The ghost of Katrina: Photographer captures stunning images of hurricane-ravaged buildings

By Julian Gill, Chron.com / Houston Chronicle

Published 12:51 pm CDT, Friday, April 12, 2019

Almost 14 years after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, thousands of properties in the city remain zombified.

Charity Hospital was once one of the largest hospitals in the U.S. before its basement flooded. Now, inside the building, explorers can find a table cracking under the weight of untouched microscopes, old containers of human body parts and a forgotten autopsy theater.

Leland Kent is one such explorer. He photographs old properties to preserve their memory and share their history, like he did for his third book, Abandoned New Orleans.

For the book, which was published last month, Kent photographed Charity Hospital, Booker T. Washington High School and an abandoned Six Flags theme park in New Orleans, among other properties.

“A lot of those paces have that apocalyptic vibe,” Kent told Chron.com.”It’s hard to capture that in a lot of places.”

ABANDONED IN HOUSTON: A skyscraper traphouse, prison and Harvey-flooded hospital 

Urban street photographers find properties that capture a similar vibe in Houston, but the properties in Kent’s book specifically show the long-term effects of the hurricane in 2005.

The Six Flags park now appears completely overgrown with trees. The old high school auditorium could be the set of a horror movie. Papers are strewn on the floor of a hospital office, as if the building was ransacked.

Kent also photographed the only surviving home at an old WWII Nazi internment camp.

He now lives in Florida, and his photo hobby has since grown into a full-time job, he said. He’s previously written books about abandoned places in Alabama and Georgia.

To view more of his work, visit his blog at www.abandonedsoutheast.com. 

>>> Click through the slideshow to see the abandoned places Kent captured in New Orleans 

Julian Gill is a digital reporter in Houston. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, houstonchronicle.com. | julian.gill@chron.com | NEWS WHEN YOU NEED IT: Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message | Sign up for breaking news alerts delivered to your email here.