Hurricane Katrina made landfall as a Category 3 storm—but what followed was far more devastating than wind speed alone could explain. Levee failures, flooded hospitals, drowned neighborhoods, overwhelmed shelters, and delayed federal response turned a natural disaster into one of the most catastrophic humanitarian crises in U.S. history.

Twenty years later, the memory still cuts deep.

In this episode of The Risk Matrix, James Junkin opens up about his firsthand experience living through Katrina, the cascading failures in leadership and planning, and the unshakable responsibility that safety professionals carry—then and now.

Dr. Martin and James break down:

• What went wrong with evacuation, communication, and emergency response

• Why “mandatory evacuation” meant little to those without transportation or options

• The overlooked impact on working-class and vulnerable communities

• How leadership hesitation and policy blind spots cost lives

• What the safety community has (and hasn’t) learned since 2005

• And why being prepared today means planning for the people most at risk tomorrow

James also reflects on the emotional aftermath—from attic drownings to Superdome overcrowding—and the citizens who stepped up when systems failed.

👉 Read James’ companion article in EHS Today:

“Preparing for Hurricane Season 2025”

🎧 Whether you work in public safety, EHS, emergency planning, or executive leadership, this episode will challenge the way you think about readiness—and how quickly conditions can unravel when assumptions go unchecked.

We talk often about lessons learned in safety. This one demands we remember.

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