Woman Forced to Leave Salon After Katrina Reopens It 12 Years Later (Exclusive)

Lynette Boutte had no intention of leaving her salon when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in August 2005, but she would soon learn she had no choice.

On the morning of Tuesday, Aug. 30, a day after the storm made landfall, men in uniforms with guns banged on her door. The levees had already broken, bringing flood waters to the Tremé neighborhood where her salon, Image Makers, and her home stood.

“They held guns at us and told us we had to leave,” the stylist and educator, now 77, tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue marking the 20th anniversary of the natural disaster.

It would take Boutte, one of the survivors featured in the new National Geographic five-part documentary, Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time, more than a decade to reopen the building she loved so dearly. 

Despite what was lost, the business owner says she’s happy she made sacrifices so she could return home. “My heart’s in this place,” she says.

Even after two decades, Katrina remains one of the deadliest and costliest hurricanes in United States history.

By Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2005, at least 80% of New Orleans was under water after levees separating the historic city from Lake Pontchartrain fractured. The storm caused over 1,300 deaths and more than $100 billion in damage, according to the National Weather Service.

The National Geographic series dives into footage and narratives from officials leading the disaster response at the time, revealing incompetencies and false information from the media that cost locals their lives. It also puts a spotlight on the courage of first responders and the residents’ fight for survival.

“This series goes beyond the headlines. It reveals stories of survival, heroism and resilience,” executive producers Ryan Coogler, Zinzi Coogler and Sev Ohanian say in a statement. “It’s a vital historical record and a call to witness, remember and reckon with the truth of Hurricane Katrina’s legacy.”

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Born in the 1940s and raised alongside nine siblings, Boutte tells PEOPLE she climbed telephone poles during her time with a telephone company before becoming a stylist — and her ties to the neighborhood ran deep. Her grandmother was born down the street from the future salon and Boutte was raised just two doors down.

“The history that is here is something that most people don’t understand,” says Boutte, who purchased her building in 1995. A decade later, she finished paying off the business loan.

The building and her well-known clients, mostly local musicians and politicians, remain a point of pride. “I’m from an artistic family, so my color is not always what you would wear to go to church,” says the color specialist. 

In January 2005, Boutte took out a lien on her property to cover the cost of repairs and a new roof was installed. 

Just three days later, Katrina destroyed everything she’d worked for.

Even before the hurricane struck, Boutte, her sister, a friend and the woman’s three children had all been sheltering at the property, which included the salon with a house on the top floor and a secondary building.

Although they quickly lost power, Boutte wasn’t overly concerned because she had a portable TV, radios, water and dry goods. The day of the storm, there was about six inches of water on the street, but again, as her building stood a few feet above sea level, floodwaters didn’t seem like a threat.

“All of a sudden, we hear an explosion,” she recalls. It was the levees and floodwalls failing.

“We had three feet nine inches of water on the street, which meant my salon became breached and flooded,” Boutte says.

As they watched people traveling by on flat boats, the group realized something wasn’t right. By Tuesday, men in uniform arrived. The group were told to make their way to a facility three-quarters of a mile away, even though it meant going through chin-high water.

“We went from three feet nine inches of water to nearly five feet of water,” says Boutte. “I’m 4′ 11″, all right? So, that meant we had to try and maneuver so that we could not drown.”

The group picked up a pair of elderly twins and a male relative along the way, putting them in a boat and dropping them off at a safe location with others. Then Boutte, her sister and the rest of their group made their way to the interstate, one of the highest points in the area. 

It was a long journey to safety, one plagued by fear, heat, lack of water and injustice, Boutte says.

After she was transported to Texas, she and others were dropped off at a stadium. The group was told to leave their belongings on the bus and searched. An exasperated Boutte, who hadn’t bathed in a week, replied, ‘I hope it smells good, m———–.”

From there, she caught a plane from Dallas to Florida, where one of her sibling’s lived.

“I ended up in the hospital,” says Boutte, who suffered from dehydration, high blood pressure and an eye infection. “I was really ill when I got there.” 

By October 2005, Boutte visited her devastated home city, but didn’t move back until January the following year. Every cent she received from the insurance company was immediately snapped up by the bank, she says. Her building had been destroyed, but she refused to sell. 

“I done paid for this building three times,” she says. “There’s nothing really I can do about it because I want to stay where I am — this is where I’m established.” 

Boutte began working as a stylist and teacher at another location, saving for years until she could reopen her salon in Tremé in 2017. For Boutte, there’s no regret in reclaiming her home.

As her mom once told her, “New Orleans is a boomerang city. You’re going to come right back.”