Hurricane Katrina Turned Tech into a First Responder. ‘The Intersect’ Explains How Natural Disasters Shape the Landscape

Twenty years after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, the storm’s legacy lives on in an unexpected place: your smartphone. On The Intersect, host Cory Corrine explores how the 2005 disaster fundamentally changed emergency preparedness by sitting down with two individuals who’ve dedicated their careers to ensuring communities never face another storm unprepared. 

Michelle Payne, chief strategy and resiliency officer at United Way of Southeast Louisiana, was a Loyola University senior when Katrina hit. Kirby Nagle, the organization’s public information officer, witnessed the aftermath as displaced families flooded into Nagle’s hometown in Arkansas. Together with Corrine, they trace how a communication breakdown during one of America’s deadliest natural disasters sparked a technological revolution in disaster response.

As Corrine puts it, “So much has changed in 20 years within New Orleans, but also just more broadly the world, how we communicate, how we connect. Extreme weather was not really a phrase. These natural disasters, climate change, are real.”

What Hurricane Katrina revealed about communication gaps

For Payne, Katrina is personal. “Everyone lost something, and everyone experienced different memories and losses during this time. And unfortunately, everything changed at a moment’s notice,” she recalls.

The communication landscape of 2005 seems almost primitive by today’s standards where we’re all one push notification away from events happening across the globe. “I think back to Katrina, too; texting was not a thing. Which is kind of crazy to think about 20 years later, right? That’s how we all communicate,” Payne explains during the episode. 

Nagle adds crucial context about what those communication failures meant for survivors, sharing stories she heard years later after moving to New Orleans about conditions inside the Superdome and convention center—stories that underscore the vital importance of accurate information and communication during chaos.. 

Technology becomes part of the response

If Katrina exposes the gaps, technology is helping fill them. Payne points out just how far things have come: 

Now, residents have tools like the city’s NOLA Ready text alerts and apps that provide evacuation plans. At workshops, Payne often helps older adults sign up on the spot, sometimes even taking their phones to set up alerts for them herself. Those small steps, she says, “are helping people understand what tools are even out there and available.”

One of the most significant innovations is real-time flood monitoring. With support from Verizon, United Way has installed 50 solar-powered flood sensors around New Orleans. “We also have that data readily available to citizens,” Payne explains. “Through a Streetwise app, people can now go on, look through the app, determine what areas are flooded, and where they should not be driving right now.”

Information is power—and survival

Nagle emphasizes that while new tech may not have changed Katrina’s outcome, it does change what comes next. “What it does do is give you some power in your hands over your own resiliency,” Nagle says, explaining how technology has shifted disaster response from reactive to proactive. ”Once you have the power to know when [streets] flood, you have some control over, uh oh, I need to leave for work early so I can get to my job because I can’t afford to miss a shift.”

That ability to anticipate—not just react—can be the difference between losing a car, missing a paycheck, or worse. It’s why United Way continues to host preparedness workshops and advocate for accessible tools that empower residents to make critical decisions in real-time.

The challenge of resilience in a changing world

The conversation also highlights the growing burden of disaster fatigue. Communities are told to be “resilient,” but as Nagle notes, people are weary: “I’m tired of having to be resilient. And this whole idea is around giving these technologies and preparing this information for you, making sure that you have it at your fingertips so that you’re in control, control of your own resiliency.”

And while technology is central to that, Payne stresses that it always comes back to people. “I still think at the core of it, it comes to helping people,” she says.

Whether it’s fortified roofing technology, solar flood sensors, or simply teaching seniors how to sign up for text alerts, the message remains clear: Hurricane Katrina changed everything, but communities don’t have to face the next storm in the dark.

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