Four years Later

Yesterday was the 4 year Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. I can still remember it as if it were yesterday. I wonder if over time I will not get teary eyed when I think about what we saw and went through.

I will always remember this day and will remember it well. Those who don't know me, don't know what we went through on August 29th 2005 through September 2, 2005. This was the scariest, most surreal thing we have ever gone through. Thank goodness for my dad, because with out him, who knows what would of happened.

I will say that I am grateful for going through a catastrophe such as Katrina, cause I have a new appreciation for a lot of things. I can say that I no longer see tangible items the same, except for pictures, as I once did. Within minutes I had to decide if an item was worth taking or leaving. Pretty much everything besides a few clothes, diapers, some pictures ( we had to go back for those) we left. Nothing else mattered to us at that moment.

We honestly thought that the storm would turn and we would be uncomfortable for a few days without electricity, but everything would return to normal and we would all go back to our lives. Little did we ALL know that this time it was going to be different.

We sat and watched the news while most of the city was evacuating. I remember watching the local news channels and the Mayor of New Orleans was BEGGING people to get out of the city because it was going to be really bad. They warned us that if something bad were to happen to us, there would be no one on the other line of 911 to help us. WE WERE ON OUR OWN. I remember questioning my dad, asking him why we were not evacuating like everyone else or going to the Superdome like others that were staying or could not afford to leave. He told me we were safer here, over taking the chance of getting hit by the storm in dead traffic or being in the dark with hundreds of people in the dome with a baby. He said he had chosen to live in that part of town because that part was above sea level; unlike most other parts of NOLA.

The storm came and passed and the whole time we were glued to the radio, listening to the only radio station that stayed on air. The radio host said that they could call the station to report things in their area. I will never forget hearing calls from people saying that they were in their attics and the water was rising and to help them. One call in specific that I remember; a lady called in, panicking saying that the water was coming in and they headed to the attic with their 9 day old baby, 5 year old and grandparents. She said the water was coming in and was crying for someone to help them. The radio host asked if they had an axe so they could cut open the roof. They lady screamed no, but to hurry and help them because it was waist high in the attic. The host didn't know what to say, but asked for her address and said they would do the best they could to try and help them. The problem was that there was so much water in that part of town, that you couldn't really tell what street were what. I remember her begging on the phone and suddenly the line went dead. After that, I felt like I was in a third world country. How in the hell could this be happening to us. We live in AMERICA! I tried calling my mom to tell her that I loved her because I had gotten in a huge fight with her the month prior and wanted to make sure she knew that if something were to happen to us that I loved her. The phone lines were down. We had zero contact with the outside world. We wondered if anyone even knew what we were going through.

At that point, we did not know what the city looked like. We heard that there was severe water in the 9th ward, but clueless to the rest of the area. After the winds died down we all went outside to see the damage. In our area it was completely dry. Just damage from the wind. Little did we know, that the levees broke and the city was flooding. I remember looking out my dads window right after the storm passed and seeing people running down the street to the famous Wal mart that got looted. They were coming back with carts full of electronics and everything else that was of no use to them now. We had cops coming to our building looking for people who stayed and also looking for food, water and ways to charge their radios. The building had a generator that would light the halls only and we would run it for 2 hours a day. We were the officers only way of communicating. There were no other ways for them to charge their radios. So they would come over and use the electricity in our halls.

We had permission before the storm to go in other residents units and get water and food if we needed. There were about 20 of us total in the building that stayed and we all took turns going into units and getting food out of the freezers to grill, since it would go bad anyway. I remember getting low on diapers and looking in every unit, praying that someone had baby diapers. No such luck.

