Photo Gallery: New Orleans remembers those lost to Hurricane Katrina 15 years later

‘Our spirit didn’t die that day,’ 9th Ward resident says

By: JC Canicosa - August 30, 2020 2:17 pm

A second-line parade begins near where the wall of the Industrial Canal gave way Aug. 29, 2005. The Hip Hop Caucus and New Orleans Commemoration Foundation held multiple events on Aug. 29 to commemorate the lives lost after Hurricane Katrina. (Photo by JC Canicosa / Louisiana Illuminator)

Robert Green lost his 3-year-old granddaughter and 73-year-old mother when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans on Aug. 29, 2005. Fifteen years later, Green spoke to a socially distanced crowd at a healing ceremony in their honor.

“Our spirit didn’t die that day, Green said. “Our spirit has been lifted by all the people who came, and it has been lifted by this event that we have on this levee.”

The Hip Hop Caucus and the New Orleans Commemoration Foundation hosted a second-line parade and a rally to commemorate the lives lost after Hurricane Katrina near where the Industrial Canal floodwall broke.

: Robert Green speaks to a crowd near where the levees broke 15 years ago. A second line marches down near where the levees broke 15 years ago. The Hip Hop Caucus and New Orleans Commemoration Foundation held multiple events on Aug. 29 to commemorate the lives lost after Hurricane Katrina. (Photo by JC Canicosa / Louisiana Illuminator)

: A second-line parade begins near where the wall of the Industrial Canal gave way Aug. 29, 2005. The Hip Hop Caucus and New Orleans Commemoration Foundation held multiple events on Aug. 29 to commemorate the lives lost after Hurricane Katrina. (Photo by JC Canicosa / Louisiana Illuminator)

: Sess 4-5 introduces the brass band. The Hip Hop Caucus and New Orleans Commemoration Foundation held multiple events on Aug. 29 to commemorate the lives lost after Hurricane Katrina. (Photo by JC Canicosa / Louisiana Illuminator)

Hurricane Katrina killed 1,833 people total, almost 1,600 of them in Louisiana and about a thousand of those in New Orleans. In the Lower 9th Ward, where Green spoke and where Saturday’s memorial second-line began, the force of the water pouring out of the Industrial Canal obliterated some houses and pushed many others off their piers.

After addressing the audience, Sino, one of the members of the New Orleans Commemoration Foundation, told a reporter that Saturday’s event is a reminder that anything can happen to communities in Louisiana. The week before the commemoration, Louisianians were advised to prepare for two storms approaching from the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane Marco quickly fizzled when it reached Louisiana, but Hurricane Laura struck Southwest Louisiana as a Category 4. Gov. John Bel Edwards said Thursday that it made landfall as the strongest recorded storm to hit Louisiana.

“It’s just being aware,” Sino said. “We just had a big storm pass through and our prayers and blessings out to the people in Lake Charles, Cameron and those in west Louisiana parishes.”

As for Hurricane Katrina, he renamed it “Hurricane America” because, he said, “Katrina didn’t do this to us. America did. To this day, (the government) still hasn’t taken responsibility for it,” he said.

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JC Canicosa

JC Canicosa is a former Louisiana Illuminator reporter. Prior to working with the Illuminator, Canicosa worked for Investigate-TV and The Loyola Maroon. Canicosa earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Loyola University New Orleans. At Loyola, he was the senior staff writer at The Maroon and the president of the school's chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Off the clock, Canicosa enjoys playing basketball, watching movies and dabbling in comedy writing.