New Orleans remembers Katrina

America marked yesterday the fifth anniversary of the largest natural disaster in the country's history - Hurricane Katrina. US President Barack Obama arrived in the city of New Orleans in the state of Louisiana, which was hit hardest by the storm, accompanied by his wife after vacation. He gave a speech at Xavier University, emphasizing his determination to see the city's recovery through to completion. And the day before, residents of New Orleans buried a coffin with letters, cards and notes in memory of the victims, thus remembering over 1,800 victims of Katrina.

Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans on August 29, 2005. The day before the disaster, a mandatory evacuation was announced in the city, and several hundred thousand people - almost 80% of the population - urgently left. However, there were still more than a hundred thousand in poor neighborhoods who did not have a car and were deprived of the opportunity to use public transport due to the huge traffic jams that arose. About 30 thousand people took refuge in the city's indoor stadium, while the rest met Katrina in their homes. The protective dam broke in several places, leaving 80% of the city area under water. People escaped on the roofs, but many of them could not be removed.

New Orleans has still not recovered from the disaster. About 350 thousand residents now live there, which is two-thirds of the city's population before the hurricane. Economic damage amounted to about $100 billion. Against this background, the decision of the World Meteorological Organization to remove Katrina from the list of names assigned to hurricanes was little consolation.

Boris KAIMAKOV