20 years later, how Hurricane Katrina impacted Colorado Springs

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - 20 years ago, Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana, causing more than $100 billion in damage and killing just shy of 1,400 people, according to the National Weather Service.

Millions were displaced, having to flee their homes before the devastating winds and flooding came knocking at their door.

Some of those storm refugees came to Colorado Springs.

KRDO13 spoke with former city leaders who led the hurricane response here in Colorado Springs, as well as refugees who came here from Louisiana and ultimately stayed.

One of those refugees was KRDO13 Senior Morning Producer Alex Burnet and his family. 20 years ago, Burnet was six years old. He says the little he remembers from those days still sticks in his mind.

"It was, you know, certainly eye-opening and a shocker to a six-year-old, let alone somebody who had been in the area their whole lives," Burnet said.

Before the storm made landfall, Burnet said his parents took him and his brother to stay in a hotel in downtown New Orleans. They didn't have a room, but shared the ballroom with dozens of other families. After a few days, they packed up and headed to Colorado Springs.

When they got to Colorado Springs, they were met with open arms.

"We did because we knew that there were people in need and that maybe something like this would happen to us someday." In 2005, Richard Skorman was on the Colorado Springs City Council. Skorman tells KRDO13 he opened the doors of his small business, Poor Richards, to those fleeing Katrina. Between Poor Richard's and the now U.S. Olympic Admin Building, which at the time was vacant and turned into an aid center, Skorman said thousands were helped.

"We had a concerted effort where we actually brought buses down to the Gulf Coast, and we set up a table at the Houston Astrodome, and we brought people back here," Skorman said.

Even 20 years later, some of the people who came for help still stick out in Skorman's mind.

"There was one woman who had a child and couldn't feed her baby. She was pregnant. She ended up here in tears. 'I have no food for my child for two days. I don't know what to do. I'm afraid I'm going to have my next child soon.' We just dropped everything and helped her and made sure her baby had a place to be.

Then I happened to go to the hospital with her and be there for the birth... Maybe this life would not have happened if she hadn't shown up at the right place at the right time, with luck.

"The hug that she gave me was what I will always remember," Skorman said.

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