On this four year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, events have ranged from memorials to parties. It started with a bell ringing ceremony at the Katrina Memorial where scores of unidentified or unclaimed bodies were laid to rest.
"When I come to this memorial, it really brings me back to all of the tragedy, all of the pain," Mayor Ray Nagin said.
Local, state and federal officials gathered to ring bells marking the moment that the levees began to breach and New Orleans began filling with Katrina flood waters.
Nagin said the city its people are blessed. "I see miracles along the way. It's amazing to me that we didn't go bankrupt. It's amazing to me that, you know, our citizens fought through everything that they had to fight through. It's amazing that we've come this far with so little resources," Nagin explained. "The single most important message is that this is an incredibly resilient city."
Most of the message today was looking at the recovery progress and remaining work to be done.
"It looks to me like we are on our way to full recovery." Nagin said he predicted an unprecedented amount of construction this year. "I think that's happening and that's also going to continue to pick up, as far as the amount of work."
Nagin said even more work is about to begin. "Now our challenge is finding enough construction companies to do all of this work simultaneously."
The Mayor noted, “I'm a realist. There is so much more work to be done. This is going to take us another five years, at least, to finish this recovery."
To celebrate the progress so far and update folks on what to expect in the future, the city threw a party.
The "My Heart My Home" celebration included food, entertainment, and recovery updates from the City of New Orleans. They mayor's office said that the city organized the outdoor festival for residents to "gather in Armstrong Park to celebrate the progress we have made in the past 4 years."
Other events included fundraisers, a candle light vigil, concerts, second lines, reading of names of Katrina victims and wreath layings.
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