Kriti Mehrotra
With National Geographic and Hulu’s ‘Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time’ exploring how the titular disaster turned into a man-made tragedy, we get a documentary series unlike any other. It incorporates not only hours of never-before-seen archival footage but also interviews with those close to the matter, as well as survivors, to really underscore the way locals didn’t get the empathy they deserved. Therefore, now that two decades have gone by since this harrowing ordeal caused a total of 1,392 fatalities and damages worth $125 billion, here’s what we know about some of the survivors.
Kevin Goodman Still Holds His Background and Culture Close to His Heart
Kevin was a resident of the 7th Ward when Hurricane Katrina hit, and he was with his brother, his niece, his daughter Precious, as well as a young lady with baby twins and two kids. They all fortunately made it out of the storm and the flooding, but they were forced to walk in the water to safety, resulting in his brother developing a severe infection. After they spent 3 days at the New Orleans convention center, they were finally evacuated to the city of Austin, Texas, where they were wholeheartedly embraced. But alas, the lack of medical care and medication led to his brother’s passing away from his infection, and his niece, who had lupus, developed meningitis that spread to her brain.
Owing to these losses, as well as the fact that Kevin was sure his home and belongings were ruined, he chose not to return and instead embraced the people of Austin, Texas. Nevertheless, over time, he did restart the Black Masking Indian tribe Flying Arrows that his father had initially established, serving as its Big Chief right until he decided to pass down the mantle to a cousin, Wendell Frazier, in 2024. Therefore, while he returned for Mardi Gras every year to celebrate his background and culture, 2024 was the last time he did so as the Chief, but he is determined to teach these to his grandchildren, too. As for where Kevin is today, he continues to be based in Austin, where he once went to therapy every single week to work on his loss and trauma. The one thing that helped him was music, so he also performed around town before touring India, Sri Lanka, and the United Arab Emirates, sponsored by the Lincoln Center.
Lynette Boutte Has Managed to Rebuild Her Life Despite Many Roadblocks
As a resident of Treme, the inside of Lynette Boutte’s home was still dry following the flooding, thanks to it being over 3 feet above sea level, but she, her sister, and their family still had to evacuate. They subsequently spent days on the interstate with barely any water or food, but they still managed to survive to the best of their abilities until buses finally came to rescue them. However, she knew her heart was still in the city, considering her family background – her grandmother was born a couple of doors down, and her property initially belonged to her grandfather. Thus, she was determined not to leave the family history behind and returned to the city as soon as possible.
The government’s Road Home Program for housing recovery did not help Lynette, though, because she had taken out money against her property just a short while prior, and that allegedly made her ineligible for grants. In other words, she could rebuild from her own money, accept a buyout, and move to a new place in the state, or sell her land, but she was adamant that she would not lose the property. Hence, since 2005, she has been spending every penny she makes to rebuild her ancestral home as well as her hair salon to its former glory, before taking it beyond, which she has been able to slowly yet steadily accomplish. We should also mention that this former Grambling State University graduate and AT&T employee is also a proud mother and grandmother, so she is excited to pass down the city’s culture to the coming generations.
Lucrece Phillips is Proud to Still be a New Orleanian
Having just had surgery for her broken back and neck, there was no way 8th Ward resident Lucrece Phillips could have evacuated the city even if she wanted to. Thus, she stayed back in her second-floor apartment with her brother, her daughter, her niece, and a young child, unaware they would all have to rush up to the attic if they wanted to survive because of the torrential flooding. Her daughter even tried to write all their names, ages, and details on the wall because she was sure they wouldn’t be rescued on time, but Lucrece had hope and removed the names, just to turn out to be right.
The entire family managed to be rescued even though it was a difficult process, following which they found shelter in a ballroom at the Hyatt Regency center before being displaced. Nevertheless, like Lynette, Lucrece was determined to come back to the place she called home in every sense of the term, which she did before gradually rebuilding her life with the help of loved ones and community. She knows that New Orleans before 2005 and after 2005 are completely different, but she is still proud to be a local because it enables her to keep the story of the city alive. In fact, now 62, she plans on making it known to the community, her grandchildren, and anyone who would listen for as long as possible.
