From AccuWeather.com

Meteorologists Recall Heart-Wrenching Memories of Issuing Dire Katrina Warnings to Public

As Hurricane Katrina barreled towards the Gulf Coast, peaking at Category 5 strength while feasting on the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, meteorologists around the country prepared to deliver one of the most crucial and life-saving forecasts in history.

While forecasters had no way to determine that the storm would produce $108 billion in damage, becoming the costliest hurricane in U.S. history, and claim nearly 2,000 lives, they knew that the storm would be destructive and that a devastating situation was about to unfold.

AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Bernie Rayno said among his fellow forecasters in the office, there was a belief that the storm was going to be a problem, especially after it rapidly increased in size following its initial encounter with the coast of Florida on Aug. 25-26.

How Katrina became so massive, so quickly, was an “unbelievable sight” but also a scary one, Rayno said. As he pointed out, once a storm enters the Gulf, it becomes virtually trapped by the surrounding landmasses and then it’s only a question of where the storm will deliver damaging impacts.

At one point, Katrina probably spanned about three-quarters of the Gulf of Mexico, AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dan Kottlowski said.

Three days before the storm made landfall as a Category 3, AccuWeather meteorologists urged residents to take action as they warned of a “catastrophe in the making in New Orleans” and predicted that “Katrina could be one of the top Gulf hits in modern times.”

“Katrina’s huge storm surge will likely breach levees to the southeast of the city, and winds from the north will push the waters of Lake Pontchartrain over the levees on the north side. The resulting flooding may overwhelm the city’s pumps and parts of the city could remain under water for days or weeks,” AccuWeather Meteorologists said the day before Katrina’s landfall.

Hurricane Katrina shortly after landfall, Aug. 29, 2005, as captured by NOAA’s GOES-12 weather satellite. (Photo/NOAA)

One of the indelible memories for Rayno was on when he heard former AccuWeather Director of Forecasting Ken Reeves, who later passed away in 2012, state that he didn’t believe the levees would hold and estimated up to 70 percent of New Orleans would be underwater. Later that night, one day before landfall, AccuWeather forecasters took to the air to deliver the dire prediction.

As it turned out, after the failure of the federal levee system, a staggering 80 percent of the city was inundated.

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Rayno, who had gone on the air with several news organizations to convey the severity of the situation, said he didn’t sleep much the night before Katrina’s Aug. 29 landfall in southeastern Louisiana. Predicting devastation can put meteorologists in an unbelievable situation, he said.

If the forecast is accurate, it ultimately means lives will likely be lost. If the storm is much less severe and dangerous than predicted, forecasters lose credibility and trust with the public.

“It’s tremendous conflict; all you can hope for is that all the precautions were taken, that if you are indeed correct,” he said.

Robert Ricks, lead forecaster for the National Weather Service New Orleans/Baton Rouge office in Slidell, Louisiana, said it was the morning of Aug. 27, when he first glimpsed the enormous size of Katrina’s eye on satellite imagery as it moved away from Key West, Florida. It was right then he knew this would be an unprecedented event.

Ricks was the coordinator in his office the day before Katrina’s landfall. As the storm churned ever closer to his home turf, using a combination of past hurricane experiences and forecaster training, he issued a stark inland hurricane wind warning that pulled no punches about the magnitude of the storm, and began simply with: “devastating damage expected.”

Other sections distinctly covered the longer-term consequences of what would happen after Katrina moved through the area:

“MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS…PERHAPS LONGER. AT LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL…LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.”

“POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS…AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.”

It also said that airborne debris would become widespread and strong enough to move household appliances along with light vehicles and trucks.

“PERSONS…PETS…AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK,” it read.

The statement, which can be read in its entirety here, was one of several Katrina-related objects that were later curated by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and is also in the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum, in Dallas, Texas.

Ricks said there was nothing out of the ordinary about writing the statement and it felt similar to issuing one of the hundreds of severe thunderstorm or tornado warnings in his career. It didn’t become an unordinary event until he received several phone calls shortly after it went out, asking about the validity of the product issued and if it indeed came from their office.

After things had settled down, and Ricks had confirmed that he had indeed issued the statement, he was brewing a cup of coffee when a chill came over him.

“I was like ‘wow, what did I just do?’ then that’s when it started… second thoughts and things like that crossed my mind, ‘this is something not routine at this point,'” he said.

