I Was There: A Look Back at Hurricane Katrina

About this episode

This episode revisits the human impact of Hurricane Katrina through conversations with survivors and documentary filmmakers.

As hurricane season approaches, this repeat episode revisits one of our most memorable and moving conversations about the human impact of extreme weather. Emily goes off the radar with Traci Curry, director of the National Geographic docuseries Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time, and hears from Shelton Alexander, a New Orleans resident who survived the storm inside the Superdome and later captured his experience in a powerful poem. It’s a sobering reminder of how these storms shape lives, and why those stories still resonate today.

People in this episode

Host: Emily

Guests: Traci Curry, Shelton Alexander

Topics covered

• Hurricane Katrina
• extreme weather
• human impact
• survival stories
• New Orleans
• documentary

Keywords

• Hurricane Katrina
• extreme weather
• Traci Curry
• Shelton Alexander
• New Orleans
• Superdome
• documentary

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: National Geographic

Places: New Orleans, Superdome

More episodes of Off the Radar

• A Special Message from Emily Gracey · May 19, 2026 · 4 min
• From the Vault: Concerts & Climate Activism with AJR's Adam Met · May 5, 2026 · 42 min
• Love Canal Pt. 2 - Surviving Tragedy · April 28, 2026 · 37 min
• Love Canal Pt. 1 - A Ticking Time Bomb · April 21, 2026 · 53 min
• The 2026 Hurricane Season Outlook · April 14, 2026 · 18 min
• Lightning: The Science, the Safety, and the Surprises · April 7, 2026 · 50 min