A young woman holding her son at a memorial wall celebration.

This memorial was created to honor the victims of 'Hurricane Katrina' on the exterior wall of the 'Saratoga Building' located at 212 Loyola Avenue across from the street from the New Orleans Main Public Library.  This is the ONLY hurricane Katrina Memorial in Louisiana that displays the 1,800 plus names of the victims. To celebrate this monumental achievement and the unveiling of the Hurricane Katrina memorial we second lined from the convention center to the Saratoga Building with the Rebirth Brass Band and Poet Chuck Perkins who commemorated the memorial with a poem.

 

Established 2011

  • "I'll never forget Hurricane Katrina - the mix of a natural and a man-made catastrophe that resulted in the death of over 1,500 of our neighbors. Millions of folks were marked by the tragedy." - Cedric Richmond

Dancing Man 504 remembering a loved one at the Hurricane Katrina Memorial.

The most prominent feature of the Hurricane Katrina memorial is the 1,830 names of the men, women and children who lost their lives during Hurricane Katrina.

If you know anyone who lost their life during Hurricane Katrina please visit the memorial at 212 Loyola (Royal Sonesta Hotel) and say a few words in their memory. The names on the wall are a living account and serve as a historical record for the now and next generations. As long as we say their names and celebrate their lives then they will always be remembered.

  • "Hurricane Katrina was the storm of the 21st century. It devastated an area the size of Great Britain. More than 1,800 Americans died. Three hundred thousand homes were destroyed. There was $96 billion in property damage. I served on the Louisiana Recovery Authority. I saw Congress write one big check and then skip town." - Donna Brazile

A Hurricane Katrina memorial sketch dedicated to the victims of Hurricane Katrina with names of victims.

  • "With Hurricane Katrina and all that kind of stuff happening, you needed somebody to rally for your city, to tell that story. Since Hurricane Katrina, we didn't really have nobody that said, 'I'm gonna tell New Orleans' story, and I'm gonna stick to New Orleans." - Mannie Fresh

  • "Before Hurricane Katrina, I always felt like I could come back home. And home was a real place, and also it had this mythical weight for me. Because of the way that Hurricane Katrina ripped everything away, it cast that idea in doubt." - Jesmyn Ward

Second line in front of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans.
A police officer on a New Orleans police motorcycle in a crowd of people second lining to the Saratoga Building.
Rebirth Brass Band second lining to the Saratoga Building for the ribbon cutting ceremony.

  • "Hurricane Katrina overwhelmed levees and exploded the conventional wisdom about a shared American prosperity, exposing a group of people so poor they didn't have $50 for a bus ticket out of town. If we want to learn something from this disaster, the lesson ought to be: America's poor deserve better than this." - Michael Eric Dyson

The Hurricane Katrina Memorial in New Orleans holds deep significance for several reasons.

Person holding a decorated parasol.

  • "My favorite day was Monday, September the 25th, 2006. New Orleans, Louisiana, site of the Superdome. I watched our people who had suffered so grievously through Hurricane Katrina fill a stadium hours before a game and stay hours after the game." - Michael Irvin

Man carrying a young boy through floodwaters, with boats and other people in the background.
A line of people standing on a porch and sitting on the steps of a yellow house during a flood, with water covering the street and partially submerging a utility pole and nearby vehicles.
A man carrying a young girl through floodwaters, with several people in the background also standing or walking in the flood
People walking through flooded street with partially submerged cars and houses during heavy rain.
Group of people helping a boat in floodwaters with a woman and child in the foreground
People wading through floodwater in an urban area, with a large stadium or arena building in the background, some cars submerged to their windows, and a man on a bicycle partially in the water.
A group of people walking through a flooded street with water reaching their waists, some carrying items and others helping each other.
A group of people on a rooftop and in a boat, with some individuals being helped from a flooded building by police officers.
Three men rescuing a young boy from a flooded area with boats and submerged houses in the background.
Rescue workers assist a man injured during a flood as water and debris surround a damaged house.
People rescue a person from floodwaters surrounded by submerged cars and flooded area in a residential neighborhood.
Rescue team on boat evacuating people from a flooded house with a partially submerged roof and damaged exterior walls.
People on a rooftop with American flags and white chalk writing on the ground.
An older man walks through floodwater carrying shoes and a bag, with a crowded area and boats in the background.
Woman and man sit amidst debris and destruction from a natural disaster, with damaged structures and scattered wreckage around them.

  • "We Can Forgive, but We Must Never Forget. Don't Let History Repeat Itself." - Terrence Sanders-Smith

Crowd of diverse people second lining to the Saratoga Building.