In August 2005, a massive hurricane gathered over the Bahamas and soared over the Gulf of Mexico. When it reached New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina unleashed a torrent of wind and water that burst the levees and flooded 80 percent of the city. Five years later, a photographer tours the Lower Ninth Ward, where many homes and businesses still stand vacant and ruined.
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Julie Dermansky is a multimedia reporter and artist based in New Orleans. She is an affiliate scholar at Rutgers University's Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights. Visit her website at www.jsdart.com.