Finding Blessings After Hurricane Katrina 11 years ago
It was eleven years ago today much of New Orleans was under water. The levees broke after Hurricane Katrina made landfall. Many families made their way to the River Region, including the Johnsons.
Roland Johnson and his wife, Suzanne, are still counting their blessings 11 years after Katrina forced them out of their New Orleans home.
“It was like being in a war zone,”said Roland.
“The smell was putrid,” said Suzanne.
Roland came to Montgomery not really planning to stay.
But when he went back to his flooded New Orleans home a week later, he knew he wasn’t going back there anymore. In the midst of this storm in his life, he said he found peace.
“I saw this rainbow, the most beautiful rainbow I had ever seen. And the rainbow to me was a sign of hope. And I can remember feeling the warmth of God’s spirit as I looked at this rainbow,” said Roland.
His family was welcomed to the Capital City with open arms.
“Churches, individuals came to the hotel almost one behind the other.”
He also enrolled in the Montgomery Police Academy, graduated with honors, and soon made his way up to the top.
And though they lost the life they had built in New Orleans…
The Johnsons say they found something far greater.
“We grew closer to God and we weren’t concerned about material things at all. All we were concerned with was to make sure we take care of each other as a family, to love each other. And we learned that material things can be taken away from you… just like that,” said Roland.
Roland is now chief executive officer to Public Safety Director Chris Murphy.
