<div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-0"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">​E​rander Guss-Lee, a security guard, stood outside an auditorium in New Orleans​ one night this week, hearing fragments of ​​​a documentary about Hurricane Katrina that was being screened: Clips of news anchors in the days after the storm, straining to describe the destruction and human suffering. ​Tearful recollections.​ Saxophones sounding mournful but defiant notes.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">​Ms. Guss-Lee ​just wanted to go home. She was proud of her city — no question. ​But​ she was not eager to relive Katrina and all the misery that followed.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">“We’re still here,” she said. “Believe that.”</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">New Orleans had survived, which ​was not necessarily a given in those early days and weeks ​after the devastating storm. The city looked as if it had been annexed by the Gulf of Mexico, thousands of people were languishing in a damaged Superdome that had become “a shelter of last resort,” and a sluggish and chaotic federal response stoked fears that they had been forgotten.</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div><div data-testid="Dropzone-1"></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-1"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">But as the city marks the 20th anniversary of Katrina this week, mere survival, for many residents, does not feel like enough.</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div><div data-testid="DiptychBlock-3"><div class="css-q3z82y e73j0it0"><div data-testid="imageblock-wrapper"><figure aria-label="media" class="img-sz- css-13wylk3 e1g7ppur0" role="group"><div class="css-1xdhyk6 erfvjey0" data-testid="photoviewer-children-figure"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0">Image</span><div class="css-nwd8t8" data-testid="lazy-image"><div data-testid="lazyimage-container" style="height:580px"></div></div></div><figcaption class="css-fpbvhh ewdxa0s0" data-testid="photoviewer-children-caption"><span class="css-jevhma e13ogyst0">After spending the summer learning about Hurricane Katrina, students at Eternal Seeds, a community organization, made a mural based on their interpretations.</span><span class="css-14fe1uy e1z0qqy90"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0">Credit...</span><span><span aria-hidden="false">Annie Flanagan for The New York Times</span></span></span></figcaption></figure></div><div data-testid="imageblock-wrapper"><figure aria-label="media" class="img-sz- css-13wylk3 e1g7ppur0" role="group"><div class="css-1xdhyk6 erfvjey0" data-testid="photoviewer-children-figure"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0">Image</span><div class="css-nwd8t8" data-testid="lazy-image"><div data-testid="lazyimage-container" style="height:580px"></div></div></div><figcaption class="css-fpbvhh ewdxa0s0" data-testid="photoviewer-children-caption"><span class="css-jevhma e13ogyst0">The Lower Ninth Ward.</span><span class="css-14fe1uy e1z0qqy90"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0">Credit...</span><span><span aria-hidden="false">Annie Flanagan for The New York Times</span></span></span></figcaption></figure></div></div></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-2"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">After the flood and the trauma, New Orleans was flush with financial resources, big ideas and hope that some of its worst and most pernicious problems might have washed away for good. The city might not only stagger back to life, but get better governance, better flood protection, better schools, better police. Two decades later, much of that hope has gone unrealized.</p><div class="css-kbghgg"><div class="css-121kum4"><div class="css-171d1bw"></div><div class="css-asuuk5"><noscript><div class="css-7axq9l" data-testid="optimistic-truncator-noscript"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="css-1b5b8u1" data-tpl="i" height="24" viewbox="0 0 24 24" width="24"><path clip-rule="evenodd" d="M2.5 12a9.5 9.5 0 1 1 19 0 9.5 9.5 0 0 1-19 0Zm8.5 1.75v-7.5h2v7.5h-2Zm0 2v2h2v-2h-2Z" fill="currentColor" fill-rule="evenodd"></path></svg><div class="css-6yo1no" data-testid="optimistic-truncator-noscript-message"><p class="css-3kpklk" data-tpl="t">We are having trouble retrieving the article content.</p><p class="css-3kpklk" data-tpl="t">Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.</p></div></div></noscript><div class="css-1dv1kvn" id="optimistic-truncator-a11y" tabindex="-1"><hr/><p>Thank you for your patience while we verify access. 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