Alice Craft-Kerney is a Medical Professional Dedicated to Her People
As a Southern University at New Orleans graduate with a nursing degree, Alice had been working at the Charity Hospital for over 19 years when Hurricane Katrina hit and disrupted everything. She actually held the position of a nursing supervisor of trauma surgery wards and the confined care unit at this level one trauma center, unaware she would not be able to help when it mattered most. She and her family had decided to ride out the storm at her brother’s home in the Lower 9th Ward, but they had no idea that a flood would soon follow and affect countless individuals. However, even though she wanted to help others, there was nothing Alice could do owing to a lack of supplies and the fact she was directly rescued before being evacuated.
Nevertheless, Alice turned this pain and trauma into determination, so she eventually returned to the city and decided to confront the health crisis by opening the Lower 9th Ward Health Clinic on February 27, 2007. The success of this clinic has enabled her to not only expand operations but also help countless other individuals via partnerships and collaborations. Therefore, today, in her 60s, she continues to serve her beloved community as the Executive Director of her medical center, all the while also embracing her life as a proud yet relatively private family woman.
Keith Craft is Rebuilding His City to The Best of His Abilities
Born and brought up in the Lower 9th Ward in New Orleans, Louisiana, Keith Craft grew up playing around the city’s swamps and learning their significance in times of natural disasters. However, by the time 2005 rolled around, he was well aware of the fact that each swamp had deteriorated into almost nothing, resulting in more danger for the people in his city than ever before. This is just part of the reason the flooding got as bad as it did, so once everything was said and done, he knew he wanted to return to the place he called home and make a change for the better.
While his sister focused on the medical aspect, Keith decided to devote himself to his passion for rebuilding not only his former home but the swamps near his neighborhood. It initially started with him urging his community to come forward for a collective effort to plant more trees and establish a park, but it gradually grew into so much more. He eventually got ideas and opportunities to work with scientists, and now the park is referred to as the Sankofa Wetland Park national reserve, of which he is the proud Ambassador. Now in his 60s, he is a proud husband, father, and grandfather, for whom spending time with loved ones is a top priority.
Shelton Alexander Continues to Pursue a Creative Path
Shelton Alexander is a former Marine who was trying to establish himself as a poet and performer back in the mid-2000s, so he always had a video camera on him. Little did this St. Bernard Parish local know that his habit of recording everything would eventually help the world understand the reality of what was transpiring in his city in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He was one of the thousands of people who had initially traveled to the Superdome for some shelter, only for it to soon turn into chaos as the population kept on multiplying with rescuees coming in. Shelton and his cousin eventually drove away on their own once the water started going down, only to return around a month later to see what was left of their estate.
While his home was completely destroyed, his mother’s was still standing, so she returned and rebuilt her life while Shelton realized he needed funds to be able to start afresh. He subsequently traveled to California, where he learned carpentry from his father before traveling across the nation to take up any job he could. When he eventually decided to come back, though, his mother sadly passed away, and so he continued her dream of building her home before realizing it was time for him to move on. Therefore, today, he is based in Violet, Louisiana, alongside his family, where he is turning his passions into a profession. In other words, he is a rising actor, an artist educator, a poet, a motivational speaker, a catering professional, and a construction professional. However, he still travels to different places from time to time for work opportunities.
John Keller Still Holds the Title of a Community Hero
As a retired Marine who served as a radio operator in the 1st Recon Battalion during Operation Desert Storm in Iraq, when John Keller noticed that people needed help after Hurricane Katrina, he jumped up to help. The American Cannery Apartment building resident realized his building was 11 feet under water, so he took people to the rooftop and wrote what they needed for helicopters to see. It took some time, which John believes could be because of racial reasons, but they were finally noticed, enabling them to get the necessary supplies. As if that’s not enough, he had even hot-wired a boat and rescued survivors to dry land from where they could be evacuated by helicopter – in total, he saved 244 individuals.
While John was the one leading the charge, he has always refused to accept credit because he knows there were at least 8-12 volunteers who helped him along the way. The fact that he was the last to leave after ensuring everyone he had rescued had been evacuated is something he prefers not to shine a light upon, either. In fact, although he has since been deemed a community hero to such an extent that there is now a movie – ‘The American Can’ – and a Collective Consciousness group inspired by his efforts, he still resides in the American Cannery building on the 5th Ward. He has rebuilt his life to the best of his ability and continues to call New Orleans his home while keeping his private experiences well away from the spotlight. John reportedly endured severe health troubles in 2020; he slipped into a coma and his heart stopped twice owing to complications from COVID-19, but he has now reportedly fully recovered.
