Levees.org preserved a small brick house in Gentilly to represent the devastation from Hurricane Katrina. First responder X markings on the house indicate dates, hazards, and numbers of deceased found. Artists recreated a musty, chaotic interior with overturned furniture, a mud-covered teddy bear, and displaced belongings to reflect survivors' return. Nearby exhibits include a Hurricane Katrina timeline and a garden where a monarch butterfly sits on milkweed marking the London Avenue Canal levee breach. A 20-foot section of floodwall broke, unleashing a massive surge that carried homes into streets and flooded eighty percent of New Orleans.
"Come on in," she says. "As you look to the left, you'll see one of the trademark X's. These were put here by first responders. Each symbol has a meaning. This is the date, September 22nd. This is the number of people deceased in the home." If searchers find hazards like gas or a collapsed structure, they note it in the X. A musty smell lingers inside the home, re-created by artists. "This is actually all carefully placed, even though it looks like chaos," Rosenthal says. "This is what the survivors would have seen when they returned home," after the water receded.
Furniture is turned upside down or moved, even a piano, a stuffed teddy bear covered in mud and mold is on the floor in the middle of the living room. No one died here, but hundreds did in other homes when a massive storm surge from Katrina overwhelmed the city, breaking through levees and floodwalls. Eighty percent of New Orleans flooded and entire neighborhoods were wiped out.
A few doors down from the flooded house, Rosenthal's group has an outdoor exhibit with a Hurricane Katrina timeline and a garden. A monarch butterfly sits on the milkweed. It marks the location of a major levee breach on the London Avenue Canal. "A 20-foot section of floodwall broke, unleashing Niagara Falls into this neighborhood," Rosenthal says. "The home that was on this footprint that you see here, the entire home was picked up, carried out into the street and would have kept going. But it was
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