It was only then, he said, when he thought it had a chance to backfire, but Ricks and his fellow staff members kept the same tone of the warning and subsequently issued it several more times prior to landfall.

The statement was created using ready-made statements that described various impacts that correlated with the different intensities of hurricanes and had been previously organized by the NWS office in Tampa Bay.

As he scanned the impacts, Ricks realized that all of them applied to Katrina so he couldn’t leave any of them out of his warning. After experiencing many previous hurricanes, including Camille in 1969, he had a basis of reference to utilize when determining what impacts would be felt.

The warning turned out to be a bit of a paradox, Ricks said, as the catastrophic impacts suffered in Louisiana were more attributed to storm surge and not wind.

One key component of the warning was the phrase “rivaling the strength of Hurricane Camille of 1969.” In the past decade, Ricks said social science has indicated that was a bit of a deterrent. Meaning, while Ricks was trying to communicate the intensity of the storm, people internalized their own impacts that they remembered from Camille. If they lived in an area that wasn’t greatly impacted from Camille, they would think it would be fine to ride out Katrina.

“But the other impacts that were included in there, those I think hit home and then that got people to thinking, ‘wow if this is the case, then I don’t want to be part of it,'” he said.

Looking back, Ricks said he was glad that he crafted the warning, because he was simply looking to provide the public with a relevant service, which is why he became a meteorologist and eventually wanted to work for the NWS.

“However, I’m hoping I never have to do it again,” he said.

Kottlowski said he also remembered people comparing the situation to Camille, which was a more compact hurricane, so therefore its concentrated energy was over a much smaller area, he said.

“Katrina was three times as large as what Camille was,” Kottlowski said. “So its energy was spread over a much larger area. So it affected a much larger area of the coast.”

For Kottlowski, it was at least three days in advance of Katrina hitting the Gulf Coast when he knew there would be major impacts. Reading the strong forecast language wasn’t a surprise, because Katrina was such a bad storm, he said.

“I think that the surprising thing for me was how people didn’t react to it as much as they should have. A lot of people did [react], but people have to keep in mind that any major city that is hit by a major storm like that, they’re gonna have problems.”

“The problem is you never know how people are going to react to it. You never know what the exact outcome is going to be,” Kottlowski said.

From NWS New Orleans

Hurricane Katrina – A Look Back 10 Years Later
Meteorological History  |  Satellite & Radar  |  Storm Impact  |  Storm Statistics

Hurricane Katrina was the costliest and one of the deadliest hurricanes to strike the United States in recorded history.  Katrina’s destruction wasn’t limited to just Louisiana and Mississippi with damage reported as far east as the Florida Panhandle due to the large wind field and storm surge associated with the hurricane.  In all, Hurricane Katrina was responsible for 1,833 fatalities and caused $108 billion in damage [unadjusted 2005 dollars].

Meteorological History

Hurricane Katrina formed from the combination of a tropical wave, an upper-level trough, and the mid-level remnants of Tropical Depression Ten. A tropical depression formed on August 23 about 200 miles southeast of Nassau in the Bahamas. Moving northwestward, it became Tropical Storm Katrina during the following day about 75 miles east-southeast of Nassau. The storm moved through the northwestern Bahamas on August 24-25, and then turned westward toward southern Florida. Katrina became a hurricane just before making landfall near the Miami-Dade/Broward county line during the evening of August 25. The hurricane moved southwestward across southern Florida into the eastern Gulf of Mexico on August 26. Katrina then strengthened significantly, reaching Category 5 intensity on August 28. Later that day, maximum sustained winds reached 175 mph with an aircraft-measured central pressure of 902 mb while centered about 195 miles southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River. Katrina turned to the northwest and then north, with the center making landfall near Buras, Louisiana at 1110 UTC August 29 with maximum winds estimated at 125 mph (Category 3). Continuing northward, the hurricane made a second landfall near the Louisiana/Mississippi border at 1445 UTC with maximum winds estimated at 120 mph (Category 3). Weakening occurred as Katrina moved north-northeastward over land, but it was still a hurricane near Laurel, Mississippi. The cyclone weakened to a tropical depression over the Tennessee Valley on 30 August. Katrina became an extratropical low on August 31 and was absorbed by a frontal zone later that day over the eastern Great Lakes.

