Five-year anniversary marks little change for New Orleans

Across New Orleans, "for sale" signs, abandoned homes and schools line the streets. Renovated homes sit next to empty lots and houses left in ruins by flooding after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Much of the Mississippi coastline remains bare where Katrina's storm surge washed away houses, businesses, casinos and residents. Repairs have been made to roadways and bridges, and a few intrepid souls have chosen to rebuild, but the waterfront is almost as empty as in the days following the storm.

Five years ago, the Category 4 hurricane took the Gulf Coast by storm and destroyed development on more than 90,000 square miles and forced 800,000 residents from their homes.

The small Mississippi communities of Waveland, Bay St. Louis, Pass Christian and Long Beach recorded storm surge of more than 20 feet, as much as 33 feet in some areas.

The magnitude of Hurricane Katrina was unimaginable and took the lives of more than 1,836 people, the vast majority of the dead in Louisiana.

According to the Department of Homeland Security more than 1.5 million people were directly affected by one of the worst natural disasters in American history.

Eighty percent of New Orleans was underwater because of a combination of storm surge from Hurricane Katrina and about 35 breaches in the levee system.

In a time of such devastation and mayhem, it was evident the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency was not prepared for a disaster on the scale of Katrina.

Four days after the hurricane, the American Red Cross and other aid agencies were finally allowed to enter New Orleans with relief supplies.

Time Magazine reported on Oct. 23, 2005, the U.S. Coast Guard was saving lives before any other federal agency.

The magazine reported Sheriff Jack Stephens of St. Bernard Parish said the Coast Guard was the only federal agency to provide any significant assistance for a full week after the storm.

In the meantime, while residents waited for aid, they had to fend for themselves.

The world watched as American citizens on American soil struggled to survive while they waited for aid.

In desperation, scavenging was the only way residents could stay alive.

New Orleans, one of the most well-known and influential cities in the world, turned into a lawless land.

Two months after the hurricane on Oct. 12, about 250 billion gallons of water had to be drained out of the city of New Orleans.

Slowly, residents started to return to their homes to find their belongings destroyed or lost. Many did not come back because they had nothing to return to.

Five years after the hurricane, the residents of New Orleans are still working to restore their city and slowly tourism has made its way back, but many residents know it's not the same place.

About 355,000 now live in New Orleans, about three-fourths of the population before the storm.

The city's current population though is a continual debate.

Half of the people and businesses have returned in parts of the city badly damaged by flooding, but there are still many for sale signs and boarded up houses and buildings.

Schools in once busy neighborhoods have closed, causing many neighborhood children to travel long distances to attend school.

Even though the city is not the same, the people continue to be relentless and remain close to their beloved city.

Abram Pedesclaux, 60, was born and raised in New Orleans and has lived there for 45 years.

Pedesclaux said New Orleans has progressed as fast as he thinks it could, but many properties still look the way they did after the storm.

His home was once located in Orleans Parish.

The grass is high and the home has been taken over by vines.

Pedesclaux lost everything after Katrina, but, worst of all, he did not know if his family was even alive after the storm.

The day the hurricane hit, Pedesclaux was in Irving near Dallas for business. When he tried to call home, all the lines were down. It took several days to connect with relatives.

"I lost everything," he said. "I lost my home and watched it all happen on TV."

The one suitcase he had taken on the trip now held his only belongings.

Pedesclaux closed on his home Sept. 1, but when he tried to make a claim, FEMA made him jump through hoops.

"I did everything, and I never talked to the same agent twice," he said.

Pedesclaux said each agent gave him the same round of excuses, like they lost his information through the mail or they did not have his record on file.

Pedesclaux said it is hard to start over, especially at his age.

"If another hurricane like Katrina hit? I probably would not return home," he said.

But for the meantime, he continues to stay in his city.

"I love Miami, Dallas and California, but I couldn't live there," Pedesclaux said. "New Orleans is home."