Exactly 20 years ago, hurricane Katrina devastated multiple US states. It caused widespread devastation of both property and life. When the US media started showing floating dead bodies in New Orleans, the government had to send its armed forces to rescue those still stranded in flooded water. I was already going to New Orleans as there was a major public health conference planned there. Cities and areas around coast were evacuated and everything got cancelled.

But I was destined to go to New Orleans and within days I was flying to New Orleans as one of relief workers of US CDC. Our team's job was to evaluate the houses to see if they were safe for return. When I arrived in a completely vacant city, it was a surreal feeling as we did not need to stop at the traffic lights. It was like a Hollywood movie scene of a day after. Teams which went before me had to stay in tents as there were no hotels open. By the time our team arrived, there was one Holiday Inn open. It was just sort of open, as they only had one- or........

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