LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - It’s been 20 years since Hurricane Katrina caused catastrophic death and destruction in America’s Gulf Coast.

Katrina first made landfall as a Category 1 storm in Florida on Aug. 25, 2005.

Warm water caused the storm to intensify to a Category 5 storm in the Gulf. It struck Louisiana and Mississippi on Aug. 29, 2025.

The vast majority of the storm’s death were caused by the failure of the levees in New Orleans. Mississippi’s Gulf Coast was completely devastated and residents often say they were overshadowed and forgotten in this story.

In the days and weeks that followed, many cities took evacuees in. Here in Louisville, survivors arrived and stayed briefly at the Kentucky Expo Center.

A reporter with WAVE spoke to exhausted families as they settled in to Loui

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