Julie Dermansky - Photographer

The student climate strikes have been incredibly inspiring. Here in Louisiana, our communities are on the front lines of climate change. We have seen an increase in flooding, slower moving storms and more rain per storm than in years past.

In August 2016, a massive rainstorm slowed down creating catastrophic flooding in multiple parishes of Louisiana. A combination of high river levels, over 20 inches of rain in some parishes, and a nearly stationary mesoscale connective system, a massive thunderstorm over a large area instead of multiple smaller systems, created widespread devastation. I woke up on August 12 to Facebook posts by my cousin in Lafayette, where her street began taking on floodwaters. The storm surrounded the areas between Lafayette and Baton Rouge. It is estimated that 146,000 homes flooded between August 12 and when the waters finally began to recede on August 15, 2016.

August 30, 2019 marked the 14th anniversary since Hurricane Katrina that devastated New Orleans and surrounding Gulf Coast towns. In August 2017, New Orleans saw a rain event that flooded most of the city in a matter of an hour and half. Later that same month, Hurricane Harvey devastated Houston in a similar fashion, a slow down system with nearly 60 inches of rain over 40 hours. In 2019 alone, New Orleans has seen three additional floods that were similar in scope showcasing aging infrastructure and a changing climate. Many scientists say this is just the beginning of living in a climate crisis.

Julie Dermansky is a local Louisiana photographer who is documenting environmental disasters. She shared with me some of her photos from August 2016. Many families are still dealing with construction, insurance, and FEMA paperwork in 2019.