{"id":17911,"date":"2025-08-26T12:28:55","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T12:28:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/?p=17911"},"modified":"2025-08-26T12:28:55","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T12:28:55","slug":"you-had-to-fend-for-yourself-hurricane-katrina-haunts-new-orleans-as-trump-guts-disaster-aid-new-orleans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/?p=17911","title":{"rendered":"\u2018You had to fend for yourself\u2019: Hurricane Katrina haunts New Orleans as Trump guts disaster aid | New Orleans"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n
<\/span>Darren McKinney, the field operations director of lowernine.org, takes a break during a shift repairing a neighbor\u2019s home in New Orleans\u2019s Lower Ninth Ward on 20 August 2025. <\/span><\/p>\n

Darren McKinney grew up in New Orleans\u2019s Lower Ninth Ward. When Hurricane Katrina struck 20 years ago this week, he watched his neighborhood wash away. From his second floor apartment, he saw flood waters rise up to his window.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had no food at all, no water, no electricity,\u201d he recounted one rainy day this month, while taking a break from his job leading home restoration in the neighborhood as field operations director of the non-profit lowernine.org.<\/p>\n

After being trapped inside for four days, city officials rescued McKinney in a boat and dropped him off on a nearby bridge. He was told a military truck would bring him to an emergency shelter in the city\u2019s superdome, but a vehicle never arrived because the shelter reached capacity. He was forced to walk to an evacuation point downtown.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou had to fend for yourself,\u201d he said. \u201cThere just wasn\u2019t enough shelter, wasn\u2019t enough support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Friends helped McKinney evacuate to Houston, Texas. Months later, when he returned to the city, he found his home in \u201creal bad condition\u201d. He eventually settled into a trailer provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema).<\/p>\n

During his stay in the temporary home, he began to hear news reports that some Fema trailers were found to have high levels of the harmful chemical formaldehyde. With nowhere else to stay, he tried to ignore those reports.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat could you do?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

The federal response to Katrina, particularly by Fema, came under intense scrutiny after the hurricane, which killed at least 1,833 people. In New Orleans, residents spray-painted curses at Fema on their boarded-up homes and wore T-shirts around the city that bore the slogan: \u201cFEMA \u2013 Federal Employees Missing in Action.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some on the right have called to shrink the agency or even abolish it. In recent months, the Trump administration has picked up on those calls, defunding key Fema programs, laying off hundreds of staffers, and threatening to dismantle the agency completely. But McKinney believes the administration\u2019s policies will leave New Orleans worse prepared for future hurricanes.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t know when you\u2019re gonna have another disaster like that,\u201d he said. \u201cFor people that don\u2019t have money, without Fema, how you going to help them out?\u201d<\/p>\n

In recent weeks, Donald Trump has walked back promises to abolish Fema. But disaster management experts fear the changes he has made will still leave the US just as underprepared to take on a hurricane like Katrina as it was in 2005.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been so demoralizing to realize how closely aligned we have become again to what Fema looked like pre-Katrina, and how quickly we\u2019ve backslid on the progress of the last 20 years,\u201d said Samantha Montano, a disaster response expert at Massachusetts Maritime Academy and author of the book Disasterology.<\/p>\n

an aerial view New Orleans\u2019s Lower Ninth Ward showing various houses and structures by a body of water <\/span>An aerial view of New Orleans\u2019s Lower Ninth Ward, one of the hardest-hit areas by Katrina, where damaged homes and vacant lots can still be seen 20 years later on 21 August 2025. Fema cuts could have particularly negative implications for poor, climate-vulnerable states like Louisiana.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018State-led, federally supported\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Since re-entering the White House in January, Trump has repeatedly called for states to bear more responsibility for disasters, signing a March executive order saying municipalities should \u201cplay a more active and significant role\u201d in national resilience and preparedness.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they can\u2019t handle it, they shouldn\u2019t be governor,\u201d Trump told reporters in the Oval Office in June, as he spoke about a plan to \u201cwean\u201d states off Fema assistance.<\/p>\n

