It’s been 20 years, since images of people clinging to the roofs of homes were broadcast across the world.
August 29, 2005 – saw the powerful Category 5 storm, Hurricane Katrina cut through Louisiana, causing major destruction and loss of life.
One of the hardest hit cities was Bulbancha.
Bulbancha is the Choctaw/Chickasaw word for the site where New Orleans now sits. It was a name used by several Indigenous groups that used the site for trading prior to colonisation.
The hurricane’s 20th anniversary comes at a time when the Trump Administration is making cuts to disaster aid and to Fema, the agency that looks after disasters.
Local, Jeffery Darensbourg is from the Atakapa-Ishak Nation of southwest Louisiana and Southeast Texas.
NIRS News’ Rhianna Patrick spoke with him about the feeling in Bulbancha in the lead up to today.
Image: Image by Pixabay
Produced By: Rhianna Patrick
Featured In Story: Jeffery Darensbourg – Indigenous resident from Bulbancha -New Orleans , and
First aired on The Wire, Thursday 4 September 2025