Obama in New Orleans, says city is 'moving forward'

Ten years after the devastating Hurricane Katrina, U.S. President Barack Obama said New Orleans's rebuilding efforts have inspired him. He offered the city as an example of what can happen when people rally to build a better future after suffering a devastating blow.

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On his visit to mark the anniversary, Obama spoke at a newly opened community centre in the Lower 9th Ward, one of the hardest-hit areas of the city and one that is still struggling to recover.

He said the storm was an example of the government's failure to take care of its citizens. 

"The storm laid bare a deeper tragedy that had been brewing for decades," he said, citing structural inequalities, a lack of affordable housing, a lack of health care, and kids growing up surrounded by violent crime. 

"Like a body weakened, it was undernourished already when the storm hit. There were no resources to fall back on," he said.

Progress 'remarkable'

Obama said it's important to acknowledge the losses the storm brought, but important to move forward.

"The project to rebuild wasn't just to build the city as it was, but to build it as it should be," he said, adding that the progress the people in the city have made is "remarkable."

He said the city has improved in a number of areas since the storm, noting the high school graduation rate has increased and college enrolment rates have also grown. He said there is more housing assistance now than there was 10 years ago, and said New Orleans is the first city in the country to end veterans' homelessness. 

But Obama also pointed out that 40 per cent of children in the city still live in poverty, and said too many people, particularly African American men, can't find jobs.

Obama also said they learned a lot from Katrina, especially about disaster response. He said that knowledge will become increasingly important as climate change brings more dramatic weather events.

Cheering crowd welcomed Obama

The president's first stop was Tremé, one of the oldest black neighbourhoods in America and an area that experienced significant flooding during Katrina. A cheering crowd welcomed him to an area where homes inundated by the storm have been rebuilt.

As the president went from house to house, he chatted with residents, calling out, "How you doing?" and, "We appreciate you."

Reflecting on the improved surroundings, Obama declared, "The fact that we can make this many strides 10 years after a terrible epic disaster, I think, is an indication of the kind of spirit we have in this city." 

Obama was a new U.S. senator when Katrina's powerful winds and driving rain bore down on Louisiana on Aug. 29, 2005. The storm caused major damage to the Gulf Coast from Texas to central Florida while powering a storm surge that breached the system of levees meant to protect New Orleans from flooding.

Nearly 2,000 people died, most in New Orleans. Eighty per cent of the city was flooded for weeks. One million people were displaced.

Video of residents seeking refuge on rooftops, inside the Superdome and at the convention centre dominated news coverage as Katrina came to symbolize government failure at every level. The storm went down in history as the costliest natural disaster to strike the U.S., with $150 billion US in damage to homes and other property. It was also one of the deadliest.

Billions in federal money

Ten years out from Katrina, the rebirth underway in New Orleans has been helped by billions of dollars in federal recovery money, much of it funneled to the city under Obama's watch. The city has recovered much of its pre-storm population, new businesses are opening faster than the national average and better flood protection plans are in place.

Still, income inequality and rising crime rates are among the challenges that remain in a place Mayor Mitch Landrieu calls "America's comeback city."

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Obama would stress that the federal government and communities need to start investing in "resilience" so that they will be ready for the more intense storms and wildfires that a warming planet will bring.

"There's no denying what scientists tell us, which is that there's reason to be concerned about these storms getting worse and more violent," he told reporters.

Obama's plan to sound a fresh alarm about climate change didn't sit well with Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Republican waging a long-shot bid for his party's presidential nomination who told the president that the anniversary is a time to mourn the loss of loved ones, not espouse "the divisive political agenda of liberal environmental activism."

Jindal, who met Obama's plane on arrival in Louisiana, has expressed some doubt about human influence on the climate.

"A lecture on climate change would do nothing to improve upon what we are already doing," Jindal told Obama in a letter Wednesday. "Quite the opposite; it would distract from the losses we have suffered, diminish the restoration effort we have made and overshadow the miracle that has been the Louisiana comeback."