NEW ORLEANS, La. (WGNO) – Hurricane Katrina devastated, but hit the Lower Ninth Ward incredibly hard. And 10 years later, they’re still fighting to regain what was lost. But Saturday, national and local leaders came out, praising this neighborhood’s strength, guaranteeing the restoration of the Lower Nine, remembering Hurricane Katrina.
“It was hard to hear. The wind was blowing. He said, ‘The roof is peeling off the dome. And we have 25,000 people in there. We don’t know what we’re going to do. And then I talked to Junior Rodriguez at 2:30 and he said the water’s coming up to the second floor. I don’t know if we’re going to be able to make it,” said New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu.
“And I think everyone wondered: ‘What in the world, where will we end up?” And indeed, it wasn’t too long before the experts were saying, maybe this city wouldn’t come back. And if the city came back, particularly, the Lower 9 would not come back. The Lower 9 and New Orleans East would be a green space. Well under normal circumstances, a city is most likely, not able to recover from that. But we’re not dealing with normal circumstances and normal folks. We are dealing with New Orleanians. We’re dealing with Ninth Warders. We’re dealing with people from the Lower 9 and they’re different,” said New Orleans City Councilman James Gray.
“It’s hard to describe the emotions, because these people have such strength that the rest of us cannot imagine. They taught us about hope. We tried to bring you hope, but you taught us about hope. That hope was right where it always was. Right there between faith and charity. Faith in God. Faith in each other. Faith in the Future,” said Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi.
“When they asked us how are you ever going to get back, I said it’s going to happen. It’s just going to hurt. And it’s going to take a long time. But the pain is something we’re going to have to go through,” said Mayor Landrieu.
“Lord don’t move the mountain, but give me the strength to climb. Lord don’t move my stumbling block but just lead me all around. We prayed for strength. We prayed that we could measure up to our fathers and grandfathers, because if we do, we’ll be ok. We are the children and the grandchildren of the people who built this great city in the middle of a swamp. We may not be our fathers and our grandfathers, but we have their blood in our veins. We have a toughness and the strength to do things that other people think cannot be done,” said Councilman Gray.