On August 29, 2025, the Gulf Coast marked a somber milestone: twenty years since Hurricane Katrina unleashed its fury, forever altering the lives, landscapes, and spirit of countless communities. For many, Katrina is not just a chapter in the history books—it’s a living memory, as raw and real as the day the storm made landfall. This anniversary has prompted survivors, journalists, and humanitarians to reflect on the storm’s enduring impact and the hard-won lessons that continue to shape disaster response across the country.
Robin Roberts, the familiar face from Good Morning America and a proud Gulf Coast native, returned to the heart of the devastation for her new special, "Hurricane Katrina: 20 Years After the Storm with Robin Roberts." In the days following Katrina’s landfall in 2005, Roberts was on the ground, reporting not just as a journalist but as someone whose own hometown lay in the storm’s path. As she retraced her steps for the anniversary, the memories came flooding back—alongside a new appreciation for the journey her community has taken since.
"The actual hurricane came across not far from my hometown," Roberts recalled. The devastation was deeply personal, and the rules of journalism—especially two decades ago—didn’t always allow for open emotion. "Twenty years ago, especially as a journalist, you were buttoned up. You didn't show emotion, and I couldn't help it," she admitted in the special. The world watched as Roberts, live on air, choked back tears, her voice trembling as she tried to convey the uncertainty and fear that gripped the region. "I was surprised how emotional I got. There are people tuning in this morning, and they don't know about their loved ones and what that feels like. Here, I thought I was going to get fired, and the public responded in such a positive way. They were so appreciative of the authenticity, helping them understand the severity of Katrina."
Two decades later, Katrina remains one of the deadliest and costliest hurricanes in American history—a tragedy that forced the nation to rethink its approach to natural disasters. "It also forced us to reshape our thinking about natural disasters," Roberts observed. The aftermath of Katrina, she said, set a new standard for how journalists cover disasters, insisting that reporters stay with affected communities long after the initial headlines fade. "The demand from the audience, don't just fly in and fly out. You know? This is an ongoing story."
That ongoing story is written not just in statistics, but in the resilience and pride of people rebuilding what was lost. "Southerners were proud, and we like to do things on our own, and we can do it. Vulnerability is a strength. It's not a weakness, and we showed that we were vulnerable but strong, and I'm really proud of the strength and the courage to believe that the best was yet to come," Roberts said. Her message resonates especially now, as communities across the country face new disasters—from catastrophic flooding in Texas to devastating wildfires in Southern California and Maui. "Being able to show people that are going through these things right now, you're not going to be forgotten. We've been to Southern California. We were there in Maui. We were there down in Texas, and I think it was in part in what we saw after Katrina."
For Gary LeBlanc, founder of the humanitarian nonprofit Mercy Chefs, Katrina was a turning point that changed his life’s direction. LeBlanc, who grew up in New Orleans and spent 25 years in the city’s hotel and restaurant industry, watched in horror as familiar faces appeared among the crowds stranded on bridges and rooftops. "New Orleans was my hometown. It’s where my family was from. It’s where we went every year. It was that touchstone for me as a child growing up," LeBlanc told News 3. "The people I saw standing on bridges on the television from my home in Virginia were people that I knew. They were people that I used to work with, and I was compelled in my heart to go and do something."
He volunteered in the immediate aftermath, cooking with relief agencies for those who had lost everything. But what he saw disturbed him. "I thought there was a better way to feed people that had just lost everything in a horrible storm, and that was with dignity, that was providing hope, that was doing a hand crafted chef prepared meal, but being able to do it at volume as well," LeBlanc explained. Those sleepless months became the seed of Mercy Chefs, which he founded nine months later with little more than a pickup, a barbecue grill, and an igloo cooler.
What began as a one-man mission has since grown into a global humanitarian force. Mercy Chefs has now served more than 32 million meals across 28 states and 30 foreign countries, raising the bar for disaster feeding everywhere. "Disaster feeding is different now, 20 years later, and I like to think that we’ve had a part in that," LeBlanc said. "Organizations have had to up their game to stay with what we’re doing… we’ve seen in Mercy Chefs with the incredible staff that we have, that you can do hand crafted chef prepared meals for tens of thousands of people every day when there’s a need."
Despite the progress, the pain of Katrina lingers. "When I look at the images, when I look at the videos, when I hear the stories, even today that are coming out from Hurricane Katrina, there’s not one that I’ve seen that reflects the tragedy and the depth of damage that was there," LeBlanc reflected. "I have never seen anything that was like what I saw in person. You cannot imagine what it felt like, what it smelled like, what it sounded like." He believes the storm stripped the nation to its core. "I believe our country lost our innocence in Katrina. We believed that someone was always going to come and take care of us, and that didn’t happen after Katrina. We were stripped to our core during Katrina as a country, and we’re still recovering from that."
At the heart of Mercy Chefs’ mission, LeBlanc says, are the volunteers—the neighbors, friends, and strangers who show up in a crisis. "Volunteers are at the heart of what we do. They’re the essential element," he said. "If I have 20 of my staff on site, and we have 50, 75, or 100 locals, people from the community, then we have the army that we need… helping neighbors is absolutely the best way to recovery." The organization’s work, he added, is about more than meals; it’s about restoring dignity and hope. "The drive for me over the last 20 years has been seeing the amazing things that happen when you share a beautiful meal with somebody on literally the worst day of their life, to see that moment of hope, to see that moment of dignity, see that moment where they begin to recover."
As the 20th anniversary weighed heavily on him, LeBlanc used the occasion to recommit to Mercy Chefs’ mission. "This has been a hard anniversary for me… but talking about it has given me that opportunity to process a little bit, but also to recommit myself to what super charged me 20 years ago, to change my life and to change my trajectory and to feed people." He emphasized the importance of preparing for future disasters, noting that Mercy Chefs continues to set high standards for disaster feeding worldwide.
For Roberts, LeBlanc, and so many others, the story of Katrina is ultimately about resilience, compassion, and the unwavering belief that—no matter how devastating the storm—the best is yet to come.
