I was one of the crazy people that stayed for Katrina here in New Orleans East.
Here's what I saw and felt:
1) The night before: Power didn't go out until 5am Monday morning.
2) Around 8am all heck broke loose. The winds got so bad we had to retreat to the hallway incase the windows/roof failed. Soon after, my dad told me, "Get ready water is starting to come in" ( I live right off Chef hwy which is known as the Chef Menteur Ridge... Water from Betsy only barely covered the carpet). The water rose very fast. Within 1hr, we went from no water to 15" deep inside the house.
3) Between 8-9am, we heard several large crashes. When I got a chance to peek outside: Front yard- A large oak tree fell on my neighbor's house. Large branches ( the size of small trees) were cruising down the street due to the current of the water in the middle of the street. These limbs were snagging power, cable, and telephone lines which ripped the lines off of houses and power poles. Across the street, one power pole was broke into 2 pieces with the top half hanging upside down with the transformers hanging precariously close to the water level (@ 2' above). Backyard- a very large pine tree broke off completely @ 25-30' above the ground. Luckily, the tree fell exactly between our neighbor's backyard and ours only crushing our fence. Driveway- Since the windows in the driveway face the north, one of them was blown out. The damage was minor with only a lamp getting destroyed when the wind blew the lamp off the table and into the water. By 2pm, the winds finally dropped to @ TS force. The water slowly dropped from 15" to @ 1" by around 11pm.
4) The next day: Dad woke me up @ 11am to tell me that the water had risen over night to @ 3", there was numerous levy breaks around town, and that we had to get out. On the radio, they said the only way out was I-610 to I-10 west or across the river via the Crescent City Connection. Unfortionately we chose the I-610 (more on this in a moment). After driving our car up the street in @ 15" of water we turned on Chef and headed west. About a mile up the Chef, there was a light pole laying across the street blocking all lanes except the right one. In this lane, there was a boy @15yrs old and a girl @ 5yrs old struggling to push a grocery cart full of plastic bags over the road which was torn up from the storm. When I got out to help them get the cart through the torn up lane, they acted nervous and quickly pulled the cart past the obstruction, which caused one of the bags to spill its content of candy bars! The two didn't care about the candy that was on the ground. All they wanted to do was distance themselves from me ( I think they thought I was a cop). As we passed them, I looked over and saw the contents of their plastic bags. They had @ 30 bags full of candy & cigarettes. Before we got to the I-10 onramp we passed 2 places where the roar of broken natural gas lines could be heard. The Family Inn @ Chef & I-10 was blazing afire with noone to attend to it. Now back to I-610 story: We cruised along fine until the I-610 elevated section ended just pass City Park, then BAM nothing but 2-3' of water covering the roadway. At this location, a parade of Wildlife&Fisheries and sheriff boats were bringing evacuees to dry land. Soon after we got here, a EMS guy took a orange can of spray paint and painted a large "H" inside of a large circle. For the next 15min, natural guard helecopters took turns landing on the "H". EMS officials put people on stretchers and walking wounded on the copters. After the copters were gone, we went the wrong way back up I-610 to I-10. Finally, we headed west and crossed the river... took 90 west to I-310... took I-310 to I-10... took I-10 to I-55... and took I-55 north to Jackson.
5) Along the way, we searched in vain for a place to stay, but there was no room in the inn. We finally settled on a Red Cross shelter in Brandon, MS (Just ouside of Jackson). The next morning we headed east on I-20... south on hwy 43... east on hwy 84... south on hwy 21... north on hwy 31... south on hwy 29 ... and FINALLY east on hwy 4 into Jay.
NOTE: All along this route gas stations were either: closed w/ no power, out of gas, or crowded w/ a line extending up to a mile from the station
When I get my film developed, I'll post some craze pictures from the experiences I went through.
My thoughts and prayers are with all effected by Katrina:
Paul
