To understand why we rebuild, you have to understand what was lost – and why it was vulnerable in the first place. The Lower 9th Ward isn’t just a place on the map. It’s a community shaped by generations of Black homeownership, cultural heritage, and systemic neglect. This timeline highlights Hurricane Katrina and beyond – to show how disaster didn’t just strike: it was made worse by long-standing inequality.
2005: Hurricane Katrina & Levee Failure
August 23-24: A tropical depression formed over the Bahamas which becomes Tropical Storm Katrina.
August 29: A 25-foot wall of water floods the Lower 9th inundating the neighborhood, pushing homes completely off their foundations. The Army Corps of Engineers levee systems have failed catastrophically and 80% of the city of New Orleans is flooded, including a devastating breach that occurs on the Lower 9th Ward side of the Industrial Canal.
Entire blocks are erased. Every home in the Lower 9th Ward is rendered uninhabitable. Katrina became one of the most devastating natural disasters in US history.
2005–2010: Aftermath & Systemic Failure
FEMA trailers expose residents to formaldehyde.
Hurricane Rita made landfall in Louisiana on September 21st, 2005 as a category three hurricane. In all, nine Texas counties and five Louisiana Parishes were declared disaster areas after the storm. damage totaled about $18.5 billion (2005 USD). As many as 120 deaths in four U.S. states were directly related to the hurricane.
2006: The Road Home Program underfunds Black homeowners, and is found racially discriminatory in court
2007: lowernine.org was founded as a long-term disaster recovery organization post-Katrina following the organization Emergency Communities and their original first response efforts from 2005-2007. There is an expression in the recovery community – “Disasters don’t discriminate.” (which is arguable). However, recoveries from disasters absolutely do discriminate. lowernine.org exists to right this wrong
Three years after Katrina, the area was still largely barren of homes. Most of the structures still standing are uninhabitable or vacant. While the rest of the city had drinking water restored within two months, it took 14 months for the Lower 9th Ward to have water restored.
2008: Drywall that was manufactured in China during this period has been found to contain harmful minerals and metals such as sulfur, strontium and iron. “According to Lawrence Berkley National Laboratories, Chinese drywall can emit hydrogen sulfide up to 100 times greater than non-Chinese produced drywall. Hydrogen sulfide is a hazardous gas which, in high concentrations, can be fatal.
2010: By 2010, only 1 in 3 residents had returned to the Lower 9th Ward.
2011–2019: Grassroots Recovery & Rising Costs
lowernine.org completes dozens of full rebuilds but blight persists, recovery is slow, and gentrification begins in Holy Cross.
2016: In March of 2016 the Lower 9th Ward found a lot on Lizardi Street filled with tons of debris. They asked the city to come in and clean the lot. When the city arrived they noted that the site was used for illegal dumping. This cost the city $12,000.
November 2016: The first new school built in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina was officially introduced to the community with a ribbon cutting.
2018: Residents of the Lower 9th Ward sue “Make it Right” for building and selling “defective” houses.
2020–Present: New Crises, Ongoing Resilience
COVID-19 worsens food insecurity. A permanent food pantry opens.
2021: Hurricane Ida reveals persistent vulnerability.
2023: A new volunteer house and community space open on Jourdan Ave
Since 2020, we’ve received 800,000 pounds of food. We’ve served more than 2,625 households at our food pantry.
As of 2025, we’ve fully rebuilt 98+ homes and completed over 400 repair and renovation projects but our work is far from over.
We could not have done this without the kindness of volunteers and the generosity of donors like you.