Twin Hurricane Katrina evacuees are now a Dallas doctor and lawyer

Twin Hurricane Katrina evacuees now doctor and lawyer

Friday marks 20 years since Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans. It's an event that likely changed the course of Jarvis and Jamal Garner's lives. The twin brothers are now a doctor and a lawyer in Dallas.

DALLAS - Friday marks 20 years since Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans, taking more than 1,800 lives. The storm also forced thousands to relocate from the only home they’d known.

But for at least one single mother, it was a blessing in disguise. Her twin boys grew up to become successful men in North Texas with opportunities she never would have dreamed.

Katrina: 20 Years Later

20 years after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, we look back at the historic event through the eyes of FOX 4 journalists who were there for the landfall.

Evacuating New Orleans

Wanda Garner recalled the day her 10-year-old sons, Jamal and Jarvis, helped change her might about evacuating before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans on Aug. 29, 2005.

"I worked for the post office and I worked at night. So that Saturday night, it was so funny. My sons watched the news. They’re watching the weather while I’m at work. And I got off at 11 o’clock and they are like, ‘Mama, we need to leave because the storm’s coming," she said.

The single mother thought they could ride out the storm in their home near the French Quarter. But a spiritual moment changed her mind.

"My mama is deceased. She passed away in 2024. She came to me and said, ‘You and the boys need to get out the house," Wanda said.

The family first fled to Opelousas, Louisiana to stay with relatives for what they thought would only be three days. Then they got word of the devastation back home.

Wanda said her brother and his wife sat on their roof for seven days before being rescued.

"That was just something I wouldn’t wish nobody have to go through that, you know? Seeing it on television is one thing, but living it is something totally different," she said.

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Moving to North Texas

Wanda said she wrestled with her future.

"It was just like, ‘Am I able to go back?’ What’s my decision?’ You know, it’s not just me. It’s me and my sons," she said.

She ultimately transferred to a post office job in North Texas. Her sons started attending school in Cedar Hill.

"Starting into a new school system in a new state, it was very difficult. We were being referred to as refugees. In your own country, you know, that’s typically somebody who is a nomad. That’s typically somebody who travels from country to country. But being looked at as that, you know, it was tough," Wanda said.

Success after Hurricane Katrina

Thankfully, the Garner family’s church community provided resources and support that helped set them on the path to success.

"Our church, Friendship West Baptist Church, was really a lifesaver for us," Wanda said.

The path took both of her sons to Atlanta’s Morehouse College. Then Jarvis went to medical school and Jamal went to law school. 

Both believe they were driven to places they would not be in today except for a storm named Katrina.

"The storm kind of gave way to our purpose and it speaks to how God can use storms in our lives to set us free and bring us to different places in our lives and even reveal things to us about ourselves that we had no idea of," said Jarvis, who is now an ER doctor in Dallas.

"Actually, while at Morehouse, we were featured in one of their Man of the Year articles our freshman year. It was titled ‘From No House to Morehouse.’ And so that just encapsulated our experience as far as our past and how it really pushed us into our purpose," added Jamal, an attorney with a law firm in Dallas.

Their proud mother knows just how they did it.

"Sometimes I’m like, I have a doctor and I have a lawyer. I can’t even. It’s not enough of words for me to say I’m so proud. But with the grace of God, that’s who did all of this," Wanda said.