Has New Orleans Been Rebuilt?

Since Hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005 a significant re-building programme has been undertaken within New Orleans, at a huge cost to the U.S. Government.  (The clean up operation alone was estimated to cost in the region of $22 billion).

The devastation cost by Hurricane Katrina was truly amazing, and around 50,000 hurricane damaged homes had to be demolished and something like 57,000 small businesses were lost, due to the damage and subsequent problems with looting etc.

To reconstruct the City after this level of damage cannot be done overnight and so although substantial re-building has been done, a year later it is nowhere near completion and more than half of the 1.5 million people who had to leave their homes as a result of the damage have not yet been able to return home.

However, in February of this year New Orleans celebrated its first Mardi Gras since the hurricane, as a sign that life is slowly getting back on track.