While I call Colorado home now, this week marks a notable milestone -- one that is extra emotional for me and my family back in my hometown of New Orleans.
It’s the 20th anniversary of the American tragedy known as Hurricane Katrina, which remains to this day one of the deadliest and most destructive hurricanes in US history. The devastating category five storm struck the Gulf Coast on Monday, August 29, 2005, leaving death and destruction in its wake across Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi. More than 1,800 people died and more than a million people were displaced.
By the time it hit landfall much of the storm's power had dissipated, but then the levees that were supposed to protect our beloved, low-lying city of New Orleans broke, leaving thousands stranded on rooftops in attics and in shelters without electricity, food or drink. The floodwaters, in some areas, surged as high as 20 feet.
For me and my family, the close-knit historic neighborhood where I grew up was the epi-center of the disaster…
