Three years since Hurricane Katrina

Three years since Hurricane Katrina
By Naomi Spencer
30 August 2008

Three years ago, on August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall
on the US Gulf Coast. The storm devastated nearly 100,000 square miles
and displaced over a million people. New Orleans, Louisiana, bore the
brunt of this disaster, after the levee system failed and nearly 80
percent of the city was submerged.

Overwhelmingly those most deeply affected by Katrina were among the
poorest layers of the working class in a long-impoverished and
neglected region of the United States. In the days following the
hurricane’s landfall, the initial tragedy in New Orleans was
compounded by official neglect, incompetence, and military repression.

The storm and its aftermath exposed in the starkest way the gross
inequality at the heart of American social life. Thousands of New
Orleans residents stayed behind after a last-minute evacuation was
ordered—many of them extremely poor, without means of transportation,
disabled or elderly. The low-income and minority neighborhoods—low-
lying and long neglected—were virtually obliterated when adjacent
levee walls gave way.

Hundreds of residents who had survived the storm died while waiting
for medical care, water, and rescue. For days, thousands of New
Orleans residents were stranded on rooftops and closed interstate
ramps in the scorching heat, or crowded into makeshift emergency
shelters without any supplies.

As the situation grew more dire, the city was locked down, patrolled
by thousands of combat-armed National Guard troops, federal and police
units. Victims desperate for supplies and seeking shelter in higher-
elevation quarters were demonized by the government and media.

At least 1,836 people died, with many more missing and never accounted
for. A quarter of a million homes were destroyed and essential
infrastructure—bridges, hospitals, schools, sewer, electric and
communication lines—was left in ruins. Current official estimates
place the cost of storm and flooding damage at $89.6 billion, with
billions more in uninsured losses. Yet, as grim as these figures are,
they cannot convey the scope of social catastrophe that continues to
be felt in the region.

Currently the region is confronted with the possibility of another
large hurricane, as Tropical Storm Gustav builds strength in the
Caribbean. At this writing, Gulf Coast authorities are hastily laying
preparations for evacuations and have scheduled the deployment of
3,000 National Guard troops to the area to act as security.

However, reflecting the fact that no substantive improvements in
safety procedures were implemented after Katrina, no emergency
shelters are scheduled to open in New Orleans—nor are there any even
designated. In fact, city officials have described the decision as a
deliberate attempt to discourage residents from staying.

As of Friday, press reports indicate only 150 of 700 promised buses
have been secured for the anticipated evacuation of 30,000 city
residents. No shelter arrangements have been made for the nearly 7,000
families still consigned to living in flimsy, storm-vulnerable federal
trailers within the New Orleans metro area.

Federal emergency planning has been no better. In an editorial Friday,
the New York Times noted that the Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA) had not fulfilled promises of having an emergency housing plan
in place for the inevitable further hurricane damage along the Gulf
Coast.

According to the Times, FEMA officials presented “a skimpy draft
proposal” for such preparations a full year past Congress’s mandated
deadline. Noting that FEMA officials qualified the draft as “a
precursor to a plan” rather than a plan, the paper commented: “Most of
its required topic specialties—including how to house the poor and the
disabled, how to house victims close to their jobs, and how to manage
large camps for evacuees—were left blank. Instead, the proposal called
for handing those plans off to a task force of experts. And, oh yes,
that task force has yet to be formed.”

The lack of preparation at all levels of government represents yet
another invitation for disaster. This negligence further testifies to
the fraudulent, profiteering character of the Gulf Coast
reconstruction over the past several years and to its utter disregard
for the plight of the working class.

On August 24, the Associated Press reported that federal construction
on the levee system has been compromised by “a pattern of public
misperception, political jockeying and legal fighting, along with
economic and engineering miscalculations,” since 2005 that exposes New
Orleans to the threat of another catastrophic flood.

The levees are being rebuilt as “100-year” walls. According to the AP,
however, “experts say that every house being rebuilt in New Orleans
has a 26 percent chance of being flooded again over a 30-year
mortgage...” Moreover, “every child born in New Orleans would have
nearly a 60 percent chance of seeing a major flood in his or her
life.” The Army Corps of Engineers, responsible for the $14.8 billion
levee reconstruction project, has pushed back its completion date to
at least 2011.

Social conditions

On August 29, 2005, under the storm surge, levees surrounding New
Orleans breached in more than 50 places. Some 107,000 occupied housing
units in the city were flooded. Another 27,000 housing units were
damaged by wind, according to FEMA estimates. In total, 71 percent of
occupied residences in New Orleans were damaged.

Population regrowth has slowed substantially in 2008. Over the last
three years, the city has recovered slightly less than three-quarters
of its pre-Katrina population, according to a survey by the Greater
New Orleans Community Data Center of the Brookings Institution.

