An oral history of the Maricopa-Katrina connection 20 years later

On a late August evening in 2005, as images of flooded rooftops and desperate families filled the television, Will Dunn and his ex-wife Cindy sat in their Maricopa living room thousands of miles away.

Hurricane Katrina had torn into Louisiana and Mississippi, leaving behind one of the deadliest natural disasters in American history. The levees in New Orleans had failed, drowning entire neighborhoods. More than 1,800 people were dead, and over 1 million residents were driven from their homes. Families clung to rooftops, waiting for rescue, while thousands more crowded into the Superdome and convention centers with little food or water.

From their couch in a desert town a thousand miles away, Will and Cindy watched the catastrophe unfold . They had built a life in Maricopa, running the