09/08/2025
20 years ago, I deployed to New Orleans as part of the Red Cross National Disaster response to Hurricane Katrina.
It seems like yesterday, but at the same time, a lifetime ago. There has been a great deal of reflection this past week of how NOLA and our country have changed since that day Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast. I was hesitant to post my photos or feelings about my experience as a rescue worker. Only because I wasn't sure my words would meet the magnitude of the situation. But I was told my perspective was an important piece to the story. While I did not endure the storm itself, my life was forever changed by the destruction it left behind.
I had just started my senior year at Elon University, where I was also a volunteer firefighter/EMT for the town fire department. I had visited NOLA for the first time a few months prior with my mother. Always the fire fighter nerd, I visited one of the stations in the French Quarter, hoping to get a station shirt. The crew was amazing, giving us a tour of the station and telling us all the great stories. When Katrina hit, I was glued to the news. Then I saw them: the group of firefighters I had met a few months earlier. They looked exhausted. I knew they needed more help and I made the decision right then to go. I joined the Red Cross Disaster team the next day and began preparing for deployment.
Everyone knows the history of Katrina: thousands of accounts of survival and loss. My memories are full of heartache met with love, grief met with compassion, exhaustion met with resolve and determination. I watched communities come together to help those impacted by Katrina, shared in their dread and anxiety as Rita came ashore and worked shoulder to shoulder with them to save lives as the flood waters once again rose. They are the definition of grit and perseverance.
Many of the scars are still there: the vacant lots where homes used to be, the shuttered buildings like Charity Hospital that were once beacons of light for the communities they served. This city is forever changed, but the music still plays. The dancing has resumed. The heart and soul of New Orleans is still there. That’s why I love it so much.
