If memory fades over time, then some local advocates are racing against the clock as the three-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina comes ever closer to keep Katrina in the nation’s thoughts.

And with the visit of a congressional delegation this weekend, that opportunity presented itself.

"I think the most significant thing is that people keep this in the forefront of their minds,” said Anne Milling, who is with Women of the Storm. “Once you start forgetting New Orleans, then we're really going to be in trouble."

The Women of the Storm group guided the congressional delegation to several sites around the city, including the pumping station at the 17 ^th St. Canal and the Lower Ninth Ward.

“These who had never been here before, just again couldn't understand or couldn't imagine the magnitude of the devastation," Milling said.

"In all fairness, it is difficult to truly understand what happened unless you live here," said Sandy Rosenthal of http://www.levees.org. "At the risk of sounding insensitive, for Midwest flooding may actually help the people of this area because what happened in the Midwest is actually the same thing that happened to us."

That is why Rosenthal and Milling say there is a lot riding on a congressional trip like this one. It’s a chance to remind members of Congress, who are from other parts of the country, that the needs here are still great three years after the storm.

"I think yesterday the Congressmen realized there's no quick fix or easy answers for the city,” Milling said. “It's going to take time, it's going to take their involvement over many, many years and we've all got to recognize that."

"It is up to us. We still have phones, we can still write, we can still keep the pressure on our members of Congress," Rosenthal said.