The New Orleans area commemorated 20 years since Hurricane Katrina on Friday with an outpouring of remembrance coupled with gratitude for residents’ resolve to rebuild, as ceremonies from the Lower Ninth Ward to St. Tammany and the shores of Shell Beach paid tribute to victims of the devastating storm.

Commemorations highlighted the monumental work over the last two decades to bring back neighborhoods thought lost to the floodwaters, but they were accompanied by warnings over a loss of people, culture and traditions in New Orleans.

A ceremony at New Orleans’ Katrina memorial began the day at 8:29 am, with jazz stalwart Michael White leading a procession of city leaders, who placed wreaths in front of mausoleums holding the remains of unidentified victims of the storm.

White, whose

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