Mardi Gras Takes New Orleans by Storm

Six months after the greatest cataclysm in its history, a battered yet defiant New Orleans rounded out a Mardi Gras season with the traditional show of drunkenness and licence - but it was stalked by the memories and reminders of Hurricane Katrina.

Along Bourbon Street and throughout the French quarter, revellers celebrated “Fat Tuesday” as parades wended their way through the streets.

Many of the displays mocked the federal and local governments for their botched response to the crisis. Some of the floats still carried the marks of the storm that hit on 28 August, their paint flaking, and with water marks visible. (Independent Online)