A Pearl Street store is lined with black and gold, but its owners' team wasn't always for the University of Colorado. Paula Johansen and Christopher Riley are Saints fans, raised in New Orleans. Hurricane Katrina brought them to Colorado and gave new love to the colors.
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Paula Johanson and Christopher Riley CBS
When Hurricane Katrina roared toward New Orleans in 2005, Johansen and Riley thought they were riding out another storm. Like so many others, they packed a few days of clothes and expected to return to the life they knew.
Katrina was different. Within hours, the family was on the road, bumper-to-bumper with thousands of others fleeing the state. By the time they were able to return, their home had been underwater for 11 days.
It's been 20 years since the hurricane, but the memory is still vivid for many who lived through it.
"This time of year is still a little difficult for me," said Riley. "We in no way, shape, or form thought we were going to come back to nothing."
Across the city, Johansen's childhood home was completely gone.
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Paula Johansen holds a photo of her family home (left), which was completely destroyed in Hurricane Katrina (right) CBS
"My dad always said, with these hurricanes, it may not be there one day, but every year it was there. Every year it was there until Hurricane Katrina," said Johansen.
The storm killed more than 1,800 people. Millions were left homeless in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast. FEMA estimates more than 9,000 evacuees fled to Colorado.
Coloradans like Andrew Hudson were in awe of the devastation. What he saw on television, the floods, the chaos, the families in despair, moved him to act.
"Me and my friend John Butler were watching TV, and we were talking to each other, and I think we kind of tapped into what everyone was feeling, which is this just overwhelming feeling of frustration, grief, horror, seeing what was going on," Hudson said. "We couldn't believe that this was America and that this was going on. And what was really astonishing was that there didn't seem to be a lot of organized relief efforts that were going on."
Hudson realized he had access to something many others didn't: an airline. He took his idea straight to Frontier's CEO.
"I approached our CEO, Jeff Potter, and said, 'Look, we have this crazy idea about going down to Houston, which is where a lot of the folks from New Orleans were transported to, and we want to go down there and see if there's anybody that wants to come back to Colorado, if you'd be willing to give up any of the empty seats that are on the flights that we have to Houston.' He didn't even hesitate. He said, 'Absolutely.'"
Hudson and his small team, including a former FEMA worker, headed to Houston.
"We literally went with no plan other than we needed to figure out a way to get into the Houston Astrodome," Hudson said. "And it was locked down pretty hard. My friend, who had worked for FEMA, still had his FEMA jacket, he had his FEMA ID, and he just charged through and said, 'I'm with FEMA,' and showed his ID. They're with me. We just walked right behind him, and that's how we got in."
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Andrew Hudson speaks with Hurricane Katrina survivors at a FEMA shelter in Houston, Texas. Andrew Hudson
Inside, Hudson remembers the sight.
"It was just completely overwhelming. I mean, literally thousands of people that were strewn out across the entire arena floor. It was basically cots and thousands of people that are just there, and they're trying to talk with the social services folks, figure out what their next steps are."
Hudson and his team began walking through the crowds, offering a new option.
"We would literally go through these crowds of people and say, 'Does anyone want to go to Denver, Colorado?'" he said. "We'd say, 'Look, you know, if you want to come to Denver, it's an option. We're not here for any other reason than to say, you know, there's one option. If you get to Denver, there's going to be a warm bed, a shower, a place for you, for your family, to be able to stay. And the minute you want to leave Denver, you'll have a free plane ticket to go wherever you want.'"
Over two trips, Hudson's group transported dozens of people to Colorado.
Back in Denver, he had already built a safety net.
"There's a wonderful man named Walter Isenburg, who had a ton of hotel rooms. I was on the board of the Volunteers of America. Jim White immediately went into action and said, 'We will be the folks that will do the interview. So when you bring people home, we're going to make connections and make sure that we are doing everything we can in coordination with the Red Cross.'"
Others followed.
"Jake Jabs at American Furniture said, 'If you need anything, if you need rooms full of furniture, beds, TVs, anything you need to accommodate these families, we will do that,'" Hudson said. "And so we had all of these things working in coordination with each other."
For Hudson, the work wasn't about recognition. It was about responsibility.
"I think number one is that we all have the capacity to do something. We all have the capacity to make a difference," he said. "Often when we're feeling frustrated that, you know, we can't do anything, there's always a way."
Nearly all of the people Hudson brought have since moved back.
Johansen and Riley had family in Boulder. They didn't rush to return.
"We were sleeping on a couch, no jobs, no schools," Johansen said. "I came to Colorado with the girls, and one day I pulled over, crying, looking at the trees and the mountains. I thought, This is a beautiful place. What am I doing? That night I told Chris, 'I think we're staying in Colorado.'"
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Paula Johansen and Christopher Riley with their family wearing Colorado Buffaloes shirts Paula Johansen and Christopher Riley
Riley was more hesitant, but the reality set in:
"We had nothing left in New Orleans. Our kids came first."
Within months, they rented a home in Louisville. The landlord later invited them to dinner and offered to sell them the house they were renting. That home became their permanent place in Colorado.
Today, Johansen and Riley own BOCO Life, a shop that sells University of Colorado gear.
"When we opened, I told Paula, 'I want a Saints wall,'" Riley laughed. "It could be small, but I wanted it. Drew Brees was my guy. And surprisingly, when people heard our story, we sold out of the Saints gear. People loved it."
The store became a gathering spot for New Orleanians. On Saints game days, Johansen would serve gumbo and jambalaya, turning the CU-colored storefront into a little slice of the French Quarter.
"Our house has always been black and gold," Johansen said. "When our daughter went to CU, we realized it was black and gold too. When our daughters were in high school, kids didn't even have to give directions. They'd just say, 'Oh, we live near the Saints house.'"
The couple says Katrina doesn't feel like 20 years ago.
"The first 10 years, every anniversary felt raw," Johansen said. "But after that, it just kind of blends. Sometimes you remember something you lost and go, 'Did I have that? Oh yeah, but not anymore.'"
The Marshall Fire in 2021 came dangerously close to their Louisville neighborhood. But having lost everything once before, they reacted differently than most.
Riley said, "We've already lost a house. We know the drill. 'What do you want me to do? Go out with a water hose and put it out?'"
Johansen added, "All you can do is pray and move on. The most important things are right in front of us."
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Paula Johansen holds a Louisiana-style crawfish boil Paula Johansen
Though they've built a happy life in Boulder, Louisiana has never left them. They fly in crawfish and crabs for family parties, return for Jazz Fest, and keep Saints games on the TV.
"Our friends back home thought we were crazy to move to Colorado," Riley said. "Now they come visit and get it. When I see a 504 area code pop up, I know it's someone saying, 'When do I need to pick you up from the airport?'"
Their daughters have grown up in Colorado, but their Louisiana roots run deep. Their kids even marked the connection with a fleur-de-lis tattoo, the symbol of their home they were never able to know.
For Johansen and Riley, Colorado offered stability, schools, and safety, but New Orleans is in their blood.
"We love Colorado. I tell everyone it's a great life here for your kids," Johansen said. "But we're still New Orleans people. We grew up there. We'll always say y'all. We'll always be black and gold."
As they reflect on 20 years since Katrina, the couple says they wouldn't trade the journey that brought them here.
Decades later, their hearts are still black and gold.
"I told my daughters, 'You're bulletproof for the rest of your life,'" Riley said. "You've already faced the worst-case scenario and come through it. Everything else is just a bump in the road."
Tori Mason
Your Reporter Tori Mason specializes in coverage of Aurora. Share you story ideas with her by sending an email to yourreporter@cbs.com.