NORFOLK, VA — It's been 20 years since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, but for WTKR News 3 News Director Ed Reams, memories of its wrath — and the aftermath — remain fresh.
"It seems like just yesterday in some respects, and it seems like a long time ago," said Reams. "This anniversary feels different."
Reams, a Norfolk native, now serves as news director; however, earlier in his career, he spent eight years as a television news reporter at WDSU in New Orleans. He was on the front lines of their coverage when the storm hit in 2005.
"I would never want my home here [in Norfolk] to go through the same thing that my home of New Orleans went through," said Reams.
Reams joined me near the Elizabeth River in Norfolk to talk about his experiences covering Hurricane Katrina. As a New Orleans-area native, this anniversary hits home for me, too. I was away at college at Florida A&M University when the storm hit. My family evacuated before the storm and was safe with me in Tallahassee, Fla.
"I was seeing what was happening at home through journalists like you," I said. "You were brave enough to be [...] in the floodwater, to open those doors to see what happened. So I have to thank you for that, because without journalists like you, I would not have known what was happening at home."
Reams replied, "I was doing my part for a city that I loved."
He continued, "It was the pinnacle of my duty as a journalist to inform the people, not only who were still there, but who had scattered all over the country, who were really looking at us as journalists to keep them informed about what was going on with the things that mattered most to them: their neighborhoods, their way of life, the city that they loved."
Reams shared a video clip of his coverage for WDSU outside the Superdome where thousands of people sought shelter during the storm. Reams is seen wading through rushing flood water outside the structure many thought was impenetrable.
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"We started hearing some kind of banging, banging on the roof, and it started getting louder, and then we started looking up, and we could see water coming from the roof of the Superdome," recalled Reams. "This super structure, the Superdome, was designed to really protect us from anything, was succumbing to this powerful storm, which was Hurricane Katrina."
He continued, "We started to get reports that there had been some levee failures, there had been some flood wall failures, and this was big. This was changing our city right in front of our eyes."
Reams told me covering Katrina wasn't just a professional assignment. You see, he had fallen in love with New Orleans during his eight years working there as a reporter.
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"Norfolk is home. Hampton Roads is where my family lives. This is home, but New Orleans was my home as well. It's a city that I fell in love with, I connected with. It has a soul," Reams said.
The emotional toll of covering the disaster was significant. Day after day, Reams reported on residents returning to find their homes destroyed, their memories covered in silt and mud.
"That was always hard, because you could see it on their face, their life was flashing before them," he said.
The experience felt personal for Reams.
"It was like a family member had been injured," he said.
But the challenge also revealed his calling as a journalist and leader.
"There was a period of mourning about, what do we do? But then you kind of, you really dig deep in yourself and say, What can I do to help lead forward?" Reams said.
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He told me the answer came through storytelling.
"You do it by telling people what happened. You do it by showing them what happened," he said.
The Katrina experience ultimately inspired Reams to transition from reporting to newsroom leadership.
"It was the final thing that said, this is your calling," Reams said. "If you can survive, walk through and lead through a natural disaster of this magnitude, why can't you take on something else?"
Now, 20 years later, Reams leads the WTKR News 3 newsroom with lessons learned from one of journalism's most challenging assignments.
"Every story that I covered, has a personal story, a meaningful story that really is important to not only that person, but the people that they care about and their community. And so I've never taken that responsibility for granted since then," Reams said.
Should Hampton Roads ever face a similar disaster, Reams believes his Katrina experience would help him lead his team through the crisis.
"I think the only thing you can do is respond to an obstacle. You go over it, you go under it, you go around it," he said. "Just don't freeze."
