Flooding in the garden by as much as three feet for up to two weeks killed the plants there. 1,000 trees died in the
flood-waters – over 1,000 more were toppled or extensively damaged by wind. The loss of electrical power to run air-conditioning
and automatic watering systems resulted in the loss of orchids, stag-horn ferns, bromeliads, and other plants in the hothouses
and Conservatory. Saltwater made its way from Lake Pontchartrain to kill most of the grass, tender vegetation, and many large
magnolia trees. Archives were lost, records soaked, and computers ruined in the Administration Building which sat in four
feet of water. (FEMA
The images in this book appear courtesy of the New Orleans Public Library (NOPL), Louisiana Digital Library (LDL), the Library
of Congress (LOC), The Historic New Orleans Collection (HNOC), Pictometry International (PI), and D.C. "Infrogmation"
May (DCM). Unless otherwise noted, images are from the author's collection.
A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book is dedicated to
Friends of City Park.