Twenty years after Hurricane Katrina: Building a more resilient New Orleans

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall in southeast Louisiana and the federal levees protecting New Orleans failed. What followed was one of the deadliest and costliest disasters in U.S. history. The storm profoundly impacted the lives of New Orleanians, and reshaped the nation’s understanding of disasters, equitable recovery, and resilience to future climate events. Today, New Orleans faces a more unpredictable and unstable climate, and new policies and action are needed to protect residents and build a more resilient and adaptive metro area. 

On August 25, the Brookings Institution, The Data Center of Southeast Louisiana, and HUMANLEVEL joined together to investigate the policy changes, community action, and governance structures that have helped to bolster resiliency in the New Orleans metro area over the last 20 years. The event took the opportunity to celebrate the progress made, as well as galvanize policy ideas and actions that are still needed in New Orleans, and that can serve as models to other communities in the most disaster-prone regions across the U.S. Researchers, policymakers, and community leaders engaged in discussions to seed future leadership, collaboration, and community action.