My New Orleans
President-Elect Shannon Brice, Community Council Director Rachel Stickney and President Kristin Moore sort donations received for Hurricane Laura Relief at JLNO Headquarters. Photo by Sonia Godfrey.
The forecast was ominous. The warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico provided the perfect conditions for a weather disturbance to explode from a tropical storm into a category 4 hurricane in just 48 hours. Predictions included a 20-foot storm surge that local officials described as “unsurvivable.” Coastal residents from Galveston, Texas to Gulfport, Mississippi braced for what may lie ahead, but ultimately it was southwest Louisiana that bore the brunt as Hurricane Laura made landfall at 1:00 am on Thursday, August 27, 2020.