Feds remember Hurricane Katrina
Five years ago, the hurricane hit the Gulf Coast and feds arrived soon after to help with cleanup. Now an employee union wants to hear those stories.
On the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's landfall, one federal employees union is offering feds who were there a chance to reminisce on their work to help the Gulf Coast recover.
The Category 5 storm hit land early on Aug. 29, 2005, and turned out to be the costliest natural disaster and one of the deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history.
In the first two weeks after the storm, more than 70,000 feds from across the country were deployed to the region to help, according to the American Federation of Government Employees. In a recent blog post, the union is asking for feds' recollections about relief and recovery work from their perspective. (Visit the blog to share your story.)
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Government IT still feels Katrina's fury
Federal Computer Week has shared feds' perspectives on Hurricane Katrina in the past. In 2006, FCW's Federal 100 awards were closely tied to a single event, unlike ever before. The Federal 100 awards recognize feds who go above and beyond their everyday jobs. A relatively large portion of the work for which the award winners were honored that year happened in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. All told, hurricane-related work figured into the nominations of 18 winners. (Read about the Federal 100 award winners from 2006.)
“Those results should come as no surprise: A disaster on the scale of Hurricane Katrina was bound to bring out the best in people,” wrote John Monroe, an editor at FCW, in describing the Federal 100 awards in 2006.