E. Dwight Franklin helps with the gutting of his parents’ home in New Orleans six months after Hurricane Katrina. Virginia Tech student Ivy Gorman (background) was part of a team from her school working through the Louisiana United Methodist Storm Recovery Center during their spring vacation. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.
UM News | August 2025
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the U.S. Gulf Coast in August of 2005. Over the past two decades, UM News has visited with those affected by the storm and reported on rebuilding and relief efforts.
This year, a team from UM News returned to some of the hard-hit areas to talk with church leaders and members who recall the devastation and the power of the United Methodist connection. Through photos, videos, interviews and podcasts, they report on how United Methodists have brought and sustained hope out of an unthinkable tragedy.
They highlight the resilience of individuals and congregations, the work of the United Methodist Committee on Relief and countless volunteers, and all those who chose to dig in to bring forth light and healing.
UM News offers a series of 11 new stories, published in August 2025. The series feature page also includes past stories titled “Coverage through the years, 2005 to 2025.” Included is “Born Again: After the Storm,” with coverage from 2015.
And a Louisiana Conference: Hope Beyond the Storm podcast series, produced by Louisiana NOW, shares its “first‑hand stories of resilience, hard choices and pastoring from church leaders, volunteers and neighbors who rebuilt together 20 years after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.”