'Just keep the faith': Milwaukee woman reflects on surviving Hurricane Katrina 20 years later

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Hurricane Katrina struck Louisiana on Monday, Aug. 29, 2005, leaving destruction across the Gulf Coast and changing New Orleans forever.

Dr. Courtney Jackson, who was 19 at the time, recalled the moment water began rushing into her grandmother’s home after the levees failed.

"We never experienced anything like this before," Jackson said. "Then all of a sudden, I remember my uncle saying that the water is coming on the steps. And I’m like, 'What he is talking about,' and water was coming in fast, fast, fast. It was so fast we didn’t know what to do."

Jackson said she shouted to a neighbor on a rooftop, pleading for rescuers to be sent to her family. Eventually, she had to be convinced to drop into the water as she clung from the attic.

"I know it’s not funny: I cannot swim, I still cannot swim, so I didn’t know how deep the water was and obviously if you have a life jacket, you’re going to float but, there we’re like dining room tables and chairs stuff in the way. I was just afraid," she said.

Jackson later earned degrees from Xavier and Howard universities and advanced training at the University of Maryland. Now living in Milwaukee, she admits she avoids revisiting the rescue video.

"To be quite honest with you ... I don’t think about it too much. 'Oh yeah, this is the anniversary of Katrina.' I don’t like you know sit and revel in it. It just takes me back to a place where I don’t necessarily want to go to."

With Milwaukee residents facing their own flood recovery, Jackson shared a message.

"I understand what it’s like to lose things, like you have nothing or nobody to turn to. I would just tell them to just keep the faith," she said.