2025 marks the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s devastating effects on the city of New Orleans and surrounding communities.
After the storm made landfall in August 2005, countless first responders jumped into action to save lives.
Many of their stories were recorded by The Historic New Orleans Collection in an effort to preserve them for future research and reflection.
Mark Cave, with THNOC, told WDSU that in total, about 500 oral history interviews were conducted with local first responders and also out-of-state first responders who came to New Orleans to help with recovery efforts.
“We see that as our job here, to create historical record for the community, so we wanted this immense archive that would allow researchers in the future to come here and to write histories of that event,” said Cave. “The bulk of the project took five years.”
The interviews tell harrowing stories, such as a firefighter whose colleague called asking for a body bag for his own father in St. Bernard Parish. In another, a first responder recounts rescuing a boy who had been left alone in his New Orleans home for days after his mother went for help during the storm and was never seen again.
“What human beings go through … (the stories are) so dramatic,” said Cave.
Cave added that he hopes through these interviews, people will have a more complete understanding of Hurricane Katrina and its impact on Southeast Louisiana.
“A lot of the national media could get to the Superdome or they could get to the convention center, but they couldn’t see these other dramatic events that were happening throughout the metropolitan area,” said Cave. “(The project) gives a broader sense of what happened.”
To listen to those interviews online, click here.
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