NEW ORLEANS, La. – On Friday, August 26, 2005, Hurricane Katrina was just another nuisance storm lurking in the Gulf of Mexico and possibly headed our way. I was more concerned about Ohio State’s first-ever game against Texas in two weeks. As people from Houston to Tallahassee have done for decades when hurricanes come calling, we planned to stock up on bottled water and batten down the hatches, then rake up piles of debris after Katrina passed.

Then Katrina became a monster overnight. While I slept, the Category 3 storm intensified into a Cat 5 as its whirlpool clouds filled the entire Gulf of Mexico. Katrina meant business. It was time to bolt.

I spent that frantic Saturday preparing my wife and three children to join neighbors fleeing the storm. As a reporter for The Times-Picayune in

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