On the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, I thought I’d tell ya’ll again – THANK YOU.
Only pilings remained when my house was washed awy in Katrina.
- St Tammany Sherriff’s Office and Slidell Police – They successfully evacuated everyone who wanted to leave and snapped into action after the storm with all available resources even as some of their own had lost all they owned. There was an impressive staging area of trucks, boats and helicopters on I-10 at the foot of the twin span in Slidell.
- The Sheraton Tuscaloosa – We got two rooms, let us pack in people, allowed our pets, and stayed calm as tornadoes came through and the lights went off.
- The people along the back roads of Mississippi and Louisiana – As my son Jordan and I went on a Ninja mission behind the National Guard lines to check out the damage in Slidell. We stopped to loot your gas cans blown along the roads and in your yards. We also stole gasoline from my neighbor’s boats and lawn tractors.
- The National Guard – What a relief when they arrived en masse! The tensions went down as we went from a wild frontier to a police state. I could stop carrying my shotgun in the car. The ice and MREs (meals-ready-to-eat) were a life-saver for everyone in the city. They were so efficient in handling the mile-long line of cars down Gause Boulevard, and running cars through with trunk and doors open so your pit crews could throw in supplies and move to the next car. These guys are real heroes of the storm in Slidell.
- The 18-year-old soldier – He looked 16, carried a rifle that looked too big for him. He guarded Highway 11 to keep looters out of my neighborhood as the bulldozers cleared the roads. An ambulance followed as a search and rescue team with body-sniffing dogs crawled atop the rubble. I later heard that a dozen bodies were found in my neighborhood.
- Ex wife Michelle – For letting me evacuate together with the kids even though we had divorced the month before. And for letting me sleep on the floor for a month until I got a trailer since the house I bought 2 weeks before the storm was washed away. During this time I emptied out the furniture and toy from her flooded daycare, removed the carpets, manually kicked out walls, and hosed out the mud, and sprayed fungicide. We were glad to pay two now unemployed casino workers to help.
- SAM’s – Wal-Mart had the foresight to have generators and prepositioned 18 wheelers of supplies before the storm. They were the first open with food, generators, and gasoline. They did a good job of handling the mile-long lines of cars and desperate people. “I hear there’s gonna be a truck of gasoline coming to Sam’s tomorrow morning.” So one of us would go wait in line for hours so we could keep the generators going to run cars, lights, fans and our little room AC.
- Sister Sheila and Roger – Provided a safe haven for me and the kids during Rita and several days after. We had an “evacation” and toured the Coke museum and escaped the misery for over a week. I purchased a trailer to drag back to Slidell (since ex would not let me sleep on the floor of the Bluff House anymore) .
- The Red Cross Atlanta – Gave me a $1700 gift card I used to buy food and kids clothes.
- Macy’s Atlanta – Sold us kids clothes at a great discount and no tax when using the Red Cross card.
- Greg and Community Bank – He was instrumental in maneuvering my business account so that I could buy a trailer ($30,000) in Atlanta to bring to Slidell.
- Brother David – He bought an extra generator for me when none were available locally. My generator powered my trailer for months (and my neighbor’s on several occasions). The night air was filled with the sound of generators near and far. And months later for giving me a place to crash as I worked at Bollinger’s. You and Jenny and the girls offered a loving home that was so refreshing from the trailer, mud, smells, and gnats.
- Medical staff of Northshore Medical Center –When my ex mother-in-law smashed her finger, I tried to take her to Northshore Hospital but we got turned away as they were triage for New Orleans. It was so inspiring to watch the helicopters coming from New Orleans round the clock for days.
- Medical Staff of Slidell Memorial Hospital – I took ex mother-in –law here too, but the line was atleast four hours long. She opted not to wait. These folks looked exhausted.
- First Baptist Church – They had the best hot meals in town. I made several trips to the circus tents and they were always generous with food and smiles.
- St Margaret Mary Catholic Church – They handed out 5 gallon buckets full of sorely needed cleaning supplies provided by churches from other states. The buckets were kindly decorated with pictures and well wishes of children.
- Brother John and Dianne – for care packages and prayers throughout the crises.
- Train load of Igloos – not sure where these came from, but these were required to keep any food cool as there were no refrigerators, electricity, or air conditioning for months.
- Hot meal trolley – What a welcome surprise. I was fighting gnats in my eyes, nose and ears and picking through the four-foot pile of rubble that was on my property (most of it not mine, since my house floated away down the canal). A vendor truck came rolling through the neighborhood. They had free hot meals (meat, potatoes, peas, bread, and a cold drink) provided by an out-of-state ministry I can’t remember.