At night it was extremely hot! We could not sleep; the heat was overwhelming. There was zero wind. Very black outside and no sound. Jordan would wake up every 30 minutes crying because he was sweating so bad. I would go in the kitchen and try to find something cool in the freezer to put on him to help cool him down. All Jordan wanted to do was nurse, but that made it worst since it made me feel I was being suffocated. I remember feeling like I couldn't handle it anymore and started to break down. It was becoming unbearable. As soon as I would start to doze off, we would hear gun shots. I kept asking my dad what it was and he told me it was people unloading stuff off trucks. I knew that wasn't true, but I knew he said that so I wouldn't freak out. The next day, we booby trap the main entrance/exit that we knew would be an easy way for looters to get in. We had heard from the officers that they were breaking in everywhere and starting fires. One man in the building had a gun and the men took turns with it at night staying up keeping a look out for looters.

On the last night we were there, I remember thinking that I can not stand another night here. We were scared for our lives AND I had a baby. The officers planned a meeting the next morning and informed us all that it was getting worst and no longer safe for us to stay here. They said the gun shots we heard the night prior, was a gun war between looters and officers. An officer was shot in the head. We still have a bullet shell from that incident. We were told that if we leave, we should leave in groups to lessen the chance of someone killing us and taking our car. There were reports of men running onto the roads so people had to stop and they would shoot and kill them and take their cars. My dad decided that we would be leaving at noon and anyone that wanted to leave with us had to be ready by then. I remember it was a crazy feeling knowing that we were leaving but unsure how it was gonna look once we left behind our gates.

We parked our cars in the hotel parking garage next door to my dads building, so we would make sure it was away from wind and water. We had to go get the cars but started to see a whole lot of people coming from the Superdome and heading to the convention center, which is pretty much right across the street from where we were. People were pulling their kids in plastic bins across the concrete with sheets tied to one handle. I remember seeing how exhausted and sweating they were. Everyone was walking around like zombies. Babies were screaming because they were hungry, hot, dehydrated. Everyone in the Superdome got word that there was food and water at the convention center, so they all gravitated there. Which was not true. There was still no help on the last day that we were there. I believe it took another day or 2 before there was help.

My dad had to go get the car so we could leave, but was worried that someone would kill him, so he took the gun and held it up in the air as he ran to get the car.I am bawling and shaking at this point, scared behind the gate hoping that someone doesn't hurt my dad or try and jump the gate while my dad is gone with the gun. I hear screeching tires and my dad bangs on the gate for me to let him back in. We were smart and brought all our belongs down my the gate first, so once we got the car we would throw everything in and leave. My dad held the gun up in the air as Ryan put everything we had into the car. My dad did not have enough time to get Jordan's car seat out of our car, so we had to drive without one. Ryan loaded everything in and no one else was ready to leave, so we left by ourselves. I still remember the first feeling of air conditioning hitting me after being without for days. Jordan fell asleep right away from exhaustion.

My dad drove I think 70 down a 30 mile zone. He said he was not stopping for anyone in fear of what the officers warned us about. He was prepared to hit anyone that tried to stop us. As we were trying to get on the on-ramp that is when we saw hundreds of people and they were touching our car, like zombies in a movie. We finally got on the freeway that was clear from water or debris and I will never forget seeing this girl with only her bra on and shorts hiked up as high as could be, sweating and pushing a shopping cart with a baby screaming. I did not see anything in her cart except for the baby. No bottle, food, diaper, water NOTHING. I wanted to stop and help her, but knew that by doing so we could be risking our lives.

It took us two days to get to Florida, due to the roads being destoryed and debris all along the gulf coast. We stayed in Miami for a month and got word we could return home to see the damage. My grandparents lost pretty much everything in their home. Our condo was surprisingly fine. There were 72 units and 5 were okay. Ours were one of the five. And we even had a bottom floor.

Since then my grandparents have rebuilt their home. NOLA is coming back more and more everyday. Soon after, we bought a flooded home in New Orleans and remodeled it. We stayed a year and realized the crime and schools were really bad and decided that it was best for us to move with small children. Jordan 2 and a newborn. We now live in Clearwater Beach, Florida. We love it here, but I do miss the culture of NOLA.

Sorry this was such a long post. I have not documented this experience until now.

Thanks for reading!