Katrina brought hurricane conditions to southeastern Louisiana, southern Mississippi, and southwestern Alabama. The Coastal Marine Automated Network (C-MAN) station at Grand Isle, Louisiana reported 10-minute average winds of 87 mph at 0820 UTC August 29 with a gust to 114 mph. Higher winds likely occurred there and elsewhere, as many stations were destroyed, lost power, or lost communications during the storm. Storm surge flooding of 25 to 28 feet above normal tide level occurred along portions of the Mississippi coast, with storm surge flooding of 10 to 20 feet above normal tide levels along the southeastern Louisiana coast. Hurricane conditions also occurred over southern Florida and the Dry Tortugas. The National Hurricane Center reported sustained winds of 69 mph at 0115 UTC August 26 with a gust to 87 mph. Additionally, tropical storm conditions occurred along the northern Gulf coast as far east as the coast of the western Florida Panhandle, as well as in the Florida Keys. Katrina caused 10 to 14 inches of rain over southern Florida, and 8 to 12 inches of rain along its track inland from the northern Gulf coast. Thirty-three tornadoes were reported from the storm.

Here are links to reports published by both the New Orleans Weather Forecast Office and the National Hurricane Center.  For additional information please reference this link.

Satellite & Radar

Here are some satellite images as Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the morning of August 29th, 2005

Here are some radar images from the WSR-88D radar based out of Slidell as Hurricane Katrina made Landfall.

WSR-88D radar image from Slidell at 5:54 AM CDT(1054 UTC) on August 29, 2005. Katrina’s eye was passing over Plaquemines Parish, LA.

WSR-88D radar image from Slidell at 8:16 AM CDT(1316 UTC) on August 29, 2005. Katrina’s eye was passing over St. Bernard Parish, LA.

WSR-88D radar image from Slidell at 10:10 AM CDT (1510 UTC) on August 29, 2005. Katrina’s eye was passing over the Pearl River on the Louisiana-Mississippi border.

WSR-88D radar loop as the eye of Hurricane Katrina moved over the region.

Storm Impact

A very large storm surge ranging from 10 to 28 feet impacted much of the coastal areas across Southeast Louisiana and Coastal Mississippi.  The highest and most devastating storm surge was recorded in the Bay St. Louis and Pass Christian, MS areas where storm surge heights approached 28 feet.   Extreme devastation was recorded along the Mississippi coast due to the combination of storm surge and battering waves with very few structures left standing.  In Southeast Louisiana, storm surge values ranged from 10 to 20 feet and impacted areas extending from Terrebonne Parish to the Northshore communities of Lake Pontchartrain including Mandeville and Slidell.  Extensive damage to structures was observed throughout these areas.  The storm surge overtopped the federal levee system in Orleans and St. Bernard Parishes leading to levee failures and extensive flooding of homes in these parishes.  The devastation caused by the storm surge of Hurricane Katrina resulted in one of the largest displacements of a population since the Great Depression.

The following are some images of the destruction caused by the wind and storm surge of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana and Mississippi.

Storm Statistics

For additional statistics go to either the local post-storm report produced by the New Orleans WFO, or to the National Hurricane Center Tropical Cyclone Report.

From Washington Post

Ten years after Katrina: The science behind the most damaging hurricane in U.S. history

Hurricane Katrina at peak intensity in the Gulf of Mexico, August 28, 2005. (NOAA)

August 29, 2005 was the day that Hurricane Katrina unleashed its wrath on the north central Gulf Coast, devastating Mississippi and Louisiana with strong winds, record storm surge, and catastrophic flooding.

According to the National Hurricane Center, 1836 fatalities are directly attributed to the storm with estimates of damage exceeding $100 billion dollars, making Katrina also the most damaging hurricane in United States history. We revisit the meteorological conditions that made Katrina as damaging and destructive as it was.

[Ten years after Katrina: The monster hurricane in 10 terrifying images]

The 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was the most active season on record with 28 named storms (winds of at least 39 mph) forming, shattering the record of 20 named storms set in 1933. By the time Katrina formed on August 24 (two weeks prior to the midpoint of the season), 2005 already had eleven named storms and five hurricanes – nearly the average number of storms experienced in an entire average season!

Hurricanes require very warm sea surface temperatures (SSTs), typically greater than 80 degrees Fahrenheit, to develop, with even warmer SSTs critical for intensification. At the time of Katrina’s development, SSTs were much warmer than normal across most of the tropical Atlantic, including north of Hispaniola where it formed.

