SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - Twenty years ago, Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, killing more than 1,800 people and causing billions of dollars in damage.
Doug Nakama, a San Diego Fire-Rescue firefighter at the time, was deployed to the disaster zone and still carries vivid memories of the catastrophic response effort.
"This was a home destroyed," Nakama said, as he showed us photos, describing the widespread devastation he witnessed.
From decimated buildings and commercial structures reduced to rubble to a destroyed floating casino, the scale of destruction was overwhelming.
Nakama was pre-deployed with a FEMA incident support team at a military base in Mississippi when Katrina made landfall. He described the terrifying sounds of the storm's arrival.
"Like a train coming, colliding with something … high pitch sounds and the wind force going through, things being destroyed," Nakama said.
Reflecting on the experience 20 years later, one aspect stands out most to him.
"The magnitude of the event," Nakama said.
After the storm passed, Nakama was sent to Gulfport, Mississippi, to help manage the FEMA response across parts of three states. While images from New Orleans showed people trapped on rooftops waiting days for rescue, Nakama was in the field daily in Mississippi, directing search and rescue, swiftwater rescue and hazmat teams for several weeks.
The logistical challenges were immense.
"Hardest parts, lack of any cell service ... a lot of it was face to face, directing teams where to go," Nakama said.
The initial scope of the disaster was daunting.
"The initial reaction was overwhelming. How do we get our arms wrapped around this?" he said.
Nakama recalls focusing on immediate tasks, though emotional scenes unfolded around him. In one particularly difficult moment, a resident in a pickup truck laid out a deceased person and yelled at rescue teams to do something.
“We did everything we could, but he was already deceased," Nakama said.
He also remembers the civil unrest that followed the tragedy, including truck drivers being pulled over at gunpoint for fuel — that type of unrest a first in his experience.
During his 35-year career, Nakama would go on more than 100 deployments with San Diego Fire and FEMA before retiring earlier this year. But from his Katrina deployment, one memory stands out above the suffering and destruction.
"People who lost everything tried to offer us food," Nakama said. "Gave me more motivation to work harder. It was an inspiration for me. Just humbled by the experience.”
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