‘I’m not crazy about how I got here, but I love it here’: Hurricane Katrina survivor reflects on rebuilding her life in Colorado 20 years later

By Chandra Thomas Whitfield
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26min 02sec
Marla Jones Newman poses with Winnie The Pooh
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Marla Jones Newman poses with Winnie The Pooh at her home in Parker. It’s a statue that her family brought with them from New Orleans to Colorado after fleeing the destruction of Hurricane Katrina 20 years ago.

Katrina Flood Lawsuits
David J. Phillip/AP, Pool, File
FILE - In this Sept. 1, 2005, file photo, residents wait on a rooftop to be rescued from the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Dozens of lawsuits seeking damages from the federal government for Hurricane Katrina-related levee failures and flooding in the New Orleans area are over. U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval Jr. has dismissed the cases. The move comes more than a year after a federal appeals court overturned his ruling that held the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers liable for flooding caused by lax maintenance of a shipping channel. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, Pool, File)

Marla Jones Newman poses with Winnie The Pooh
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
The Winnie The Pooh statue that Marla Jones Newman keeps at her home in Parker. It’s a statue that her family brought with them from New Orleans to Colorado after fleeing the destruction of Hurricane Katrina 20 years ago.

Colorado Matters spoke with four Hurricane Katrina survivors who now call Colorado home. Read more of their stories below:

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