While the city continued to grow in population, the rate of return in
the past year was only three percent, compared to a rate of 20 percent
in 2006. Over the past year, the metro area added 8,000 jobs, less
than a quarter of the number added in 2006. This slowing suggests that
the city will not return to its former size, and that many displaced
residents have given up trying to rebuild their lives.

Significantly, more affluent areas—the higher-elevation tourist
districts such as the French Quarter and surrounding neighborhoods—
have seen their populations grow beyond 2005 levels. Neighborhoods
that were inundated by floodwaters, by contrast, remain largely
uninhabitable and in advanced decay. As of January 2008, the city’s
8th planning district—containing the destroyed Lower 9th Ward—had
recovered only 19 percent of its pre-storm inhabited residences.

Brookings Institution data revealed that as of March 2008, more than
71,600 residences in the city may be vacant or blighted. Post office
data suggests that of these, 65,000 residences are uninhabitable
buildings or empty lots.

In spite of the huge number of blighted properties in need of work or
removal, City Hall has issued only 10,541 permits for demolition of
uninhabitable structures in the past three years. Heavily damaged
parishes have still received less than half of promised FEMA funds
earmarked for debris removal and infrastructure repairs.

While the tourism-based economy of New Orleans has regrouped to a
great extent, the growth in jobs is concentrated heavily in low-wage
retail and hospitality sectors. At the same time, rent rates are now
46 percent higher than pre-Katrina rates. In 2008, an average two-
bedroom apartment rents for $990 in the city.

The homeless population in the city stands at 12,000 in 2008. In spite
of the immense need both of the homeless and the thousands of families
still subsisting in temporary FEMA trailers, New Orleans has 8,000
fewer low-income public housing units, and the city is pressing ahead
to close remaining subsidized apartment complexes. In addition, nearly
14,000 families depend on Disaster Housing Assistance Program
vouchers, which expire in March 2009. According to Brookings
Institution data, 86 percent of these households are living in hard-
hit Orleans and Jefferson parishes.

Beyond the burden of repairing homes, homeowners also face growing
housing burdens in the form of insurance rates. Following Katrina,
insurance premiums for Gulf Coast homeowners more than quadrupled.

As a result of the housing inflation, many workers have been priced
out of living in the city proper, leading to a shortage of workers in
childcare, education, maintenance, and other critical occupations.
Many working class families, who lost everything in the storm and were
unable to secure insurance and funds to rebuild, had no choice but to
pull up roots.

Public infrastructure in the city continues to languish. In the last
year, the public transit system saw a 45 percent increase in ridership—
adding more than 8,000 new riders. The increase reflects both the
economic growth of the city and the low-wage, exploited labor force
driving it.

Yet in spite of sharply increased need for public transit, the city
government added no new buses or routes. According to Brookings
Institution figures, as of June 2008, the number of public
transportation routes remained at half that of summer 2005, and the
number of buses remained at a mere 19 percent of those operated pre-
Katrina.

Other social infrastructure also operates at a fraction of its former
capacity. Most childcare facilities have not reopened and the public
school system has hemorrhaged, replaced with privately managed charter
school operations.

This year’s public school student population numbers less than 33,500,
and according to an August 17 report by the New Orleans Times-
Picayune, more than 75 percent of the city’s public school buildings
are listed in “poor” or “very poor” condition. Prior to the storm, the
school system was made up of 128 schools throughout the city;
currently 88 schools are slated to open for the fall, 50 of which are
charter schools. The Orleans Parish School Board plans have only 17
high schools—down from 28 pre-Katrina—operable by 2013.

By public health measures, the city has not recovered. Charity
Hospital, which cared for two-thirds of the city’s uninsured
population, closed after Katrina and has not been replaced or
reopened. At the same time, thousands more residents became uninsured
after losing their jobs and employer-covered health plans.

A survey of 1,294 adults living in Orleans parish earlier this year,
published August 13, revealed that the vast majority of residents
contend with serious physical or mental health problems as well as
lack of health care coverage. The survey, conducted by the Kaiser
Family Foundation between early March and late April, found that 84
percent of respondents suffered health problems; 65 percent reported
suffering from chronic conditions or disabilities and flagging health.

“Hurricane Katrina: Social Consequences & Political Lessons,” a
pamphlet from Mehring Books that brings together articles and
statements posted on the WSWS in the immediate aftermath of the
Katrina disaster, is also available for purchase online.

See Also:
Hurricane Katrina two years on
Part 1: New Orleans—A city in social and economic distress
[29 August 2007]

New Orleans: a scene of devastation and blight
Hurricane Katrina two years on—Part 2
[31 August 2007]

Hurricane Katrina two years on
Part 3: New Orleans levees still not rebuilt
[1 September 2007]

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