BATON ROUGE — Hurricane Katrina displaced thousands, sending them across both the state and country.

Twenty years ago, WBRZ's April Davis spoke to one family who evacuated from the city, rented an apartment in Lake Charles and ended up in an Alexandria shelter after Hurricane Rita began to barrel toward Louisiana less than a month after Katrina. 

They were without water for nearly a week. 

In the aftermath of countless cases like this, the idea of a disaster response center was born in Livingston Parish, and it would benefit those outside the region. 

The shelter is still in the works, but the Sheriff's Office bought the property and is working to find funding to complete the project. 

For more of WBRZ's coverage of Katrina's 20th anniversary, visit our YouTube Channel: