When a tornado tore through St. Louis in late May, the destruction echoed across the region. Roofs were ripped open, blocks leveled, and families displaced, many with nowhere to go.
“When it happened, a lot of people were saying this was our Hurricane Katrina,” Nine PBS Senior Producer Anne-Marie Berger says. “That gave me pause, because Katrina affected every single New Orleanian.”
Berger began working on a film explaining how the two natural disasters are more similar in their road to recovery than many might expect.
She began her public media career in New Orleans and still visits often. She explained that most of the city looks as if Katrina never happened, but in areas like the Lower Ninth Ward, the scars still remain.
“For a microcosm like North St. Louis, it is their Katrina. While the rest of us go on with our lives, these neighbors are disproportionately affected and disproportionately burdened by inequities that many people in our region don’t fully see,” Berger says.
Like most documentaries, this one began with a plan but evolved quickly.
“You have to go in with an idea, but you also have to be open to realizing you might find something that changes everything,” she says.
One moment in New Orleans did just that.
Berger and Video Production Manager Aaron Landgraf were filming for the documentary on the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina when she noticed a woman standing quietly with a framed photo of herself and her young son. The photo was taken when they returned after the storm, standing on the porch of what used to be their home.
The woman’s name was Nikki Napoleon.
“I asked if we could come to her house. I hadn’t prepared for that at all, but she ended up being the heart of the documentary. When I was editing later, it was almost impossible to choose which of her words to use, everything she said carried weight.”
Landgraf, who had never been to New Orleans before the shoot, was moved by the emotion he witnessed, and was inspired by people like Napolean who came back to honor the memory of their lost loved ones.
“You can’t be afraid to approach people and hear what they have to say,” Landgraf says. “When she heard what we were trying to do and saw how her story could help improve and benefit our community, she was very eager to help.”
Napoleon’s story became a central thread in explaining how disaster recovery works, or rather, how it doesn’t.
While filming in St. Louis, Berger found a familiar pattern of disaster recovery, one that mirrored New Orleans in ways few might expect.
“What happened in St. Louis didn’t just happen because of a tornado. It happened because of decades of inequity and disinvestment,” Berger says.
With tornado coverage dominating headlines in recent months, Berger knew the documentary needed to offer something different.
“This story is forward-looking,” she says. “It gives historical context for why North St. Louis is underserved and undervalued. And it asks, what do we want recovery to look like 20 years from now?”
For all the stories she included in the documentary, she says there are hundreds she couldn’t.
“It barely scratches the surface,” she says. “I focused on one microcosm of one neighborhood. There are so many more people who want to go home and may never be able to.”
Some of the homeowners highlighted in the film will receive help. Their houses are salvageable. But many others won’t be as fortunate.
“That’s why it’s important to keep telling these stories,” Berger says. “Because recovery isn’t a moment, it is a process, one that takes years, sometimes decades.”
The film, airing November 24 at 7 pm on Nine PBS and streaming after the premiere, examines recovery in St. Louis through the lens of New Orleans, two cities separated by hundreds of miles but linked by a river, a history, and a pattern of systemic disinvestment.
Contributed by Gabrielle Lindemann