The Lower Ninth Ward

On August Monday 29th, 2005, the city of New Orleans was hit by a horrible hurricane. This phenomenon was named Hurricane Katrina, and it was a category 5 hurricane with winds over 120 miles per hour which sound very dangerous. As usual, city officials and the governor advised everyone to evacuate the city since heavy rain was expected, and it could  cause a flood that will affect about 14,000 people. Many people did evacuated except people form the Lower Ninth Ward which the predominant race was African Americans. This was the poorest neighbor in the city, and they did not have any place to go, and obviously no money to go away to another city. Their only alternative was to stay and pray for no disaster to happen. However, it did not went so well since about 80 % of New Orleans was  flooded. After the heavy rains and high winds were over, everything left was completely destroyed or houses, and cars ended  up in other places. One of the survivors said " there are no words to describe the intense of the devastation caused by the flooding" ( Hurricane Katrina: The Drive: New Orleans Lower 9th Ward).

 

 

In the other hand, the government help them, but affected people were still hopeless because they had loss absolutely everything including their loves ones since thousands of people died or were reported as dismissed.  Many years later, the Lower Ninth ward was not recover from the hurricane, and the grass was as tall as people so that it looked like a "ghost town" ( Blackvoices article).

  

 

The situation was so critical that polation decreased from 14,008 to 5,500 people, At this point politicians and volunteers still are trying to make New orleand what it looked like years ago. The actor Brad Pitt contributed to created 50 modernistic houses which was a noble cause from him. But, even though people tried to help, residents from the Lower Ninth Ward feel "left behind" (Blackvoices article) because there are too many things to get done. In addiction,  one of the main reasons this neighborhood has not progress yet is because they are a the neighbor with the lower income, and that is why some section of this devastated neighbor still inaccessible.

 

Bibliography:

 

 "6 Years After Katrina, Lower 9th Ward Still Bleak." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 28 Aug. 2011. Web. 12 Nov. 2012. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/28/6-years-after-katrina-low_n_939782.html.

 

"Hurricane Katrina: The Drive: New Orleans Lower 9th Ward." Interview. Web log post. YouTube. YouTube, 16 June 2006. Web. 12 Nov. 2012. http://www.youtube.com/.