The Abandoned Refrigerators of Katrina – Design You Trust

The Abandoned Refrigerators of Katrina

1
Image source

Hurricane Katrina, that ravaged the Gulf Coast and the entire city of New Orleans in the summer of 2005, ruined a lot of household appliances but damaged refrigerators belonged to an entirely different realm of problems.

2
Image source

When Katrina forced people to evacuate their homes, a few residents emptied their refrigerators before they evacuated, but most of them left theirs with all the food inside. They didn’t know that they would lose power for weeks, or that they wouldn’t be able to return home until a month or more later. All this time the food sat in the stifling 90-degree heat inside the refrigerators and rotted. Vegetables and fruits, meat and fish had all turned into a disgusting slimy mess teeming with maggots.

3
Image source

People who returned and opened their refrigerators immediately regretted. The food had become so toxic that it melted plastic, corroded metal, and dissolved rubber refrigerator liners. The smell was unbearable. Word got out and many didn’t open their refrigerators at all. They sealed them shut with duct tape and pushed the box of horrors out of their homes and into the curb. Some people tried and found it impossible to fully clean their refrigerators. The smell just wouldn’t go. Eventually, refrigerators started to crop up in the streets like mushrooms after the rain, even in parts of the city that wasn’t flooded. An overwhelming smell of death and decay hung over the entire city.

4
Image source

The putrid task of disposing these machines fell upon the local government, who assigned a special crew for the job. These men were trained in the handling of hazardous materials and were armed with special equipment and hazmat suits. But the destruction throughout the region was so extensive that the clean-up operation took months to complete. Sitting there outside the homes, the abandoned refrigerators began to attract graffiti and soon became a platform for art and personal expression. As time dragged on some began to be decorated with festive Christmas ornaments and salutations.

5
Image source

For months the spray-painted refrigerators became a ubiquitous symbol of post-Katrina New Orleans. People began photographing Katrina refrigerators, and organizing exhibitions featuring these photographs. Even books were written about them. That year at Halloween parties, Katrina refrigerators were a popular costume idea.

6
Image source

Eventually the refrigerators were hauled to a scrapyard to be recycled. As many as 150,000 refrigerators were dumped at the Gentilly Landfill by December 2005. By early 2006, the last of them were gone.

7
Image source

8
Image source

A “Bobcat” picks up dead domestic refrigerator and other debris.

9
Image source

A “Bobcat” dumps a refrigerator on a landfill in New Orleans.

10
Image source

Thousands of refrigerators lie on a landfill in 2006 waiting to be scrapped.

11
Image source

Thousands of refrigerators lie on a landfill in 2006 waiting to be scrapped.

Via Amusing Planet, Wikipedia, Karen Ashley, NOLA

If you want more awesome content, subscribe to 'Design You Trust Facebook page. You won't be disappointed.

More Inspiring Stories

Eerie Photographs Captured By An Urban Explorer Show An Abandoned Mental Asylum Crumbling Into Disrepair
Embrace Spring With Pictures Of Japan's Cherry Blossoms
The World's Largest Sauna With Beautiful Panoramic Views Opens In Norway
Toilets Around the World
Tokyo Hotel Launches Futuristic Lantern Dining to Beat Coronavirus
Illegal Fishing in Zimbabwe
Elderly Blind Man and His Armless Friend Plant Over 10,000 Trees in China
A Turquoise Lake In Siberia Where People Have Been Taking Selfies Is Actually A Toxic Power Plant's Ash Dump
Photographer Discovered An Abandoned House In France Filled With ‘Demonic’ Dolls
Sleepaway In A Sewer Pipe At Dasparkhotels in Austria And Germany
Vintage Cars Are Rotting In A Tunnel Of Liverpool
Which Type Of Traveler Are You?
Virtual Traveller Used Google Street View To Explore Poland During Quarantine, Here’s What She Found
Real Fire Truck Converted In Authentic And Cozy Log Cabin
Japan's Abandoned Mines Hint At The Ruins We'll Leave Behind
"Enfarinats" Festival – The Battle With Flour And Eggs In Spain
Nomadic Couple Built a Stylish Trailer Home for $50,000
Forget Harry Potter And Platform 9¾ - This Train Station In Japan Only Has One Passenger
Silent Hill
Ukrainian Metro Workers Surprise Women Commuters With Flowers
Let's Travel from Toronto to Egypt, All within the UK
This Photographer Documents Abandoned NYC Subway Ads
First Sahara Desert Snow Miracle In 40 Years Captured In Stunning Photographs
Stunning Photos Of The Abandoned Armoured Repair Factory In Kharkiv, Ukraine