A year after Hurricane Katrina struck, vast stretches of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are still largely abandoned, and many here wonder whether the destruction may be more permanent than anyone could at first conceive.

After a desperate trek across the chaos left by Hurricane Katrina, Lajaunda Johnson found a bus driver who would let her get out of New Orleans with her dog, a 6-year-old mixed breed named Angel.

In the middle of it, with the choppers overhead and the National Guard troops trying to save the dying, a woman at the front of a line to survival looked at me.

Under floodlight and firelight, with country music blaring from someone's Jeep that had been commandeered for their use, the deputies of St. Bernard Parish drank beer and ate deep-fried turkey, ribs and steak.

Two families from different cultures find living together to be a test of their will. Their lives have grown into a tangle of wants, needs and expectations.

Frank Hirsch, left, helps New Orleans evacuee Calvin McDonald move into a new apartment Monday in North Raleigh.

Lack of paperwork hampers efforts by Brandy Howard and Calvin McDonald of New Orleans to start a new life in the Triangle.

Governor and New Orleans mayor saved lives with evacuation, authorities say.

Governor and New Orleans mayor saved lives with evacuation, authorities say.

Safety of new levee system is in doubt.

Cleveland Stampley grinned as he locked the door to his FEMA trailer one last time. Out front, a case worker's pickup truck waited to take him to his new home at a nearby apartment complex.

FEMA trailer fumes suspected.