LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — When many people run from a disaster, first responders run to it.
That's what happened after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast 20 years ago. While the storm has passed, memories remain for New Orleans paramedics Christopher Keller and Keeley Williams-Johnson, who were on the front lines.
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While they prepared for the pending storm back in 2005, they remember feeling this one could be different.
"We started heading to work. I was driving down the street and I had some elderly neighbors and they were sitting out on their porches," Williams-Johnson said. "They hadn't evacuated and I remember thinking to myself that this may be the last time that I ever see them because in the back of my head, I knew that it was really serious. I knew that it was going to be potentially catastrophic."
With only five days worth of clothes and food, New Orleans first responders hunkered down to weather the storm.
High winds damaged many structures while levee failures led to catastrophic flooding.
"It was overwhelming, what we saw and what happened here in the city. It just completely overwhelmed any resources that we had here in the city. So it was very difficult, being in a position of someone who is to provide help for our community into a position where we couldn't get around," Keller told me. "Everything was flooded ... The biggest mental thing to get past was we're here to help and we don't have the resources to do it. The amount of suffering that ensued in the days following the storm was just a terrible thing to see and be a part of."
"We had nowhere to bring people. We couldn't communicate with anybody," Williams-Johnson said. "We couldn't bring them into the building where we were because we didn't have enough supplies for people. We had barely enough supplies for ourselves."
As days passed, other agencies stepped in to provide support, including the Nevada National Guard.
WATCH | Nevada National Guard on what they saw during Katrina response
"They came in from all across the country," Williams-Johnson said. "And they not only came in to help us run calls and, you know, try and take care of the city. They also took care of us."
With morale low and first responders working around the clock for nearly three weeks, then-New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin called on mayors from cities across the country to provide some relief to his city's exhausted emergency workers.
Former Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said our valley answered that call, providing a week-long, all-expenses-paid trip to first responders.
"When one place is in trouble, all places are in trouble, and Vegas has a big heart. We're a very empathetic group of people," Goodman said. "If somebody has a problem, we don't ignore them. We don't shoo them away. We welcome them in order to try to solve their problem and put their minds to ease."
Keller and Williams-Johnson say they were thankful to be able to come to Las Vegas, giving them a chance to process what they had been through, de-stress, and get ready to continue helping people when they returned home.
 ISAAC BREKKEN/AP |  ISAAC BREKKEN/AP |
"You don't realize that the rest of the world is continuing on. Everybody else is going about their daily lives and the rest of the country is normal," Williams-Johnson remembered. "We were treated like royalty, like the Red Cross gave us vouchers to get clothing because we had nothing. We had basically the clothes on our backs. I lost everything in the storm. ... Clark County Fire Department was absolutely amazing. They catered to us in every way, shape, and form. I ended up getting a haircut. You name it and they had it set up for us."
 ISAAC BREKKEN/ASSOCIATED PRESS |  ISAAC BREKKEN/AP |
"The basic essentials of air conditioning, hot water and hot showers, hot food, things like that were, a nice comfortable bed to sleep in. All those things that we got when we got to Vegas were just refreshing," Keller said. "It allowed us to kind of reset our focus."
Former Clark County Fire Chief John Steinbeck was a Captain at the time. He says first responders have a special relationship and step in to help each other as well as the community.
"They come out here, we're going to show them a good time here in Las Vegas, give them what they need, you know, as far as rest, as far as assurement, and camaraderie and just give them a break from what they just went through."
When Keller and Williams-Johnson returned to New Orleans, a lot of the water was gone and for the first time, they saw the full scope of the damage.
"Indescribable. Houses were just completely gone. Only things that were left were cement steps. They were collapsed. Everything was brown because of all the mud and water that had come through and had sat there for weeks. Everything was just brown. It was just dust," Williams-Johnson said. "It was almost like you were in a movie, like it wasn't real. You know? It was like being in like a Mad Max scene or something out in the desert where everything's just dusty and dirty."
"When we did return from Vegas, the big difference was that the water had been removed. Everything was not really dry so there was mud everywhere, all over the streets," Keller said. "However, it was accessible at that point and that's really when all the stuff picked up."
And over time, with help, New Orleans began to rebuild.
"New Orleans is a resilient community on its own but seeing other communities come in and help remove debris and help rebuild homes and help people get back into their communities and neighborhoods, it was very encouraging to see that level of support," Keller said.
Twenty years later, the pair still work for New Orleans Emergency Medical Services, helping people in the city they love. Looking back, they say they're happy to share their stories and have a message for the people of Las Vegas.
"We were very fortunate and we're very thankful and grateful for the community in Las Vegas for opening up their arms to us," Keller said. "We were evacuees then because almost everybody that we worked with lost all of their possessions because their homes were flooded."
"People have never heard our stories. No one's ever asked us our story," Williams-Johnson said. "So it's nice to be able to tell people and kind of get it off your chest."
You can hear more of Keller and Williams-Johnson's stories in a brand new documentary about the New Orleans Emergency Medical Services team, which you can watch below.
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