When those future Houstonians celebrate our own tricentennial – more than a century down the road – we hope they can look back at their city’s performance during the disaster of Hurricane Katrina and say that, throughout our long and storied history, it was one of our finest hours. The 10th anniversary of the historic storm is today. “We want to celebrate because we are still here, but a lot of people are not”, said Lower Ninth Ward resident Natasha Green, 36 as cited by BBC.

A photograph taken on July 9th, 2006 (left), shows the central business district, nearly one year after Hurricane Katrina flooded this area.

The sun breaks through the clouds over a cemetery as the region…

A cyclist stands near the re-constructed levee wall along the…

Hurricane Katrina decimated New Orleans and large swaths of the Gulf Coast 10 years ago. Many survivors are reflecting back on the natural disaster that forever changed their lives. “Current Governor Phil Bryant hosted the event, which honored the thousands of first responders – from 46 states and Puerto Rico – who came to Mississippi’s aid after Hurricane Katrina. Our neighborhood still has problems just like New Orleans has problems”, she said.

Then New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was also criticized for failing to implement his evacuation plan and for ordering residents to a shelter of last resort without any provision for food, water, security, or sanitary conditions.

“Isn’t it awesome? The storm almost destroyed New Orleans and yet, now, New Orleans is the beacon for school reform”, Bush said at Warren Easton, the oldest school in the city. “Plus, we’re the buffer for metropolitan New Orleans, we reduce storm surge”. Hundreds more were stranded on their rooftops.

“On and on and on, I have seen this city in every state of fix and disrepair that has existed for more than 50 years”, he added.

Joe Raedle/Getty Images C. Gary Wainwright leans against a Mausoleum as he pays his respects at the New Orleans Katrina Memorial.

Because the spotlight has been on New Orleans and the anniversary of Katrina, the gaps between haves and have-nots that always existed in Louisiana may be perceived through the lens of return and recovery. At Shell Beach, in lower St. Bernard Parish just east of New Orleans, public officials and residents gathered along a waterway that burst through a levee in 2005 and killed 127 people. Estimated population in 2014 was 384,320 compared to 494,294 in 2005.

Despite the sadness that still clings to parts of the lower ninth, there are clear signs of progress; $1.6 billion has been dedicated to rebuilding neighborhoods across the city, 100 miles of new roads have been paved and retail sales tax numbers are now above pre-Katrina levels.

In this combination of Wednesday, August 31, 2005 and Thursday, July 30, 2015 photos, patients and staff of the Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans are evacuated by boat after flood waters surrounded the facility, and a decade later, the renamed Ochsner Baptist Hospital.

But the mourning Saturday was balanced by a celebration of how far the region has come since Hurricane Katrina.