Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Louisiana on 29th August 2005, wreaking damage in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, the parishes of St. Tammany (Slidell), Jefferson (Gretna), Terrebonne (Houma), Plaquemines (Buras), Lafourche (Thibodaux), and St. Bernard (Chalmette), to name but a few. Areas declared as Federal Disaster locations are illustrated in the figure. 1836 people lost their lives, 705 were missing and more than a million people displaced. To date, almost $335M has been spent in recovery and rebuilding efforts.
As we approach the tenth anniversary, it is time to reflect on the disaster, the long-term recovery and lessons that have been learned. Other groups either have or will be hosting events to commemorate the disaster. These include the American Meteorological Society's panel discussion on 11th June, National Service's website documenting their actions during and post disaster to assist recovery, a host of art, music and theatre events in New Orleans, and an exhibition of the recovery to name a few.
ECEP will be joining this by hosting a series of guest blog posts from different perspectives around the forecast, recovery, aftermath and lessons learned. Some of the contributors in this series are:
