| It's been 20 years since Hurricane Katrina touched down in my hometown of New Orleans. |
| My family was fortunate enough to be able to evacuate. We worried about affording gas, food and lodging, but we pooled enough to at least cover us for a few days. |
| We had no idea what was to come. |
| Water inundating 80% of the city. Families stuck in attics and on top of roofs. Thousands of residents stranded on roadways, at the Superdome and the Convention Center without food and water for days. |
| In the aftermath, it was Black people, poor people and the elderly who suffered the most. |
| I see the unlearned lessons of Katrina play out every time a "natural" disaster strikes. That includes during the January fires here in L.A. |
| As investigations into what started the fires and why Altadena residents felt abandoned by the L.A. County Fire Department continue, I've found similarities between what happened in New Orleans 20 years ago and what happened in Altadena earlier this year. |
| Residents felt abandoned by the government |
| When Hurricane Katrina made landfall in New Orleans, it was a Category 3 storm that brought 135-mph winds. |
| But its monstrous power wasn't the main cause of the death, destruction and displacement. It was the failures of federal, state and local officials. |
| Tensions between the state and federal governments stalled FEMA's deployment to Louisiana, according to a 2006 Senate committee report assessing the response. |
| The committee also found that a decision by then-New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin to issue a mandatory evacuation order less than 24 hours before the storm cost precious time. |
| Similarly, during the Eaton fire, help was too little, too late for many residents in west Altadena. |
| Data obtained and analyzed by The Times show that during a critical moment in the Eaton fire, only one L.A. County fire truck was west of Lake Avenue, an area where nearly all of the deaths took place. |
| "We were abandoned," said Sofia Vidal, 57, one of more than a dozen residents interviewed by The Times who said they stayed, dousing flames through the night with no firefighters in sight. "I never heard a siren." |
| New Orleanians and other folks from the Gulf Coast with boats and canoes similarly took matters into their own hands by rescuing victims who were stuck on roofs and stranded in rising, contaminated waters. |
| Key infrastructure failed |
| What started the Palisades fire is still unknown. But when it comes to the Eaton fire, many signs point to Southern California Edison equipment. |
| My colleague Melody Petersen reported last month that state regulators had long known that old transmission lines could set off wildfires. In 2001, they proposed a safety rule that would have forced Edison and other electric companies to remove abandoned lines unless they could prove they would use them in the future. |
| But the regulation was weakened amid opposition from SCE and other utilities. |
| Now, dozens of lawsuits claim one of those old transmission lines ignited the Eaton fire. Just last week, federal prosecutors alleged that the utility ignited the deadly fire. |
| The New Orleans parallel? The levees. |
| After Hurricane Betsy flooded New Orleans in 1965, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers designed and constructed the majority of the levee system in the city. It was built to withstand an event equivalent to a Category 3 hurricane. |
| Forty years later, parts of the levees broke during Katrina, allowing water to pour into low-lying sections of the city. |
| Hundreds of property owners sued the federal government, saying a shipping channel made the flooding worse, but a federal appeals court ruled the U.S. Army Corps could not be held liable. |
| Rebuilding homes and communities is not straightforward |
| Two decades post-Katrina, there are still 100,000 fewer people living in New Orleans than there were in 2000. That decline is most notable in the Ninth Ward, where only 5,000 people lived as of two years ago, compared with 15,000 before Katrina. |
| For those who returned but didn't receive enough financial support from the government, they relied on private organizations such as Brad Pitt's Make It Right Foundation, which stepped in to build homes in the Lower Ninth Ward. |
| Some now allege their homes were built with materials unsustainable for the Deep South, resulting in mold, collapsing structures, heating and cooling issues, flooding concerns, electrical fires and gas leaks. |
| As rebuilding takes off in Southern California, Altadena and Palisades residents face their own hurdles. |
| Interest has spiked in rebuilding with materials that are fire-resistant, carbon-friendly and nontoxic when scorched. But some architects and engineers say L.A. County is making the process difficult. |
| Still, many residents are moving forward with rebuilding. In Altadena, a coalition of architects has created free individualized plans to help people rebuild after losing their homes in the Eaton fire. |
| It's part of a larger effort to assist Altadena's Black community and preserve the cultural legacy of the neighborhood. Before the fires, about 18% of Altadena's residents were Black, down from 43% in 1980. And after the rebuild? Who knows. |
Today's top stories |
 |
| A nurse prepares a COVID vaccine shot. Pharmacies are asking those 65 and younger to attest to an underlying condition before allowing them to receive an immunization. (Associated Press) |
How long will California's COVID surge continue? |
- The coronavirus has muscled its way back into headlines in recent weeks amid a summer wave of the illness and growing difficulties in getting the vaccine.
- Efforts by the Trump administration could also make getting inoculated harder for some people.
- The summer increase is smaller than what California and the U.S. saw during the pandemic years. Still, it has sidelined many who came down with COVID-19 and has some health officials concerned.
|
Allegations of mismanagement and overspending in California fire cleanups were raised in a whistleblower trial |
- In a recent trial, former and current state officials alleged mismanagement, overspending and leftover contamination in lucrative debris removal contracts following some of the largest wildfires in California history.
- State officials and contractors denied wrongdoing and said their work met federal cleanup standards. Some of the same contractors are now working on the Palisades and Eaton fire cleanups.
|
The Garnet fire, burning near sequoias, turns 'dynamic' |
- The Garnet fire exploded by 10,000 acres Sunday with "dynamic" activity, bringing total burn area to 46,619 acres with 14% containment as of this morning.
- Flames came within three miles of a cherished grove of 200 giant sequoias, prompting crews to deploy sprinkler systems on the ancient trees.
|
| |
What else is going on |
| |
Commentary and opinions |
| |
| |
This morning's must reads |
| | | A Westlake Village man living with frontotemporal dementia has something few people with the condition do: the ability to describe his disease. | | | |
| Keep up with California | Your support helps us deliver the news that matters most. Subscribe to the Los Angeles Times. | | | | | |
For your downtime |
 |
| A rendering of DSRT Surf, a surf resort in Palm Desert opening in the summer of 2026. (Beach Street Development) |
Going out |
| |
Staying in |
| |
And finally ... your photo of the day |
 |
| (Christina House / Los Angeles Times) |
| Today's great photo, from Times photographer Christina House, shows actor Ethan Hawke in an image taken in the Los Angeles Times Studios at RBC House during the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. |
Have a great day, from the Essential California team |
| Jim Rainey, staff reporter
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, Fast Break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters |
| How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com. Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on latimes.com. |
