Katrina refrigerator

When Hurricane Katrina hit on August 29, 2005, much of the Gulf Coast Region and almost the entire Metro New Orleans Area was forced to evacuate for several weeks, as local governments re-established basic infrastructure for electricity and water.

Only waste collectors trained in the handling of hazardous materials and armed with special equipment and hazmat suits were assigned the task of collecting refrigerators.

There were thousands of refrigerators lined along the streets of every neighborhood affected by the storms, usually surrounded by piles of garbage bags and other debris.

By early 2006, occasional additional refrigerators continued to be hauled out to curbs as more locals gutted their houses, but as in parts of town with significant numbers of inhabitants back these were generally picked up within a week or so, as they were profitable for debris pickup teams paid by weight collected.

Katrina Refrigerators set on curbs were eventually collected, the largest portion of them hauled to a scrapyard in an industrial area in back of Florida Avenue in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans to be harvested for scrap metal.

Early themes included criticism of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and its director Michael D. "Brownie" Brown (often with the infamous "Heck of a job" phrase).