ISSUE: Two years after Hurricane Katrina

OUR VIEW: Hard to believe the crisis that continues

It's hard to believe the condition of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region two years after Hurricane Katrina. The great storm of 2005 is surely the nation's worst modern-day natural disaster.

T&D Staff Writer Gene Zaleski reported on the storm in 2005 with a particular focus on those who fled in Katrina's aftermath. This week he revisited the stories of the survivors, sitting down with Debra Sylvester. The New Orleans woman and her family found refuge with other family here.

Sylvester remains, with her husband having gone to Baton Rouge for work and her two adult children in other locations. She's been back to New Orleans on several occasions.

She echoes the stories of most during this period in which Katrina is being relived: New Orleans is a city that has not been rebuilt. People have not returned en masse. Neighborhoods lay in ruins -- still.

"For those areas hardest hit, things are not whole or complete there," Sylvester said. "I hope the American people will not forget New Orleans or the Gulf Coast area because there is still a lot that has to be done."

S

heila Crowley, president of the National Low Income Housing Coalition paints the picture:

"Hurricanes Katrina and Rita damaged 1 million homes in four states; 300,000 homes were destroyed. Nearly three-quarters (71 percent) of the homes that were destroyed were affordable to low-income families before the storm. The shockingly slow pace of rebuilding damaged homes has been well-documented.

"Replacement of housing that was lost is even slower. Even if all the replacement housing that was planned is actually built, which will not happen, there was never any intention by state and local governments to come close to replacing the affordable rental housing stock that was destroyed.

"Thus, two years later, at least 106,000 mostly low-income families remain displaced. Some 31,000 families are still receiving FEMA rent assistance.

"Another 11,500 families who received HUD housing assistance prior to the storm are still getting disaster housing aid through HUD. And 65,000 families still reside in FEMA-issued travel trailers and manufactured homes; 15,000 live in trailer camps with the remainder in trailers on their own property."

The organization Campaign for America's Future echoes the assessment: The federal government has failed to rebuild devastated areas. With more than 250,000 former residents of New Orleans still scattered across the country, a new report finds the basic infrastructure of a once-great city is still in shambles.

Back from a recent trip to Katrina-ravaged areas, House Majority Whip James Clyburn of South Carolina, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus Task Force on Hurricane Katrina, stated:

"Hurricane Katrina not only devastated an entire region, it destroyed American confidence in the response of their federal government. Two years later, we are still trying to overcome the tremendous damage and loss in the Gulf Coast. Under the leadership of this Congress, we have launched a new direction to rebuild the trust that government can and will be responsive to all of our citizens in time of crisis."

The people are waiting -- those still living along the Gulf Coast, those waiting to return and those now convinced they never will. For so many, life will be defined in terms of before Katrina and after the big storm.

As for Sylvester, she has hope -- but has decided there will be no return to the New Orleans she called home for 26 years.

"I don't think I want to go through that again. I think I have had my share of dealing with that, especially after Katrina. For me, I do want to get settled and hopefully get my family back together."

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