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The devastation that swept the Gulf Coast five years ago when Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, Florida, Louisiana , Mississippi and Alabama left 1,800 people dead, tens of thousands of people displaced, entire sections of New Orleans destroyed.  It became one of the nation’s worst natural disasters..   

The story grew worse each day as the monster storm hit—people standing on rooftops crying for help, the crowds at the Superdome hungry, sick, desperate and neglected, 80 percent of New Orleans under water.  Families were separated and many went to Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas and points north.  The federal government drew heated criticism for failing to sufficiently respond to the victims’ desperate plight.

Washington area residents were gripped with the desire to answer the plaintive cries for help and Metropolitan A.M.E. Church used its downtown location to collect food, diapers, toiletries, water and other necessities from businesses, churches and individuals.  The response to this American tragedy was overwhelming.  Independence Air volunteered a plane and Rev. Ronald E. Braxton led Metropolitan members on a mercy mission to Baton Rouge.  Meanwhile, another truckload of needed supplies were driven to Mississippi.

Much of New Orleans has been restored, but many residents have left, suffered continuing hardships and will never to return.  The Ninth Ward, inhabited primarily by African-Americans, is the area still the most in need of restoration. 

Five years later, filmmaker Spike Lee said, “Most people think that it was Katrina that brought about the devastation to New Orleans.  But it was a breaching of the levees.  It was not the hurricane.”

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