Hurricane Katrina: 3 painful lessons for emergency management are increasingly important 20 years later

National Guard trucks carry rescued residents through floodwaters to the Superdome on Aug. 30, 2005, a day after Hurricane Katrina hit in New Orleans. AP Photo/Eric Gay

Hurricane Katrina looms large in the history of American emergency management, both for what went wrong as the disaster unfolded and for the policy changes it triggered.

As the nation looks back on the disaster 20 years later, I believe as a crisis and emergency management specialist that it is more important than ever to remember Katrina’s lessons to avoid repeating past mistakes.