But states have always led disaster response, said Craig Fugate, who directed Fema from 2009-2017.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe current administration says states should lead, we should support, [but] that\u2019s what it\u2019s always been,\u201d he said. \u201cThe federal government, at the direction of the president, through Fema, supports the governor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cuts at Fema could have particularly negative implications for poor, climate-vulnerable states like Louisiana, which received the most direct assistance from Fema between January 2015 and April 2024, according to data collected for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace\u2019s Disaster Dollar Database.<\/p>\n

Dried up flowers on a memorial marker alongside an image of a damaged gome<\/span>Dried up flowers are seen on a memorial marker for victims of Hurricane Katrina along the levee wall in the Lower Ninth Ward on 20 August 2025. Damaged homes and vacant lots are seen in New Orleans\u2019s Lower Ninth Ward in August, two decades following Hurricane Katrina, a catastrophic event that resulted in the loss of at least 1,833 lives.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor states that are oftentimes underresourced, Fema gives the support that is needed to navigate disasters, both in the form of financial assistance and providing technical expertise,\u201d said Reggie Ferreira, who directs the disaster resilience leadership academy at Tulane University in New Orleans.<\/p>\n

But even wealthier states will probably struggle to weather disasters without the agency\u2019s support, said Montano.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe importance of Fema really just can\u2019t be overstated. They\u2019re the last line of defense that we really have in moments of crisis,\u201d she said. \u201cWe know that our state and local capacity to respond to disasters in most parts of the country is relatively limited. And we know that our needs related to disasters are increasing in the context of climate change.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Brain drain\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

After Katrina struck New Orleans in August 2005, the support Fema was able to provide had dwindled due to policies enacted by former president George W Bush.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Katrina happened, it\u2019s really important to remember that Fema had just gone through a shock of their own,\u201d said Montano. \u201cGoing into Katrina, Fema was deeply unprepared as an agency, which is a huge reason for the failure in the response.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the wake of the 2001 9\/11 attacks, the Bush administration launched a government-wide reorganization to focus on the threat of terrorism, cutting disaster programs and, in 2003, stripping Fema of its independent, cabinet-level status. The agency was then absorbed into the newly created Department of Homeland Security.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe attention was only on terrorism at the expense of anything else,\u201d said Fugate.<\/p>\n

The shifts at Fema led to a mass exodus of staff. Some \u2013 including senior leadership \u2013 were relieved of their duties and reassigned to terrorism-related posts, while others who were reportedly frustrated with the restructure resigned.<\/p>\n

That \u201cbrain drain\u201d was a key reason that Fema was not able to provide an adequate response to Katrina, said Montano.<\/p>\n

side by side images of an area in New Orleans in 2005 and in 2025 <\/span>Aerial images of New Orleans after flooding from Hurricane Katrina in 2005, compared to 2025. <\/span><\/p>\n

Fugate said what is happening at the agency today is \u201cvery similar\u201d to that moment. Under Trump, an estimated one-third of Fema\u2019s workforce has been eliminated due to layoffs, firings and voluntary buyouts.<\/p>\n

In recent weeks, the Trump administration has also reportedly sent some remaining Fema staff to help speed the hiring of immigration enforcement agents. Lt Gen Russel Honor\u00e9, who led the military response to Hurricane Katrina, had choice words about the decision. \u201cThat adds insult to injury,\u201d he said. \u201cI really think these fucking people are stuck on stupid.\u201d<\/p>\n

The staffing cuts threaten the relationships between state and federal officials, said Stephen Murphy, former planning section chief for New Orleans\u2019s homeland security and emergency preparedness office. That could make disaster response less efficient.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have a strong team, a network, everybody has built trust in one another because they\u2019ve been out there together, they\u2019ve bled for one another,\u201d said Murphy, who now leads Tulane University\u2019s disaster management program. \u201cWhen you disrupt that, you\u2019re playing with fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/span>Stephen Murphy, former planning section chief for New Orleans\u2019s homeland security and emergency preparedness office poses for a portrait on 21 August 2025 at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana.<\/span> Photograph: Thalia Juarez\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

