Response to Katrina may last a decade

Zachary Hoffman in Disaster News Network: The historic Roosevelt Hotel here has reopened its doors four years after Hurricane Katrina dumped ten feet of water in its basement, restored to its former glory thanks to a $145 million renovation. However, the rest of Louisiana could be in for another 10 years of rebuilding.

Christina Stephens of the Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA) said, “The Northridge earthquake is the only other natural disaster that compares in scope to Katrina and it took 13 years to close out.” “You’ll probably see some infrastructure work that lasts for another 10 years,” said Stephens. “In major projects alone.”

It is not for lack of effort or spending that recovery still has a long way to go, more than $9 billion has been spent in infrastructure and $8 billion in housing over the years. Faith-based relief organizations have poured a lot of sweat into rebuilding homes since the storms thundered over and agree that while a lot of progress has been made there is still much to be done….

A New Orleans dentist's office took on four feet of water after Katrina. These are his chairs put out for trash, shot by William Rappold, Wikimedia Commons, under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2