The levee wall broke at 10:00 am on August 29, 2005, and the Lower Ninth Ward disappeared under water. The Industrial Canal suffered two major breaches — one just south of Florida Avenue, the second between North Galvez and North Roman streets. Storm surge didn't just flood homes; the force smashed buildings off their foundations. A barge, the ING 4727, was swept through the breach near Claiborne Avenue, leveling everything beneath it. Holy Cross School, which had served as dry refuge during Hurricane Betsy in 1965, went under. Seventy-two bodies were found as of December 2005. More people died here than in any other neighborhood in New Orleans during Katrina.
Six months later, the Lower Ninth was the last area of the city still under curfew, the last to have power and water restored, the last to be pumped dry. Hurricane Rita flooded it again in September, a month after Katrina.
In December 2005, Common Ground Collective volunteers gutted the first house. Residents began returning in 2006, many living in FEMA trailers while they rebuilt; the last trailer was removed in 2012. In March 2006, residents and volunteers broke into Martin Luther King Elementary School to begin cleanup. The state agreed to repair it.
On December 3, 2007, Brad Pitt's Make It Right Foundation committed to rebuild 150 houses designed by award-winning architects including Frank Gehry, Shigeru Ban, and Thom Mayne. As of March 2012, the foundation had rebuilt about 80 solar-paneled homes. By October 2017, lowernine.org had fully rebuilt 88 homes and completed repair and renovation projects on over 250 more properties.
The neighborhood held 4,820 households in 2000. By 2010, that number had fallen to 1,061. Recovery continued slowly; an estimated 1,675 households lived in the community as of 2020. In March 2012, the *New York Times* wrote that where orderly rows of single-family homes once stood, there was jungle.
The breach site is near the intersection of North Galvez and North Roman streets. Drive or bike — the area is spread out. Two decades later, empty lots mark where houses stood, and concrete steps lead to nothing.
- ·On August 29, 2005, the Industrial Canal levee breached and the Lower Ninth Ward disappeared under 15 feet of water in minutes.
- ·More people died here than in any other neighborhood in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
- ·The neighborhood has never recovered its pre-storm population — thousands of residents never returned.
- ·Brad Pitt's Make It Right houses, built as a symbol of recovery, became a cautionary tale when many developed structural failures.
- ·Empty lots where houses stood and concrete steps leading to nothing mark the landscape two decades later.
- ·Located east of the Industrial Canal. Drive or bike — the area is spread out. The levee breach site is near the intersection of Tennessee St and N. Galvez St.
Memories
Editorial content compiled with AI assistance. Place details verified against public records.