The federal changes are difficult to witness, said Murphy, who said Katrina inspired his career in disaster response. When it struck, he had moved to New Orleans only six weeks earlier to pursue a graduate degree in emergency and security, expecting to focus primarily on the threat of terrorism. Classes had not even started when, as Katrina was gaining strength over the Gulf of Mexico, he decided to evacuate his new home.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I was pulling out of my neighborhood, some new friends that I\u2019d met in town said: \u2018Hey, where are you going? We\u2019re going to have a party,\u2019\u201d he remembered from his New Orleans office. \u201cI had my kayak in my truck, and I asked: \u2018OK, you want me to leave this for you?\u2019 I didn\u2019t realize how terrible a joke that would be.\u201d<\/p>\n

In its aftermath, Murphy decided to devote his life to better managing disasters like Katrina, as did many others in the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been tremendous improvements and growth since then,\u201d said Murphy. \u201cTo dismantle a lot of what has been done does feel like a little bit of a gut punch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cutting funding, undercutting progress<\/strong><\/h2>\n

After Katrina, Fema also increased funding for disaster relief and mitigation. But under Trump, billions of those dollars have dried up.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the federal grants and money that helped fortify some of the most vulnerable areas, including New Orleans, are getting clawed back,\u201d said Murphy. \u201cYou can\u2019t just turn the spigot off and expect the system to still work.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/span>Brett Halstead, Darren McKinnney, and Meg Gonzalez, with the non-profit lowernine.org, prepare a home for roof repairs in New Orleans\u2019s Lower Ninth Ward on 20 August 2025. In the absence of federal support after Katrina, many advocacy groups worked to fill the gaps, particularly in low-income communities of color.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some of the Trump administration\u2019s actions at Fema directly violate policies enacted by lawmakers to prevent future botched disaster responses, said Honor\u00e9. That includes the president\u2019s January appointment of a new administrator for the agency.<\/p>\n

The Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act, which Congress passed in 2006, requires all Fema administrators to have experience in disaster management. The provision was inspired by Bush\u2019s Fema administrator Michael Brown, who was critiqued for his limited background in the field.<\/p>\n

In the 19 years since the bill\u2019s passage, only \u201cseasoned emergency managers\u201d have succeeded Brown, said Honor\u00e9. But that all changed when Trump picked David Richardson \u2013 who appears to have no disaster management experience \u2013 for the post, he said.<\/p>\n

Before leading Fema, Richardson oversaw a Department of Homeland Security program focused on weapons of mass destruction. In a June briefing, Richardson told personnel he was unaware that the US had a hurricane season, which the White House later said was a \u201cjoke\u201d.<\/p>\n

The 2006 policy also empowered Fema to act with greater flexibility and clearer authority in emergency management, and designated its administrator as a principal presidential adviser. Trump does not appear to be following those provisions, Honor\u00e9 said.<\/p>\n

As deadly floods overwhelmed Texas last month, Fema officials told CNN they were not able to pre-position search and rescue crews in the region because Trump\u2019s homeland security secretary Kristi Noem insisted upon personally approving all agency contracts and grants over $100,000 before funds were disbursed.<\/p>\n

\u201cGenius,\u201d Honor\u00e9 said sarcastically.<\/p>\n

This week, Fema employees wrote to Congress warning that the Trump administration\u2019s changes at the agency could lead to another \u201ccatastrophe\u201d on the scale of Hurricane Katrina. \u201cThe agency\u2019s current trajectory reflects a clear departure from the intent\u201d of the 2006 legislation,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n

