It was my second semester of grad school. I knew your dad from class, but only for a few months. I remember the Friday before the storm. I had a meeting with the assistant dean of the Mass Comm school and we discussed ideas for my thesis. I was at a loss. I had no idea what I'd write about. Her only advice was to find something that I was passionate about. I remember going back to my apartment after that meeting and getting a call from Dad. He said, "What are you going to do about the storm?" My reply was, "What storm?"
That weekend, Mom, Carol and Debbie had come up to Baton Rouge to spend the day with me and go shopping. We shopped all day and when it was time for them to head home, after listening to the news, they casually mentioned going home, packing up some things, and coming back up to stay with me at my apartment for a couple days. They were in no hurry. In fact, they waited so long to leave on Sunday that it took them eight hours to get to Baton Rouge from Metairie. We rode out the storm in my apartment on College Drive, and ended up being without electricity for several days. Maggie Mae (Mom's favorite dog) was with us and she was so hot and miserable. She was already pretty old, not to mention she had a very thick coat. Mom and Carol would take turns sitting in the car with her so she could get some much needed AC. We played Dominoes a lot. We listened to the radio every day. Once the LSU Union had electricity, we'd hang out there for a few hours at my office (I was a grad assistant for the Program Council). It was so hot, and the apartment got so crowded. Once the electricity came back on, we still didn't know if our houses had flooded. They weren't letting anyone back into the city. So they stayed longer. I remember trying to get some space by going to study at CC's but all of the coffee shops were already so full of people doing the same thing I was doing.
I spent hours on the computer searching for information to find out what areas were flooded. Then, I found it. Mom's neighbor's daughter-in-law had posted a comment on some message board giving the address, saying that her in-laws had water, and that their house was higher than the two houses next door. As sad as we were about the water, we were also very concerned about looters. I remember driving in the car and hearing Ray Nagin yelling "We need help down here!" Certain parts during that time are still so vivid.
I kept in touch with Dad. He, Cindy and his mother had ridden out the storm in Metairie. His neighborhood didn't flood, but the area was unsafe and he knew they needed to leave. He told me a story about driving along the levee to get out of the city. He ended up in Florida for a little while. Uncle Rudy rode out the storm too, in his Lake Avenue apartment just on the other side of where the levee broke. As crazy as he was for staying, we were actually grateful...
We were finally allowed back into the city two weeks after the hurricane had hit, and we drove down with our neighbors, the Pecquets, to see our homes for the first time "post-Katrina." I remember talking to Dad the night before and asking him what to do about the house. I said, "How do you pull out carpet?" That's when he called Uncle Rudy. I remember getting instructions on bringing cans of coke and plenty of ice. He hadn't had ice in two weeks. We pulled into the driveway, and I handed Uncle Rudy an ice cold coke. You should've seen his face. Then we walked in to find wet carpet, mold that had grown three feet up the walls, ruined furniture and a smell that will stay with all New Orleanians for the rest of their lives. Mom walked around the house, in shock, slowly trying to take it all in. Thank God, the Pecquets didn't get water, so Mr. Wally and Uncle Rudy got to work pulling out carpet. I started packing things, whatever valuable items she wanted to take with us. She was devastated. I don't remember seeing tears, but I do remember she was speechless. When Carol and Debbie didn't immediately come back over to meet us, we assumed that they had gotten water too.
We had eight to ten inches of water, and a little more in the garage. But it wasn't nearly as bad as so many others we knew. I remember Denis sending me a picture of his mom's house in St. Bernard. The ceiling fan was wilted like a flower, and the dress his mom had hung up high on the door sill (just in case they got a little water) was completely ruined by the high water. I can't imagine, looking back on everything, if this were to happen to us now. Where would we go? What would we do for work? Where would the boys go to school? We'd have to leave and when would we be able to come home?
Mom, Carol and Debbie stayed with me for a month and it was just too much for all of us. There was so much tension. I had no where to go for privacy or to study. And I know Mom felt terrible about it because as I'd walk in, she'd walk out, trying to give me my space. By the time she left my apartment, we weren't speaking, which is really weird for us. She lived with Aunt Pat for the next few months, and at Christmas, I stayed there too. It was a very somber and difficult time. Families can only take so much time together before cracking. On the morning after Christmas day, Mom called and requested a FEMA trailer.
The trailer came some time around Martin Luther King Day, and you'd think we had won the lottery. We were never so excited to get a tiny, portable box with a bed and fridge. It was perfect and it was home. For the next seven months, (there really is no politically correct way to say this) all kinds of Mexicans worked in our house, restoring the walls and details of our home. There was such a demand for workers, and many of them were thieves. If it wasn't nailed down, they'd steal it. I remember at Mardi Gras time, the contractor had taken all of our Mardi Gras ladders. When we called to get them back, he showed up with three ladders that weren't ours. We took them and didn't ask questions. And then there was that morning during Mardi Gras when a giant carload of them appeared in our driveway. Mom and I were thrilled as they literally climbed out like clowns in a clown car. Then we noticed something... One would go in the house, then come out, then another, then another. That was when Mom suddenly realized. They were all coming to take their morning crap. That's right. Mom was nice and left one toilet in the house just in case someone needed to use it. Well, they used it alright, all of them. And to top it off, the last one walked out of our garage with our dolly. That's when Mom stormed out of the trailer and started yelling at all of them. Needless to say, they didn't work on our house that day.
I still think about Mardi Gras the year following Katrina, and how the rest of the US criticized us for hosting it. How could we spend all of those dollars on beads when we should focus on rebuilding? Outsiders will never understand how much Mardi Gras is a part of us. It was like one giant family reunion. "Where ya been? How'd ya make out? When ya comin' back?" That was Mardi Gras 2006. Remember, Facebook wasn't what it is now.
Mom moved back in to the house July 5, 2006. I remember because she had a pool party on the 4th. Everyone was invited and they had to bring their own chairs because we didn't have any. I figured out my thesis too. I studied the media coverage on federal, state and local levels, analyzing the blame, among other things, in the aftermath of the hurricane. I read hundreds of articles on the hurricane. I read about people stuck in the Superdome for days without food and help, I read about two-story homes completely flooded, and how important it was to keep an ax in your attic. I read how a man killed a looter in his house and told a policeman. The policeman told him to just put the body out on the curb. I read that a family lost their grandmother during the storm and had to put her in the refrigerator in hopes of finding her later. Can you imagine?
But the city rebuilt itself. Neighborhoods slowly came back. And look at us now (aside from my pesky neighbor)! As depressing as it all was when it was happening, we've certainly come a long way, and I can't imagine living anywhere else. I need Mardi Gras like I need water. And the same goes for CC's Coffee, City Park, beignets, Blue Runner Red Beans, and so much more. They asked Leah Chase on the news today, "Did you ever consider not coming back?" Her answer was no. I would have to agree. It wouldn't be a question of "if," just when.
Happy Anniversary to all of us and I hope we never have to go through another "Katrina" ever again.
1 comment:
I never knew the extent of the storm damage on your home. Thanks for sharing this story. I wore my Rex renew, rebuild, and rebirth ppg bracelet that I caught carnival day 2006 today.
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