Hurricane Katrina 20Year Anniversary
DULUTH, MINN.- It’s been 20 years since Hurricane Katrina hit. Many lives were taken and changed forever; many more struggled just to survive. West Duluth resident, Cooper Joseph says Katrina was a devastating storm. He lived in Louisiana at the time, 75 miles from New Orleans. Joseph was a Fire Captain of the volunteer fire department. He happened to be at the station during the hurricane.
“The wind was so strong it sounded like it was going tear up a building off the cement.” Says, Joseph. He went underneath one of the fire engines for cover. He went on to say, due to the amount of damage afterwards, it took him an hour to get home from the station.
Levees were built near neighborhoods to prevent flooding; they were three feet high. They broke the next day early morning, causing most of New Orleans to flood. According to Joseph, at the time, they weren’t strong enough to contain the water that was coming in. After the hurricane, Joseph and his family evacuated to Texas. They stayed with his then wife’s family for two weeks.
When they came back, there was no electricity or running water for four months. He said, he was scared to sleep or wake up because of the looting of stores not far from him. Joseph heard stories about the events in the Super Dome and he couldn’t believe it; it was baffling how survival can make a person do such unbelievable things. He said it was disappointing that the government took days to help those who were suffering and in need; the Bush Administration didn’t accept most aid from other countries. Fast forward to 2025, Cooper Joseph has now been living in West Duluth for six years. Since then he accomplish his life long dream of getting his amateur radio license.
There was a lesson learned from the tragedy. Establishments and houses have been rebuilt stronger and high off the ground. The levees have been rebuilt 20feet high with a mural painted signifying where it broke in 2005. Although, this part of history is tragic; it doesn’t define who someone is or their future.
