Ten years ago, 30,000 mothers, fathers, sons and daughters packed a football stadium after their city flooded.
On Aug. 29th, 2005, Hurricane Katrina swept through New Orleans in what has been named the third deadliest hurricane in United States history.
It is estimated that 1,836 people died that morning, and several hundred bodies still have not been found.
Doug Thorton, who had been manager of the Superdome for 10 years at the time, slept in his office for five nights.
People lost their homes, their loved ones and their hope as the waters demolished and entered the Superdome for five days.
New Orleans, where everyday life is amplified by excitement, was reduced to its fundamental elements: food, shelter and the Saints.
On Sept. 25, 2006, the Saints returned to the heart and soul of the city — their new and improved Superdome.
It was a Monday night, just another football game where the Saints would battle the Atlanta Falcons. But for the city of New Orleans, it was something much more.
It was a coming home party.
“People want their lives back after so much was taken away,” Thorton said to ESPN. “This building represents the inspiration and hope that things will get back to normal.”
Fans cried as police officers unblocked the front gates and began to fill the Superdome with black and gold.
Ninety seconds into the game, the hometown Saints’ Steve Gleason blocked Falcon Michael Koenen’s punt near their goal line, and fellow Saint Chris Deloatch recovered it for a touchdown.
The capacity crowd of 70,003 New Orleans fans cheered for the first time since the devastation.
The Saints were up 7-0, and they never looked back. They went on to defeat the Falcons 23-3.
“From the moment I signed with the Saints, I was looking forward to this,” Saints quarterback Drew Brees said to ESPN after the game. “It was a great night. It’s something we’ll never forget.”
But that wasn’t the story.
The story was about the people, those who saw their city crumble right before them, being able to gather back in the place where they struggled to survive and give hope to the city of New Orleans.
It was the roar of the crowd, the fans holding up signs that read, “Katrina is now forgotten,” that made a city come together for something much more than just a football game.
“Most people use ‘resilient’ to describe post Katrina,” former Saints quarterback Archie Manning said to ESPN. “I call it toughness,”
The waters washed away the admirable city of New Orleans, but the city didn’t die.
The people of New Orleans didn’t let it.
In 2009, the Saints victory back to New Orleans in the form of a Super Bowl Trophy.
But everyone will always remember when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf, but New Orleans citizens remember the Monday Night Football game, when the Superdome reopened and the Saints went marching in.
micbhern@indiana.edu