SST anomalies – or difference from normal – across the global oceans during the week of Katrina’s formation. The entire tropical Atlantic and Caribbean was much warmer than normal. (NOAA)

Another critical ingredient for hurricanes is mid-level moisture. Higher levels of moisture help promote deep thunderstorm development which is essential for hurricane maintenance. Mid-level moisture values were much higher than normal in the region surrounding Hispaniola when Katrina was getting organized.

Mid-level relative humidity anomalies in the tropical Atlantic and Caribbean for the three weeks prior to the development of Katrina. (NOAA)

A third critical component for hurricane intensification and maintenance is minimal vertical wind shear. Too much shear rips off the tops of thunderstorms and also disrupts the “in-up-and-out” circulation of a well-developed hurricane. Vertical wind shear was much weaker than normal across the tropical Atlantic and Caribbean in the days leading up to Katrina’s formation.

Vertical shear anomalies – or differences from normal – across the tropical Atlantic and Caribbean in the three weeks leading up to the formation of Katrina. (NOAA)

Hurricane Katrina formed from the remnants of Tropical Depression 10 as well as an additional tropical wave. Tropical Depression 10 was first identified as an “invest”, the predecessor of a tropical depression, on August 11, then became a depression two days later. The depression dissipated into an open wave on the 18th, but remained a trackable feature as it moved just north of Puerto Rico and Hispaniola. On August 22, a new invest was initiated north of Haiti, and this quickly became Tropical Depression 12 over the eastern Bahamas, which was upgraded to Tropical Storm Katrina the following day.

Katrina reached hurricane strength prior to making an initial landfall near Miami, Florida on the evening of August 25, then intensified rapidly once it reached the Gulf of Mexico. It left the Florida peninsula with maximum sustained winds of about 75 mph (Category 1), reached 115 mph (Category 3) 30 hours later, and after another 24 hours, on August 28, it had exploded into a large and powerful Category 5 storm in the central Gulf of Mexico with incredible 175 mph sustained winds in the eyewall.

Track of Hurricane Katrina and its predecessors.

To put the “large” size in perspective, here is a simple schematic comparing the average diameter of tropical storm and hurricane force winds for Atlantic hurricanes (center) to that of Katrina (right) and Andrew (left).  Katrina’s diameter of hurricane-force winds at peak intensity was over twice the average, and over three times the size of Andrew’s when it was at the same intensity.

One of the primary reasons Katrina rapidly intensified over the Gulf of Mexico was due to very high levels of upper ocean heat content in the Gulf.  Ocean heat content is a measure of the depth of warm water.  A high ocean heat content means that warm water extends fairly deep.

The very warm ocean eddy that Katrina tracked over in the central Gulf was associated with the Loop Current which transports warm Caribbean water northward towards the Gulf of Mexico and Florida Keys. As you can see from the track, it intensified as it passed over the high ocean heat content region, and began to weaken once it exited that region.

Vertical shear was quite low throughout Katrina’s lifetime. On August 28, when Katrina was at its peak intensity, vertical shear throughout most of the Gulf of Mexico was below 12 mph (10 knots).

Vertical shear, in knots, as estimated from satellite imagery near the time of Katrina’s peak intensity on August 28. (CIMSS)

The combination of the very warm, deep ocean and light upper-level winds helped fuel Katrina’s intensification into the monster that it became.

Thankfully, the storm weakened quite a bit by the time it reached the northern Gulf Coast. It’s hard to imagine the result if it hadn’t.

The peak winds at its second landfall on the southern tip of Louisiana had decreased to 125 mph, but when combined with its enormous size, was still more than enough to generate a record-smashing 28-foot storm surge in Mississippi.

Storm surge from Katrina affected everywhere from the south tip of Florida over to near where the eye crossed the Louisiana coastline, with peak heights observed in Mississippi. (SURGEDAT)

The devastating flooding in New Orleans was not a bona-fide storm surge like the ones observed in Mississippi and Alabama that morning. It was the result of the failure of levees that were designed to hold back high water.  And they did… for a while. However, once they began to fail, the nightmare quickly unfolded as Lake Pontchartrain flowed into the low-lying portions of the city.

The storm details and aftermath associated with Katrina were long-known to be a significant vulnerability in the U.S. Studies and documentaries done years before Katrina occurred basically outlined exactly what happened… it was a ticking time bomb. And it could certainly happen again.

