20 years after Hurricane Katrina, a New Orleans couple finds resilience, builds community in the DMV

ARLINGTON, Va. — This week marks 20 years since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, flooding neighborhoods, destroying homes, and displacing millions of people. Among them were JC and Cuba Walker — a couple who ended up in the D.C. region and turned tragedy into a mission to help others.

Inside their Arlington apartment, the couple looks through old photos as windows to the past.

“This is me, a little boy in the Saint Bernard Project,” JC Walker smiled.

They sift through pictures of a past rooted in New Orleans and the strong community they grew up in.

“We were living the high life, going to parties, enjoying ourselves — pre-Katrina,” JC Walker remembered.

But when the storm churned toward Louisiana in late August 2005, everything changed.

“Everybody was packing up their cars,”