Monday morning, August 25, 2005. A big storm was in the Gulf and they weren't sure where it was going. The schools were closed and I was sitting home watching the Weather Channel. During the few hours before landfall, it wobbled and looed like it was going to hit Bay St. Louis, MS. Of course, it was a big storm and the western side of it hit New Orleans.
I was watching the disaster unfold, with pictures of hundreds of school buses, flooded in a large parking lot. The TV went to our governor, Kathleen Blanco, who was crying on national TV and the mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, who was deflecting blame.
I remember telling Belle, "Well, there goes New Orleans."
One of the most iconic images to come out of that tragedy was the fellow stealing beer, who we all called Looter Man.
He's got it going-on. Waist deep in flood water with a plastic tote of stolen beer. He's going to a party.
It's been 20 years and I don't know if New Orleans has fully recovered. The governor died of cancer a few years ago, ad Ray Nagin is out of prison. I understand that he is in New Orleans, still trying to deflect blame
3 comments:
I remember discussing the effects of Katrina on New Orleans at our weekly office meeting. My boss is usually upbeat and was happy to hear that New Orleans would probably escape major damage due to speed of Katrina remaining in area. I reminded him that nearly all the terrain surrounding NO was draining to Mississippi River which was adjacent to it. So very likely the dams would not be able to hold the flood waters. Many have argued that releasing a lot of that water prior to the flood may or may not have been enough to save them.
20 years - time passes quickly.
Everyone talks about NO but Katrina didn't actually hit NO. They never had hurricane force winds. Nearly all the damage in NO was due to a defective (due to corruption) levee breaking. The storm actually came ashore in Mississippi and travelled up the middle of the state, destroying almost the southern third of Mississippi.
3 things I remember most: 1. Months of finger pointing. 2. Cops looting. 3. The disarming of an old lady in her own home as she was trying to defend herself from the out of control lawlessness.
Left at 18 (1963) for a military career and am SO happy I never returned to live there. But I pay for it in shipping costs as I order food from Lafayette and Opelousas. :-)
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