Last week I was in New Orleans for the annual meeting of the American Meteorological Society (AMS).

Like many large annual meetings with long-term planning (more than 2,000 meteorologists, climatologists, managers, emergency managers etc. attended), this meeting site had been chosen four years ago about two years before Hurricane Katrina hit.

After Katrina, the AMS felt it was important to maintain New Orleans as the site of this, the 88th Annual Meeting Of The Society. Local officials assured many organizations that the convention center, the scene of terrible suffering by thousands of Katrina’s victims, would be rebuilt and ready for conventions and visitors that are so critical to the economic recovery of the city.

As you can imagine, there were many scientific papers on hurricanes, hurricane forecasting and climate change, and town hall meetings on the impacts and planning for disasters such as Katrina. Not only for New Orleans, but thousands of miles in the Gulf states. There was disappointment that Mayor Ray Nagil, long scheduled for a major luncheon speech to the AMS, did not show up at the last minute, but as someone groused ... "That’s New Orleans.”

Bob Ryan's Images From New Orleans

One cannot go to New Orleans and still not see and feel the continuing aftermath of Katrina. The New Orleanians sprit and vitality is there, and the friendliness and warmth of everyone is wonderful. But you can still feel and see the city is still hurting. The French Quarter and spots like Jackson Square, being the highest areas in New Orleans, were relatively undamaged, but the hustle and bustle are slower and many businesses and restaurants are only recently reopening.

I took a tour to get an overview of the city and visit the Ninth Ward -- the area so devastated by the failure of the walls and levees meant to protect so much of New Orleans that is below sea level. Anyone going to New Orleans should take the opportunity to see the city beyond the French Quarter. It is depressing to see people’s homes -- still uninhabitable -- with the marks from National Guard surveys after Katrina, but I can only imagine the sorrow and depression of the wonderful folks who had to leave and still have not been able to return and rebuild. Many will never return.

Our guide told us a story of a man who had stayed behind in his house during Katrina and, as the storm passed, the sun came out and he went to look at his rose bushes and yard and things looked in pretty good shape and he was looking forward to his wife, who had left before the storm, returning that day. He went inside to make some coffee and when he next looked out the window water was surging toward him -- the levee along the Industrial Canal had failed and water that would rise 15- to 20-feet deep was sweeping him and his lifetime home away.

As the water rose he grabbed a tree and was finally rescued two days later -- barely escaping with his life. But the simple homes that had been in families for generations were gone. The devastation still stretches for miles. Even after most of the debris has been removed and just the concrete pillars so many homes were built on remain, the magnitude of this tragedy is still there.

Several homes, which survived the surge of water, still have holes in the roof where the homeowners chopped their way out of the attic to escape the rising water and hope for rescue. More than two years later debris is still on the roof of a community church showing the height of the water.

The community is slowly trying rebound. Each day some traffic lights come back and Fats Domino is back, but some areas may never recover.

There is still strong feeling in New Orleans and even still bitterness that the local, state and federal governments meant to protect the homes and lives of their citizens failed miserably in New Orleans. Everyone knew the odds of a hurricane such as Katrina striking the Gulf and New Orleans were high. Yet the planning for such a major storm did not account for the failure of the levees and floodwalls meant to protect the city. Indeed various studies had shown that surges of water from a Katrina-like storm would likely undermine floodwalls, not supported deep enough, and lead to massive flooding. That's exactly what happened.

Now, new floodwalls have been built 20 feet deep into solid soil ... but will the Lower Ninth Ward ever be a community again? Many don’t think so.

Our guide also mentioned that many homes in New Orleans are typical side-by-side homes, or “double shotgun” -- a design with rooms front to back and often the owner would live on one side and a renter on the other. Owners of severely damaged homes could get federal funds to repair their side, the owners, but not for the other side where renters provided some income.

“These folks don’t have $30,000 to repair their simple home and make it whole, so money for their half doesn’t do much good.” Bureaucracies don’t seem to know about double shotgun homes.

If you get a chance, make sure to see New Orleans outside the tourist areas and the immediate downtown area. And then tell everyone you know what you saw and how people are still hurting. Our governments failed the people, especially the poorest people of New Orleans once. It can’t fail them again.

-- Bob Ryan, NBC4 Weather Plus Chief Meteorologist