From the Archives: After Katrina

Katrina made landfall on August 29, 2005 as a category 5 hurricane, flooding large portions of New Orleans and devastating coastal communities across the Gulf Coast. Entire neighborhoods were displaced. Churches closed. Families scattered.

In August 2006, Filipinas Magazine published “When the Saints Come Marching Back,” an account of how members of the Filipino American community experienced and responded to the storm. The article documents evacuation, return, damaged homes, insurance battles, and the long process of rebuilding.

Storms have long shaped Filipino life in Louisiana. In the nineteenth century, the fishing village at St. Malo was repeatedly damaged by hurricanes. Contemporary accounts describe thirteen foot storm surges and acts of heroism amongst Filipino settlers. The settlement endured because fishermen returned and rebuilt it.

Katrina did not erase Filipino Louisiana. It altered it. Like the early Filipino settlers who rebuilt St. Malo after destructive storms, families in the twenty-first century returned, restored their homes, and reassembled community networks.

This article preserves those accounts and situates Filipino Louisiana within the environmental history of the Gulf Coast, where storms continue to challenge the resilience of the community.

View the full article in the Filipinola Archive: https://www.filipinola.com/resources/archives/items/show/76

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