NEW ORLEANS, Aug. 28 (UPI) — Former U.S. Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton will arrive in New Orleans over the weekend to commemorate 10 years of recovery since hurricane Katrina.
Bush and his wife, Laura, will arrive in the city Friday. Clinton is scheduled to arrive Saturday.
The Bush family will spend their first hours in the city visiting Warren Easton Charter High School — where in 2006, the former president spoke in support of the Big Easy’s recuperation after the disastrous storm.
Laura Bush, through her foundation, helped replace 10,000 destroyed library books at the 100-year-old institution at the time.
Bill Clinton’s visit to the Crescent City will take place on the actual anniversary of Katrina’s landfall. The former president is expected to attend the Power of Community gathering where he will join a slew of New Orleans’ community leaders including Mayor Mitch Landrieu.
President Barack Obama arrived in Nola Thursday to speak on the city’s resilience since the storm hit a decade ago from within the Andrew P. Sanchez Community Center — a new $20 million facility that replaced a community complex and fire station destroyed by Katrina.
“The notion that there would be anything left [after Katrina] seemed unimaginable, at the time,” Obama said. “Today, this new community center stands as a symbol of the extraordinary resilience of this city.”
“You are an example of what’s possible when, in the face of tragedy and hardship, good people come together to lend a hand, and to build a better future,” Obama continued. “That, more than any other reason, is why I have come back here today.”
The federal government — particularly Bush’s administration and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) — was exhaustively criticized in the weeks and years following Katrina. The critiques ranged from general government apathy to elitism to allegations of authoritative racism.
“The world watched in horror and saw those rising waters around the iconic streets of New Orleans, families stranded on rooftops, bodies in the streets, children crying … an American city dark and under water” Obama said.
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