More Katrina from The Washington Post

On Mississippi’s Gulf Coast, what was lost and gained from Katrina’s fury

What we’ve learned about hurricanes and climate change since Katrina

The next big one

Turkey Creek, Miss., the town where nobody died in Katrina

What Hurricane Katrina has taught us about ‘post-traumatic growth’

White people in New Orleans say they’re better off after Katrina. Black people don’t.

A decade into the Katrina diaspora

A Katrina hero: He hopped into a boat and became a one-man rescue squad

Decimated by Katrina, a city still rebuilding (Video)

The last time I saw my mother

A Shattered Community: New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward Remains a Solemn Katrina Memorial Despite Reconstruction

By Kevin Byrne, AccuWeather.com Staff Writer

August 31, 2015; 4:25 AM ET

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See larger image below.

On Aug. 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina left the city of New Orleans in ruin and turmoil. Due to a devastating storm surge, 80 percent of the city became submerged, resulting in a 53-day cleanup to drain a staggering 250 billion gallons of water.

According to the Data Center, an independent organization that provides statistical analysis of pertinent issues in southeastern Louisiana, 134,000 housing units suffered damage, and over 40 out of the city’s 72 neighborhoods suffered catastrophic flooding. Across the Gulf Coast region, more than one million people were displaced.

Since that fateful day, no area of the city has had its struggle become more closely associated with Katrina’s wrath than the Lower Ninth Ward. As a result of its location near a poorly designed shipping canal known as the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, which provided a direct route for the storm surge, and wall failures along the Industrial Canal, the neighborhood was overwhelmed by the massive wall of water.

This aerial image shows the Lower Ninth Ward still flooded on Sept. 17, 2005. (Photo/FEMA/Marvin Nauman)

A ‘Harrowing’ Experience

Robert Green, 60, a 48-year resident of the Lower Ninth, was one of many homeowners who suffered great loss as a result of Katrina.

As he recalled the “harrowing” ordeal, Green said his home had flooded up to the attic within five minutes, which forced him to scramble onto the rooftop along with his mother, three granddaughters, cousin and brother. The house was soon ripped off its foundation by the raging floodwaters and began floating down the street, during which time his 3-year-old granddaughter drowned.

Green found himself immersed in the rapidly rising floodwaters, fighting for survival and trying to keep his family together. Left stranded for seven hours out in the wind and rain, they had drifted to another rooftop before other residents, who had boats and launched impromptu rescue missions, came to their aid.

“It was neighbors helping neighbors first,” Green said.

In addition to losing his home and granddaughter, Green said his mother drowned and was resuscitated, before later dying as a result of being out in the elements. He also very nearly had to get his right hand amputated after it became septic when a small cut became exposed to polluted floodwaters. It wasn’t until four days after the storm, with travel assistance provided by his brother’s company, Travel Centers of America, he was able to fly to Nashville for emergency care at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

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The fact that Green and his family became stranded was the unfortunate outcome of an evacuation that would never materialize. One day earlier, they were packed and set to journey to Nashville, Tennessee, to ride out the storm with Green’s brother.

They would never make it past Baton Rouge. The drive north, which is typically nearly two hours, turned into a maddening 14-hour crawl. The normal flow of traffic stopped, thanks to close to a million people taking to the interstate to flee as Katrina hurtled towards the coastline.

Remembering Katrina: The Untold Story of the Lower Ninth Ward

Instead, Green and his family had to return to New Orleans, as his mother was very ill and couldn’t continue on the road. They headed directly towards the Superdome for refuge, but because his mother was so sick, and the stadium didn’t have the necessary medical equipment to accommodate her, it left their home as the last resort.

The Struggle to Rebuild

Today, Green is back in his rebuilt home on Tennessee Street, after several years in a FEMA trailer, and he has been living there since July 2009. The house was rebuilt with the assistance of Brad Pitt’s Make It Right foundation, one of many non-profits or community groups working to the restore the proud community. Yet, the struggle to return home for a large percentage of homeowners remains.

New Orleans lost more than half its population as a result of Katrina, 484,674 in April of 2000 versus 230,172 in July of 2006, but recent data indicates it has recovered substantially. More than half of New Orleans’ 72 neighborhoods have regained over 90 percent of their occupied households before the storm, according to the Data Center. The U.S. Census Bureau said New Orleans is once again among one of the 50 most populous cities, ranking 50th with 384,320 residents.

However, the Lower Ninth Ward is one of four neighborhoods in the city, along with B.W. Cooper, Florida Development and Iberville with a current population less than half of what it was pre-Katrina, the Data Center reports. As of June of 2015, the Lower Ninth has recovered only 37 percent of its population.

