Hurricane Katrina made landfall on August 29, 2005, dumping 25 centimeters of rain and producing wind gusts up to 200 kilometers per hour. The flooding broke the levee system and submerged about 80% of New Orleans. Many neighborhoods, including the Lower Ninth Ward, suffered severe damage and long-term displacement. Mercedes' Place, a bar opened in 1989, is one of the few businesses that reopened and recovered. Mercedes spent two years displaced in Franklin and returned to find her premises looted. Some residents received $10,000 in assistance, but many did not return and neighborhood demographics changed.
Just set foot inside Mercedes' Place, a bar south of the Lower Ninth district, one of the hardest-hit by the storm when it made landfall on August 29, 2005, dumping 25 centimeters of rain and bringing wind gusts of up to 200 kilometers (125 mph) per hour. But that wasn't the worst of it. The flooding went on to break the levee system, leaving 80% of the city underwater.
The 86-year-old lived for two years in exile in Franklin, a town an hour and a half west of New Orleans. When she returned, her premises had been looted. They took everything, down to the last coin, she recalls. Those were terrible times. Several of the inhabitants received $10,000 to help them put their lives back together. Some did, but the Lower Ninth was no longer the same.
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