Edward P Richards - Photography

Hurricane Katrina Photo Index

Canal Street run through the heart of New Orleans, from the French Quarter to the Lake Pontchartrain. Lake Pontchartrain is not a lake but is a bay that communicates with the Gulf of Mexico and is a conduit for a hurricane's storm surge to reach New Orleans, as happened with Hurricane Katrina. These pictures were taken just north of the Central Business District. The land in this area is above sea level at the south end in the French Quarter and slopes down to many feet below sea level at Lake Pontchartrain. The flooding from Hurricane Katrina gets deeper as you approach Lake Pontchartrain. Much of this land was either marsh or was part of the Lake Pontchartrain lake bed before being reclaimed.

Photograph of trash from the interior of this flooded mortgage company. This building is on Canal Street, about one mile north of the Central Business District. These trash piles extended for miles.		The same building two years later.
Photograph of a building in the central business district on Canal Street. The trees indicate the force of the wind and water down the street.		Trash on Canal Street from a flooded pharmacy.The smell and flies were a challenge and encouraged quick shooting. Similar scenes were repeated across the city, and it took weeks to months before the garbage could be hauled away. In some areas, there is still garbage in the streets from Hurricane Katrina damage.

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Edward P. Richards, III, JD, MPH
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