Bitterness Lingers 2 Years After Katrina

Shawnette Humphrey, center, and her husband Arthur Humphrey behind her in hat, hold candles aloft during a candle light vigil on the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2007.(AP Photo/Alex Brandon) (Alex Brandon - AP)

NEW ORLEANS -- James Chaney spent the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina doing what he's been doing since the killer storm crashed ashore _ working on a damaged home.

"My house is pretty close to being done, now we're trying to get my sister home," said Chaney, 39. "Thank God for family and friends. If it wasn't for them nobody would ever get back here."

Two years after Katrina hit, a storm of bitterness and anger has yet to clear. While memorials were held to mark the day, residents fumed about the government's response and marched to demand help.

"We want people to know that nothing is being done to help people here," said Samuel Banks, 40, as he marched with about 1,000 other protesters Wednesday. "How can the city rebuild if nobody has money or jobs?"

President Bush visited the first school to reopen in the hard-hit Lower 9th Ward and pledged additional aid. "We're still paying attention. We understand," he said.

The Category 3 hurricane hit the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2005, broke through levees and flooded 80 percent of the city. More than 1,600 people across Louisiana and Mississippi were killed.

Vast stretches of New Orleans still show little or no signs of recovery. A housing shortage and high rents have hampered business growth.

The homeless population has almost doubled since the storm, and many squat in an estimated 80,000 vacant dwellings. Violent crime is also on the rise, and the National Guard and state troopers are supplementing a diminished local police force.

Bush, Mayor Ray Nagin and Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco all have drawn heavy criticism in the storm's aftermath. Blanco opted not to run for re-election this year after polls showed her popularity at rock bottom.

"They talk and talk about what they're going to do," said Clarence Russ, 64. "There was supposed to be all this money, but where'd it go? None of us got any."

He was trying to put the finishing touches on his repaired home in the Lower 9th Ward _ the only restored home on an otherwise desolate block.

"It's a sad city now," Russ said as he scrubbed away at the big black "X" spray-painted during house-to-house searches for bodies in September 2005. "All our friends are gone. It's just us and a bunch of ghosts down here."