Katrina Three Weeks Later: What I Saw

Sept 21, 2005. "Mom’s birthday. Her first birthday since she died. Happy birthday Mom! I love you! We’re spending the day staring at utter devastation in Biloxi. I got time off work and we got Red Cross money to head back to New Orleans and salvage our stuff. On the way, it occurred to us to stop in and check on Jimmy and Lori. Not a chance. We got turned back, but not before we got to see firsthand what Katrina hath wrought on the town of Biloxi. Words cannot describe it. Even the interstate is cluttered with debris. The place looks bombed out, like I would expect somewhere like Bosnia. Huge structures still standing but gutted. Cars buried under layers of dirt and debris. Dust everywhere. Thick, choking clouds of it. A beach town, a casino town, in ruins. Spray paint on houses assuring recovery workers that everyone was safe. Almost every street sign was down. The roads reduced to one lane paths between piles of rubble. Convenience store windows still bearing advertisements as the roof, ice machines and gas pumps lay broken and destroyed around them. Cops and National Guard troops everywhere. Scary, haunting images. An hour outside of New Orleans now. Afraid. Very afraid of what we might find. Lives lost. A city in despair. Will update when I know more." — from my diary

The Calm Before the Storm

In the summer of 2005, I was living with my father in an RV near Orlando and working at Walt Disney World. My mother had passed away in December 2004, and Dad wanted to leave New Orleans for a while to spend time with relatives.