Five years ago, my life, like the lives of millions of others, changed. I was one of the thousands of people who went to the Gulf Coast to try to help, to do anything to address what can only be called the summer of ultimate hell. Two monster hurricanes, Katrina and Rita, smashed into the coastlines of Mississippi and Louisiana killing hundreds, costing billions and forever changing our nation.
This week I've come back to the Gulf Coast to retrace many of the steps I took five years ago. Along the way, I've reconnected with people I worked with back then and have taken a good look at the lives, land and future of one of the world's most unique places. For as much as the news media will offer their five-year retrospectives on the anniversaries of these two unprecedented and tragic storms, it can't begin to capture how much lives have changed here.
New Orleans
While the street cars still go up Poydras Street, the music and debauchery overflow on Bourbon Street and the glass and facade of the Convention Center in New Orleans are pristinely intact, the wounds left by Katrina remain raw for some.
In some parts, any mention of the word FEMA will give you an almost instant reaction of fury. Like flipping on a light switch, some of the people you speak with will almost instantaneously recount for you their nightmares of frustrations, paperwork and bureaucratic battles that boggle the mind. After they finish releasing their angst about FEMA, many of them will then go into a blistering listing of the faults they see with the State and local governments who weren't ready to deal with any semblance of Katrina's fury.
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