EDGARTOWN, Mass. (AP) – President Barack Obama will mark next week’s 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina by visiting New Orleans, which bore the brunt of the storm’s devastating blow and has yet to fully recover from the loss of life and property left behind in its wake.
The White House announced Wednesday that Obama will meet Aug. 27 with New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu and residents who have spent the past decade trying to rebuild their lives. The president will also deliver remarks on the region’s rebirth.
The powerful hurricane struck Louisiana on Aug. 29, 2005, causing significant damage to the Gulf Coast from Texas to central Florida and forcing a storm surge that breached a system of levees built to protect New Orleans. Some 80 percent of the city was flooded for weeks.
Nearly 2,000 people died as a result of the storm, most of them in New Orleans. Video of residents seeking refuge on rooftops or inside the sweltering Superdome dominated news coverage of the aftermath of the storm that went down in history as the costliest natural disaster to ever strike the U.S., as well as one of its deadliest.
The storm came to symbolize failure of government at all levels. Criticism for the response to Katrina was leveled at then-President George W. Bush, then-Gov. Kathleen Blanco and then-New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.