Voices of Our People: Hurricane Katrina

On August 25th, 2005, Hurricane Katrina crossed over South Florida and into the Gulf, where it quickly strengthened into a massive category 5 storm. Gulf Coast residents watched with increasing alarm as it became obvious that Mississippi was in the crosshairs of this once-in-a-generation weather event. When the storm made landfall near the Louisiana-Mississippi state line early on the morning of August 29, those who were unable or unwilling to evacuate experienced sustained winds of 120 miles per hour and a 27 foot wall of water. Many clung to trees or floating debris, desperate to survive. By the time Hurricane Katrina left Mississippi, no part of the state was left untouched. Relief agencies and philanthropic groups from around the world descended on Mississippi with truckloads of food, water, and other desperately need supplies. Rescue and relief would take weeks; recovery efforts would take years. 

Even before the power was fully restored, the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage at the University of Southern Mississippi began planning for an oral history project to preserve for future generations the shared impact of what our people had just experienced. Over the next five years, the Center would collect some 400-plus interviews to be used for museum exhibits, presentations, books, radio programs, and even a stage play. 

 In this four-episode podcast series, produced by the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage, and the Center for the Study of the National Guard at USM, with support from the Mississippi Humanities Council, we will mine that collection for stories of survival and resilience. To those stories we will add new interviews with key decision-makers and scholars to gain some new perspectives on the legacy of Hurricane Katrina.