate an influx of workers. The Army Corps of Engineers were working to repair the 17th Street Canal, which collapsed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Neighborhoods adjacent to the canal experienced extensive damage, like this house in Lakeview. Workers repaired many sections of the canal. Because the original pilings were drilled too shallow, the soil beneath eroded and caused the retaining wall to collapse. The slab housing common to many areas of the city was particularly vulnerable to flooding. Some areas of the city experienced little or no damage, including the area around Tulane University, in Uptown, New Orleans. Abandoned housing projects that experienced minimal damage, like this one, could provide temporary housing to returning residents. Residents of the Lower Ninth Ward, which was essentially leveled during the storm, are still looking for answers.