20 years later: Survivors recall the storm that changed the gulf coast

New Orleans – Hurricane Katrina has lashed out at the Gulf Coast with a Category 3 storm for 20 years. The disaster is not only because of its wind, but also because of the tide of water that destroys the countryside Louisiana Diocese And tore the heart of New Orleans.

Hurricane Katrina weakened before landing on August 29, 2005 Class 3 storms. The storm surge flooded homes, claimed more than a thousand lives, and turned reality into a nightmare along the Gulf Coast.

Memories of Louisiana

In the parish of plaquemines, seven-year-old Corrine English lost almost everything when the small fishing town of Buras was swallowed up by the flood.

Hurricane Katrina survivors share stories of perseverance

“Part of me feels like yesterday because I think of the feeling of everything taking away from us.” “It feels really primitive.”

English says Katrina remembers the moment she looked at her mother’s reaction to the news when she was centered on Buras, Louisiana.

“I think that’s when I realize there’s something wrong,” she said. “It’s not going to be where we just pack our suitcases and go home.”

60 miles north, Super Corps in New Orleans, Corbett Reddoch, a Louisiana National Guard member from Buras, is expected to ride the storm under similar practice conditions.

“You’ll come in, the storm will pass, and everyone will leave,” Reddock recalls.

But when the dike fails, as supply decreases, conditions deteriorate rapidly, and thousands of people are trapped inside.

Salvation Army reveals how Hurricane Katrina changes disaster relief operations

“It’s basically a three-day fist fight … people don’t know how to act,” Redoch said.

For Buras’s family, survival looks different. The entire community disappeared underwater, leaving residents cut off and isolated.

English says: “Not only are parents watching TV on TV, they have to figure out how to normalize two children aged 7 and 10.”

Today, the only childhood left in English is a bear she carries in the storm, a reminder of survival and resilience.

“Sometimes it feels like yesterday,” English said. “Other times it feels like 100 years ago because my life has changed… a lot. And it’s hard not to know what my life would be like if that didn’t happen.”

Mississippi’s reflection

Where in Mississippi Hurricane Katrina storm Much of the Gulf Coast is escalating, and communities reflect what has changed and what has changed.

“Everyone has a loss,” said Leonard Papania, former Bayport police chief. “In a moment like this, you won’t build a character, you can prove it,” he said.

today, Bayport is marked by blue skypalm trees and new appearance. But twenty years ago, the scene was unrecognizable. The young lieutenant Papania recalled the streets he could no longer know.

Hurricane Katrina: The lesson of Monster Storm I will never forget

“It’s just heart-warming, the area I grew up with, I lived here all my life,” Papania said. “You don’t even know where you are.”

The four-year-old husband and father also lost their home.

Rupert Lacy helped coordinate law enforcement and emergency management during the storm, remembering it vividly.

“For Hurricane Katrina, I have a vision, that’s what I’m going to see…I just didn’t realize it’s going to be a steroid,” Lacey said.

This is not the first monster storm he has ever seen. In 1969, he lived in Hurricane Camille as a kid, whose surge flattened the entire community.

“You have to understand the power of water,” Lacey said. “The buildings that survived Camille did not survive Hurricane Katrina.”

Click here to get the Fox News app

Today, emergency officials said Hurricane Katrina’s lessons continue to guide their response.

“We did plan potential failures of the system,” Gulfport emergency leader Matt said. “We did have paper backups, we had other forms of communication.”

Still, for Papania, memory is still very close.

“I always say I won’t trade my experience with Hurricane Katrina, but I definitely don’t want to do it again,” he said.