Downed power lines and debris litter this street of the Lower Ninth Ward on Sept. 18, 2005. (Photo/FEMA/Andrea Booher)

There are numerous reasons for why the Lower Ninth Ward remains far behind in rebuilding and population. According to information provided by the Lower Ninth Ward Homeownership Association, only 700 of 1,435 families have made it home.

According to the Homeownership Association, delays in patching the levees left homes sitting in water until Oct. 12. Then, the group said water in the neighborhood was shut off to improve pressure for the rest of the city and residents couldn’t begin rebuilding until water service was restored. Potable water was restored to part of the Lower Ninth in May of 2006, while it wasn’t until later that October when full service was restored.

In 2008, a lawsuit was filed by housing advocates on behalf of several African-American homeowners against Louisiana’s “Road Home” program and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The suit alleged the formula that allocated grants to homeowners through Road Home, which paid out based on the pre-storm market value as opposed to what it would cost to rebuild, had a discriminatory impact of thousands of African-American homeowners. A settlement of $62 million was reached in 2011.

Jon Skvarka, executive director of Rebuilding Together New Orleans, said his group has helped complete 495 projects, ranging from home rehabilitations to simple modifications since 2005.

Skvarka said the group looks to rebuild organically, meaning the group only does work when neighborhood leaders request assistance. In one section of the Lower Ninth where they have worked, Skvarka said the Holy Cross neighborhood is doing “quite well” as housing prices have stabilized and grown and long-term homeowners are back.

“Population-wise, it’s pretty close to what it was pre-Katrina,” Skvarka said.

But above Claiborne Avenue, a major thoroughfare in the locale, it becomes noticeable that the recovery is taking longer, he said.

Signs of Optimism

The challenge of getting the neighborhood fully rebuilt and back to pre-Katrina status is an arduous one. However, there has been recent momentum in restoring quality of life to the community, with an increase of 150 households in the last year, the homeownership association said.

An aerial image from 2014 shows the rebuilding progress in the Lower Ninth Ward. (Photo/Kevin Scott/Make it Right)

According to data released by the city of New Orleans, $500 million was invested in the community since Katrina, with the funds helping pave the way for capital projects such as a new community center, two new playgrounds and a new building for New Orleans Fire Department Engine 39 Fire Station.

A new high school is being constructed at a cost of $32.4 million and is scheduled to open this fall. Nearly $60 million was spent on infrastructure improvements and road repairs. A new CVS pharmacy, the first major retailer to commit to the Lower Ninth Ward since the storm, is also scheduled to open later this year.

As part of a $14.5 billion Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction System, a 26-foot-high, 1.8-mile-long storm surge barrier is now in place to shield the neighborhood from future storm surges that arise from the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Borgne.

Prior to Katrina, the Lower Ninth Ward was described as a vibrant, family-oriented neighborhood full of hard-working people. A decade later, that hasn’t changed, according to Green.

“It’s basically no different than it was before,” Green said. “Only difference is the numbers of people. It’s still a quiet neighborhood. It’s still a community neighborhood. It’s still a family-oriented neighborhood, and we’re free and safe of crime.”

“We don’t have these issues that people think we do,” he added.

This block of colorful homes was rebuilt by Make it Right. (Photo/Kevin Scott/Make it Right)

His neighbors directly to the right and left of his house haven’t returned yet, but in his smaller neighborhood in the northern section of the Lower Ninth, which sits just below the Industrial Canal, Green said his subsection of the community has had plenty of reconstruction thanks to Make it Right and the St. Bernard Project.

The Lower Ninth Ward Homeownership Association has secured $4 million in funding from Road Home and other supplemental funding: enough money to help 34 families come home. The group is still involved with up to 100 additional families and looking to assist in their return as well.

Citing Superstorm Sandy’s damage along the East Coast in 2012, as the most recent example of what the Lower Ninth Ward went through, Green stressed his community is no different than any other productive American neighborhood.

“We [are] a thriving neighborhood and a thriving community and we’re going to keep on moving forward,” he said.

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Have questions, comments, or a story to share? Email Kevin Byrne at [email protected], follow him on Twitter at @Accu_Kevin. Follow us @breakingweather, or on Facebook and Google+.

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Tags: Hurricane Katrina, Katrina 10, New Orleans Katrina