FEMA Door

2005

Broadmoor residents fought to save their New Orleans community after Hurricane Katrina.

Eighty percent of New Orleans flooded after the levees broke. In neighborhoods like Broadmoor, floodwaters rose to 10 feet. Rescue crews went door-to-door looking for survivors among the 60,000 stranded residents. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) marked each dwelling with the date, identities of the search crew, areas inspected, and number of casualties—in this case from Broadmoor, zero.

In January 2006, the Bring New Orleans Back Commission suggested not rebuilding devastated areas, including Broadmoor, a predominantly Black low to middle-income community. Displaced Broadmoor residents refused to abandon their neighborhood and organized their own community recovery plan, which helped convince city leaders that Broadmoor was viable and worth rebuilding.