The winds destroyed trees and the water killed everything in its path, but the statue remained upright and steady.
I planted those magnolia trees with my own hands and a shovel in 1977 to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Ursuline nuns in New Orleans. The floodwater smothered the roots and killed the trees. There are 10 of them symbolizing the first ten Ursuline nuns who founded the Convent and Academy in the French Quarter in 1727. The trees were bulldozed and hauled away a few days after this photo.
Two months before this photo we celebrated the Blessing of the Herbs (August 15, 2005) and little girls in white dresses sat under these trees. Sad.