<\/span>A child plays outside newer constructions in the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans, Louisiana, on 20 August 2025.<\/span> Photograph: Thalia Juarez\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Daniel Llargu\u00e9s, Fema\u2019s acting press secretary, dismissed the criticisms voiced in the letter telling the New York Times the Trump administration \u201cis committed to ensuring Fema delivers for the American people\u201d and to cutting \u201cred tape, inefficiency and outdated processes\u201d in the agency. Fema did not respond to questions from the Guardian for this article.<\/p>\n

Equity threatened<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In the absence of federal support after Katrina, many advocacy groups worked to fill the gaps, particularly in the low-income communities of color that found it disproportionately difficult to rebuild.<\/p>\n

Even those non-governmental efforts have been undermined by Trump\u2019s policies, said McKinney, the field operations director of lowernine.org.<\/p>\n

The organization has for years hosted international volunteers, but fewer want to travel to the US amid Trump\u2019s immigration crackdown, he said.<\/p>\n

In May, the president also gutted AmeriCorps, leaving lowernine.org with fewer hands to help with their home construction efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey cut the AmeriCorps funding [one] afternoon in the middle of a workday,\u201d said Laura Paul, executive director of lowernine.org. \u201cOur team had just taken a wall down on someone\u2019s house that they were living in, and they just put their tools down and walked off site.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/span>Laura Paul, a resident of the Lower Ninth Ward and the executive director of lowernine.org, poses for a portrait in the neighborhood on 20 August 2025, in New Orleans, Louisiana. She leads a team of volunteers and staff focused on long-term recovery efforts in the Lower Ninth Ward.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trump has also ended grants to some environmental justice groups, including in New Orleans, further threatening efforts to promote equitable disaster recovery, while gutting Biden-era equity-focused government initiatives, including within Fema.<\/p>\n

\u201cFema, obviously, was not perfect in any way after Katrina,\u201d said Montano. \u201cBut a lot of the progress on equity is just gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018More support, more help\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The scrutiny federal disaster response has received since Katrina is warranted, but Trump has moved in the wrong direction, said Betina James, a resident of New Orleans\u2019s Hollygrove neighborhood.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Betina James, a resident of New Orleans\u2019s Hollygrove neighborhood, at the Life Transformation Community Center of Celebration Church on 21 August 2025.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe want more support, more help, not for them to take all that help away,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

From a senior citizens community meeting at the Hollygrove-Dixon Neighborhood Association\u2019s Life Transformation Community Center this month, James recounted her experience after Katrina destroyed her house: Fema denied her request for a temporary shelter for two months, and when they finally approved it, the agency provided her with a trailer that had \u201cno floor in the bedroom\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just covered with carpet with nothing under it, so if you stepped on it, you\u2019d go straight through to the ground,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Officials provided a replacement, but living in it made her feel nauseated with burning eyes and itchy skin. She believes it was contaminated.<\/p>\n

At the senior citizens meeting, a dozen other residents chimed in with their harrowing Katrina experiences: stepping over human corpses in the streets and being left without shelter and financial aid. Some said they have even failed to receive adequate assistance during more recent disasters such as 2021\u2019s Hurricane Ida.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Terry Caesar during a meeting at the Life Transformation Community Center on 21 August 2025.<\/span><\/p>\n

But those experiences should push officials to improve Fema, not gut it, said Terry Caesar, another senior attending the meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt used to be when things broke, we took it to the shop to fix it,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re not supposed to throw it out.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Darren McKinney, the field operations director of lowernine.org, takes a break during a shift repairing a neighbor\u2019s home in New Orleans\u2019s Lower Ninth Ward on 20 August 2025. Darren McKinney grew up in New Orleans\u2019s Lower Ninth Ward. When Hurricane Katrina struck 20 years ago this week, he watched his neighborhood wash away. From his<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17912,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[1122,596,10884,10885,1108,769,9009,8757,81],"class_list":{"0":"post-17911","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-aid","9":"tag-disaster","10":"tag-fend","11":"tag-guts","12":"tag-haunts","13":"tag-hurricane","14":"tag-katrina","15":"tag-orleans","16":"tag-trump"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}