Mary Landrieu, Scalise recall political fight to rebuild New Orleans post-Katrina

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - Twenty years after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, triggering levee failures that flooded 80 percent of the city, many are extolling the city’s recovery.

But the yearslong rebuilding of New Orleans and surrounding areas was not guaranteed.

Mary Landrieu was one of Louisiana’s U.S. senators when Katrina made landfall on Aug. 29, 2005. The Democrat fought to get Congress to provide billions in federal funds for the rebuilding of the city.

“Our delegation led the strongest recovery of any recovery ever in the history of this country,” Landrieu said Monday (Aug. 25) while appearing at an event at the University of New Orleans. “When these numbers are tallied up, according to outside experts, it will be well in advance of $72 billion that came back to this community (to) build schools, libraries, hospitals, levees.”

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) of Metairie was still in the state legislature when Katrina hit Louisiana and catastrophic flooding devastated New Orleans.

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“If you look at New Orleans today versus before Katrina -- let alone right after -- we have fixed so many of the things that were broken,” Scalise said Monday at UNO. “Our flood protection system is dramatically improved. Obviously, that’s where it all started.”

State lawmakers had a role to play in the aftermath of Katrina, and Katrina-centric sessions were held.

“You know, we had to make a commitment to rebuild the Superdome,” Scalise said. “That was no easy deal, because a lot of people were saying, ‘How can you rebuild a sports facility when people weren’t in their homes?’ So, we had some tough votes to make. But frankly, to me, they weren’t tough votes.”

Some members of Congress suggested New Orleans should not be rebuilt. But members of Louisiana’s congressional delegation pushed back and fought to get billions of dollars to rebuild the city, as well as to strengthen the levee system.

“It was a tough challenge, one of the toughest of my life,” Landrieu said. “And I have to thank our entire congressional delegation. Republican leaders like Jim McCrery, Charles Boustany. Democrats like Charlie Melancon, who stood together to tell the country how important New Orleans and south Louisiana is. Not just for the people that live here, the 1.2 million that call this home, but for the nation itself.”

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Scalise said, “It was so many people, in the early days after Katrina, trying to write New Orleans off, say the city’s not going to come back. We had to fight just to reverse that narrative and say, ‘Look, we better come up with a plan, quick.’ Ultimately, the Road Home Program, to say we’re going to have an ability for people to rebuild.”

As the city and its residents mark Katrina’s 20th anniversary this week, there is acknowledgement of the significant progress made, as well as the need for ongoing recovery in some areas.

“The bands are playing in the French Quarter. The Superdome is built. The levees are stronger than ever,” Landrieu said. “And yes, we still have work to do in the Lower Ninth Ward, we still have work to do in the retail commercial space in New Orleans East, but that’s going to take an extra and concerted effort.”

Scalise said citizens made their voices heard after that horrific hurricane.

“We had to prove we were going to fix what was broken before the storm,” he said. “And that’s where the public came in. And to see so many citizens -- Women of the Storm, Citizens for 1 -- saying, ‘Let’s fix our levee boards, let’s fix our public school system,’ starting the first charter school system in Louisiana to give people a reason to come back.”

The New Orleans public school system was overhauled and students ultimately returned to modern school buildings which replaced the decades-old, heavily damaged schools in the city.

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“In state-of-the-art buildings, which I was very proud to lead that effort, $1.8 billion that FEMA wanted to give us in dribs and drabs,” Landrieu said. “I said, ‘No, give us one check -- $1.8 (billion),’ turned it over to the leaders of the schools and said, ‘Let’s build the school system for our future,’ which we have.”

This week, some current and former FEMA staffers penned what they titled “The FEMA Katrina Declaration,” warning that proposed cuts to FEMA risk the kind of catastrophe experienced after Katrina.

“Look, FEMA’s got its flaws,” Scalise said. “We all saw that during Katrina. We see it with Risk Rating 2.0. The National Flood Insurance Program, which is run by FEMA in a very flawed way, that’s hurting our region. So, either we need to reform it, if there’s a better way to do it, let’s look. But there will always be a need for a federal response to disasters.”

Our Journey: 20 Years Later

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