Remembering Katrina
As you've no doubt heard, today marks the one year anniversary (that sounds like too happy a word) of Katrina's landfall just east of New Orleans. I've been listening to the coverage on NPR. Being 650 miles removed from the area makes it seem less real, but a few things came back to mind this week with the media coverage. Here's what I remember from Katrina:
- Seeing the line at my favorite gas station extend about a quarter of a mile (with workers having to serve as security and direct the next-in-line).
- Waiting 45 minutes for gas.
- The day the rumor came in that riots had broken out in downtown Baton Rouge (not true) and that all government employees were sent home as a safety precaution (true); newscasters saying the city was on the verge of martial law; everyone in Baton Rouge rushing out to buy a handgun.
- Wal-Mart grocery aisles being completely empty, especially bread and water; the 24 hr supercenter reducing hours to 8 - 8 because they simply ran out of food.
- My co-workers from New Orleans not knowing if they had a house to go back to.
- My co-workers from New Orleans finding out they, in fact, did not have a house to go back to.
- Taking supplies to a church in Slidell (east of New Orleans) and seeing what was left of one family's belongings--a box of water-logged pictures spread out on pews to dry.
- The first Sunday morning we resumed church services; the displaced people living in hotels and on Sunday School room floors that were there and how they dealt with it all.
- Everyone wanting somehow in some way to help.
- Anger and frustration from not being able to do enough.
- Insurance. Massive, unreal amounts of people, stress, and stress. The date "8/29/05" being forever burned in my brain from seeing it stamped as the "Date of Loss" on the Claims screen of a software program developed by my company at the time.
- Going down to New Orleans in October to provide training. Armed guard at the door to protect us from the daily insureds who came to try to get their checks and turned to threats when things didn't go as planned.
- My tour of the 17th street canal breach--Lakeshore subdivision. Residents out in their yards with rubber boats and masks (to avoid mold inhalation) trying to dig through the grayish brown filth everywhere for any salvageable belongings.
Not the most comprehensive way to remember it, and especially selfish in that the first thing I thought of was gas lines instead of something much more important. But I'm not going to go back and edit that; it's what I remember. Everyone down there has his or her story. Maybe those more directly impacted by the storm will post comments so we can get broader perspectives.
We would like to blame someone for not waving a magic wand and making everything better. But the fact remains that Katrina was unprecedented, and only when you've seen the devastation firsthand can you realize that no matter how many agencies get involved, New Orleans will be a long time healing.
My thoughts and prayers today are especially with the churches still trying to return to normalcy.
Once and Again
My Reports of Katrina During the First Week of Blogging
My Reports and Pictures of New Orleans - Oct 2005
- Seeing the line at my favorite gas station extend about a quarter of a mile (with workers having to serve as security and direct the next-in-line).
- Waiting 45 minutes for gas.
- The day the rumor came in that riots had broken out in downtown Baton Rouge (not true) and that all government employees were sent home as a safety precaution (true); newscasters saying the city was on the verge of martial law; everyone in Baton Rouge rushing out to buy a handgun.
- Wal-Mart grocery aisles being completely empty, especially bread and water; the 24 hr supercenter reducing hours to 8 - 8 because they simply ran out of food.
- My co-workers from New Orleans not knowing if they had a house to go back to.
- My co-workers from New Orleans finding out they, in fact, did not have a house to go back to.
- Taking supplies to a church in Slidell (east of New Orleans) and seeing what was left of one family's belongings--a box of water-logged pictures spread out on pews to dry.
- The first Sunday morning we resumed church services; the displaced people living in hotels and on Sunday School room floors that were there and how they dealt with it all.
- Everyone wanting somehow in some way to help.
- Anger and frustration from not being able to do enough.
- Insurance. Massive, unreal amounts of people, stress, and stress. The date "8/29/05" being forever burned in my brain from seeing it stamped as the "Date of Loss" on the Claims screen of a software program developed by my company at the time.
- Going down to New Orleans in October to provide training. Armed guard at the door to protect us from the daily insureds who came to try to get their checks and turned to threats when things didn't go as planned.
- My tour of the 17th street canal breach--Lakeshore subdivision. Residents out in their yards with rubber boats and masks (to avoid mold inhalation) trying to dig through the grayish brown filth everywhere for any salvageable belongings.
Not the most comprehensive way to remember it, and especially selfish in that the first thing I thought of was gas lines instead of something much more important. But I'm not going to go back and edit that; it's what I remember. Everyone down there has his or her story. Maybe those more directly impacted by the storm will post comments so we can get broader perspectives.
We would like to blame someone for not waving a magic wand and making everything better. But the fact remains that Katrina was unprecedented, and only when you've seen the devastation firsthand can you realize that no matter how many agencies get involved, New Orleans will be a long time healing.
My thoughts and prayers today are especially with the churches still trying to return to normalcy.
Once and Again
My Reports of Katrina During the First Week of Blogging
My Reports and Pictures of New Orleans - Oct 2005
posted by Lee Ann @ 9:58 AM
1 Comments:
At 11:47 AM,
Liz said…
(I didn't view the gas line point as selfish, because naturally we remember what impacts ourselves at a time of trauma, then the ripple effect.)
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