By Eileen Fleming
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wwno/local-wwno-920991.mp3
New Orleans, La. – The White House says President Obama will commemorate the more than 1,800 people who lost their lives when Hurricane Katrina slammed ashore five years ago. He will also speak about the resiliency of the Gulf Coast, still damaged from the storms of 2005. And, for the past four months, the region has been dealing with BP's oil spill. He will be speaking at Xavier University, where one year after Katrina he spoke to graduates when he was a U-S senator. The first lady is accompanying the president, along with several top-level administration officials. New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu welcomes his visit. Landrieu says the city still has "a long way to go" to fully rebound from levee breaks that left 80 percent of it under water for weeks.
For NPR News, I'm Eileen Fleming in New Orleans.