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Nearly three years after hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the Gulf Coast region, recovery progress is evident. So are irrevocable change and the reminder that significant problems remain for those communities hit hardest by the storms. Local officials who once talked optimistically of rapid rebuilding and recovery now talk in terms of 10-year time frames.
One of the defining characteristics of the disaster created by hurricanes Katrina and Rita has been the unprecedented response of the nonprofit sector. From the very first hours after Hurricane Katrina left the Gulf Coast in pieces from New Orleans to Mobile through Hurricane Rita’s devastation of Cameron Parish, members of the nonprofit community have […]
Among the many types of federal disaster aid that have been sent to the Gulf Coast region in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, two major grant programs stand out both for the amount of money being funneled through them and for the flexibility they offer state and local governments trying to rebuild their […]
More than 18 months after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated a swath of the Gulf Coast from the Texas-Louisiana border to Mobile, Alabama, recovery and rebuilding efforts in the affected communities are best described as uneven. While some of the hardest hit areas have developed rebuilding plans that are guiding their efforts to piece their […]
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita wreaked havoc not only on the Gulf Coast region, but on every aspect of community life. Among the most affected areas were public school systems. Existing problems and concerns were magnified in the aftermath of the storms, while new problems emerged.
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita did not just devastate isolated communities; they irrevocably changed an entire region. There are degrees of damage and recovery, and what this study reveals most clearly is a natural separation of the affected communities into three distinct categories:
Governance of the fragmented system of levee districts in the southeast region of the state should be consolidated in a single board with the focused mission to coordinate flood control efforts for the entire area. This is a necessary foundation for securing investment in Louisiana’s recovery. A consolidated, regional levee authority would centralize responsibility for […]