Hurricane Katrina smashed into the Gulf Coast in late August 2005, causing extraordinary damage, displacing thousands of residents and busting the levees around New Orleans, putting 80% of the city underwater.
In scorching heat and in desperate need for basic necessities, residents waited an agonizing five days for federal help. It didn’t take long for chaos and lawlessness to take hold.
Into those dark days walked Lt. Gen. Russell Honore, a 40-year military veteran, who quickly took control of the drowning city, helping to restore calm and steer resources to traumatized residents. He became one of the pivotal figures in New Orleans’ immediate recovery, a take-charge figure whom the mayor at the time compared to John Wayne coming to town.
On Aug. 29, the exact anniversary of when Katrina struck 15 years ago, Honore sat down with News Nation Anchor Rob Nelson to share his memories from those unsettling days in 2005, to gauge how far the city has rebounded, and to give his perspective on what lessons America learned from the unprecedented tragedy.
Story: bit.ly/3h3ooMJ