Hurricane Katrina roared ashore along the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2005.

USA TODAY reporter Rick Jervis lived in New Orleans from 2007 to 2013, reporting on the city's recovery from the storm.

Would New Orleans plaster over its unique culture – the very thing visitors travel from around the world to experience – in its rush to spend billions of dollars in federal recovery funds?

Jervis returned to the city earlier this year to find out.

NEW ORLEANS – Flying into Louis Armstrong International Airport recently, I was quickly reminded just how radically this city has changed in the two decades since Hurricane Katrina.

Stepping off the plane, a gleaming $1.3 billion terminal beckoned with creole offerings from Leah’s Kitchen and Café Du Monde. There’s a stunning two-story cypress swamp mur

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