Hurricane Katrina, August 2005

Kevin Rolling, left, a member of the Tammany Oaks Church of Christ in Mandeville, La., offers help to a man whose home sustained severe damage from Hurricane Katrine in 2005. (PHOTO BY BOBBY ROSS JR.)

WHAT HAPPENED: A Category 5 hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico caused destruction from Florida to Texas. More than 1,800 people died in the storm, which flooded the city of New Orleans. (See our coverage of Hurricane Katrina.)

WHAT HELPED: “Self-contained” crews that brought their own equipment and had food to share were useful, said Kirk Garrison, minister for the Carrollton Avenue Church of Christ in New Orleans.

WHAT DIDN’T: Used clothing, bent folding chairs and broken tables were of little use and difficult to store. However, “what worked way outweighed the ultimately minor irritations of what didn’t,” Garrison said. “We will be eternally grateful for all the love that was showered down on our church after Katrina.”

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