CORPUS CHRISTI, Tx — Dozens of Hurricane Katrina survivors have reached out to share their stories of finding refuge in Corpus Christi after the devastating 2005 storm.
Ashley Rogers was only 15 when Katrina hit New Orleans. Her family initially found shelter at the city's convention center, but what was supposed to be a place of refuge became a nightmare.
"We saw things that you thought you'd never see in real life. Things that you'd see in a movie," Rogers said.
Rogers said the convention center was far from safe during their stay.
"Kids were getting snatched, women were getting raped," Rogers said.
The traumatic scenes from those five days at the convention center remain vivid in her memory.
"You can hear young girls screaming for help. People needing help and there was nobody to help them," Rogers said.
Those experiences continue to affect her decades later.
"It brings back a lot of flashbacks and I can still see some of those images in my head clear as day. They'll never go away I feel," Rogers said.
On the fifth day, Rogers and her family were bused to the airport with no knowledge of their destination.
"We got on a cargo plane over here and as the plane landed, they said Welcome to Corpus Christi," Rogers said.
Upon landing, her family felt immediate relief from their ordeal.
"When I wasn't staying at the American Bank Center, we were moved to the Annaville area," Rogers said.
Annaville Baptist Church helped the family get back on their feet.
"Eventually we were able to get into housing and get a place of our own here," Rogers said.
Rogers graduated from Calallen High School two years later.
Billy Delgado, who worked for the City of Corpus Christi at the time, said the community was watching Katrina's devastation unfold.
"It was a catastrophe. I mean it was catastrophic," Delgado said.
The city quickly developed an evacuation plan to help.
"The governor requested the city of Corpus Christi to see if we could shelter," Delgado said.
Thousands of evacuees arrived, and the city opened six locations to house them, with the old coliseum accommodating the most people.
"The coliseum was basically a little city for the evacuees," Delgado said.
Brandon Johnson also survived Hurricane Katrina. He and his family of 19 were bused to Corpus Christi after the disaster.
"We make it out here to Corpus Christi. And Corpus, really took care of us," Johnson said.
The city provided resources to help evacuees start new lives in the Coastal Bend, including employment and housing assistance.
"Rent free for a year. All of us," Johnson said.
Survivors like Brandon, Ashley and Ricardo carried the pain of Katrina with them but found comfort and new beginnings in Corpus Christi.
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