- Retired Electrician Mr Tom – Showed me how to put together an electric utility pole with the odd parts I was able to get from Lowe’s and from looting. This allowed me to get my trailer off of the generator and avoid waiting months and paying over $1000 for the silly pole.
- The national guard patrol – These guys came walking down 7th street and Jamie and Michelle convinced them to clear all the fallen poplar trees from the daycare yard in one day.
- CLECO crew – Connected power to the daycare just after we gutted the daycare without requiring weeks waiting for inspections etc. Later they hooked up my makeshift pwoer pole.
- Ted the carpenter– He showed up out of the blue at the daycare and took over rebuilding the daycare so that it opened in October 2005.
- Albany School District – We drove the kids to school 40 miles away so that the kids would not have to make up so many weeks of school.
- Bro-in-law Jack, the Metropolitan Crime Commission, and the FBI – Jack put me in contact with the MCC who called the FBI when I was black-mailed by the guy delivering FEMA trailers. Yes, a year after I had bought my own trailer, FEMA finally got that I was not living at my former undamaged residence of my ex-wife in the Bluffs. Unbelievable, but yes, this bastard required me to pay a $250 cash “tip” or “you can wait a few month to get a smaller one”. Was he doing this to everyone in Slidell? The FBI subpoenaed my canceled check, phone records, etc. and 3 months later caught the bastard.
- Sister Jenn and Jack also let me and the kids escape to their house some weekends.
- Ray and Bill – For so generously providing me three months of consulting work so I had some income in the months after the storm. Folks in Cupertino and Montreal never knew I was doing teleconferences from a FEMA trailer. The business trips to Connecticut and California were such a relief from the mud and misery in Louisiana.
- Unknown Motorist - 6 months after the storm I had a collision with an 18-wheel debris truck on an unlit, unmarked intersection. This guy extinguished the smoldering engine as I was pinned in my Expedition. After the jaws-of-life, a helecopter ride, and x-rays I was lucky to be alive with a stiff neck in a white collar.
- Brian – For taking me to the Doctor and getting me meds after my accident when I could barely walk.
- Freddie and Boysie – For continuing the BTS project and my employment even as they had so many other projects restarting at the shipyards. My Bollinger car pass let me drive through New Orleans. Driving on a deserted I-10 in New Orleans East in complete darkness was like a video game. You had to swerve from lane to lane to avoid debris, a couch, a boat, the carcass of a giant wild boar. Then drive through the mud ruts on the median when all the lanes are flooded. Now cross to the dry opposite lanes and swerve around an alligator, wood beams, marsh grass, etc. It was rare you did not get a flat each trip.
- David at Allstate – For helping get my flood Insurance straightened out. The Allstate emergency crew in the Home Depot parking lot had no record of me. My agent was flooded and lost all paperwork dealing with the sale of my house (two weeks before the storm) before it was submitted to Allstate Headquarters. I am lucky to have found a copy of the one-page fax transferring the flood insurance from the seller to me. So it took me just one year to get my insurance check to pay off the mortgage. Thankfully the state prevented the mortgage companies from wrecking my credit or trying to collect.
- Sheila and Roger’s Friends – They generously sent cash when it was so sorely need just for the basics. As my ex-wife’s business had flooded, I was supporting her as much as possible as I went about trying to rebuild.
- David Lamulle – For bumping me up in the 3 year waiting list for his pile driving services.
- Gary and Eva – For letting me move my FEMA trailer into their front yard as my house was erected next door.
- Old Man Eddie – Neighbor, you let me have power before I got my generator and I provided well water till you got yours hooked up. I tried to help you understand the paperwork for insurance, FEMA, and the blue roof program (thanks to the guys from Camp Pendleton). I am sorry I did not know the extent of your painful gout and other ailments. I believe your death from acetaminophen poisoning was from neglect. Your sons and daughter (a lawyer, a builder) should have been there for you.
- Dr P – For helping me through divorce and Katrina crises
- Dr Miller – for the Lexapro to handle my trailer anxiety. He said the doctors in town were “handing it out like M&Ms to anyone in a trailer”. Each day I woke up looking at the cabinet over my head and the clothes line across the bed. It was waking up in a coffin. Some days I couldn’t bring myself to go into the trailer and would ride around in the car doing deep breathing, weeping, or pounding on the steering wheel. I stopped taking the Lexapro the day I moved into my new house (July 2007)
- Dianna – For giving me something to look forward to.
- My children – For giving me something to live for when all else was lost.
There are so many others. My family, friends, neighbors and charitable organizations made my survival possible. I am afraid there are some I never knew, I may have forgotten, or maybe I am still blocking it out.
