Two decades later, the story of Hurricane Katrina is one of resilience, and of stubborn scars.

Neighborhoods have been rebuilt, families returned and the Superdome shines again as a symbol of recovery. Communities that many thought would never come back found ways to endure, proving a strength that continues to define the New Orleans metro area and state.

But the storm’s impact is still visible. Pilings jut from Lake Pontchartrain where docks once stood. Empty lots, overgrown with grass, mark the places where homes and lives were lost.

Twenty years on, our region carries both its progress and its wounds. In that balance lies a quiet truth: The memory of loss persists, but so too does the spirit of a region that refused to be washed away.

Images by Times-Picayune photographers are part

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