On Hurricane Katrina, from a Resident's Perspective

All too often I am hearing accounts on the hurricane that are half truths at best. Well, I would love to clear up some of the mis-education and confusion that is going on with New Orleans.

First and foremost, my hat is tipped to Mayor C. Ray Nagin. While I am not one of your biggest fans, nor am a staunch supporter of yours, I can definitely appreciate what you have gone through during and after Hurricane Katrina. You stood up and said some things that were long overdue and that needed to be said! However, you need to be more careful about what you say. Calling New Orleans a Chocolate City, not such a good idea! Nonetheless, thank you!

There have been recent accounts from residents coming out and saying they didn't want to leave because they feared looters would destroy their homes. While the sentiment is truthful, many of them are leaving out key facts. Yes, residents fear looters. Every single time, New Orleans would evacuate, some low lives would begin their spree of looting. Still, the NOPD would always strictly enforce a curfew, and arrest anyone who did not abide by it. Thus, looting was minimal at best. Therefore, when someone says that they did not leave because they feared looters, I think, "Are you kidding me?"

I don't know much about everything but I do know this, a killer hurricane looms ever closely to your home town, you live in a bowl, the levees (which everyone knew for the longest time would not hold up with any hurricane over a Category 3) are shabby and for 4 days leading up to Hurricane Katrina's landfall, she was said to make a direct hit on New Orleans; worrying about looters is well….stupid! What good will all of those possessions do if you are dead? Just a thought….

Yet, I find it hard to blame that kind of logic on residents alone. On the Friday before Hurricane Katrina struck, it was business as usual. New Orleanians were constantly being told that Hurricane Katrina was not a threat- even though she was still on a direct path towards us. Also, city officials had not called for a conference to discuss possible scenarios, all that day. Thus, when Saturday rolled around and nothing was still being done… all people with common sense knew that it was time to move.

By about 5pm on Saturday afternoon, New Orleans' city officials were beginning to come together. Mind you, other counties and area had already begun a mandatory evacuation. New Orleans' officials explained that we may use the Contra flow Evacuation Plan, but they had not determined when to implement it. Well, my family and I left about 7pm (unfortunately I had to work that entire afternoon). We had heard that New Orleans still hadn't called for a mandatory evacuation by Sunday (which was later confirmed as being the truth), and that they were using The Superdome as a 'Special Needs' shelter ONLY. For those of you who may be wondering, Special Needs shelters are only for the sickly residents of New Orleans who require special circumstances to maintain a moderate standard of living (I.E. oxygen or dialysis patients). Additionally, New Orleanians were still being told that evacuation would voluntary- despite the wide spread knowledge that Hurricane Katrina was a Category 5 hurricane and our levees would only withstand Category 3 waters (at best)!

Needless to say, trouble was on its way and there was nothing that could be done to stop it. Still, at 5:30 on Sunday, New Orleans began urging residents to evacuate from their homes. To my former city's credit, we were told time and time again, how to be prepared for a hurricane. Homeowners knew to keep an axe, sledge hammer or torch in their attics, in the event that they had to flee to the attic for survival. Likewise, residents were told to keep at least a week's worth of nonperishable food items, water (3 gallons per person in the home) and medications in the attic or at least, on hand, in the event of a really bad hurricane. I think it is quite apparent that many people did not heed these warnings and instructions. Instead, they totally ignored the warnings. Yet these same people chose to remain in their homes and 'ride- out' the storm. Needless to say, that was one hell of a ride! And can we ask, was that very intelligent? Not really right, well it gets better.

Being that I lived in New Orleans for 21 years of my life, I have witnessed the 'New Orleans' mentality. The 'New Orleans' mentality is one that only lives for the moment and is extremely complacent with their current conditions. Individuals who fall victim to the New Orleans' mentality don't heed warnings to evacuate, they don't stock up on survival goods like they are told, and then when all is said and done, and everyone but themselves is to blame!

Once again, I have lived this nightmare now for 6 months. It is not a picnic. FEMA did not help me until I had been in Texas for 5 months and their help was not very useful. I lost everything in my home. And to top it off, my husband was in charge of packing us up so that we could leave, but he did a shabby job- leaving key items (like my son's overnight bag and diapers). Still, I found and kept a job, my husband was still being paid from his New Orleans' position, while also searching for a new job, and we found and paid for our own apartment, bought a new car and totally refurnished our home- again, with no help! Thus, all of these freeloading moochers who stayed for nothing more than stupidity need to get off of the pot and start doing something for themselves.

Sure, there were some people who honestly did not have the means to leave New Orleans at any time. And yes, there were some people who were too selfish to help out their neighbors when their neighbors could not help themselves. But, there were those select few persons (some that I personally know, who got on news stations and cried about not having any goods or food while they were stuck in New Orleans) who honestly had the means to leave but chose not to go. For them, I have no sympathy. For them I have no patience either. Too many of these persons are in Texas, still carrying the New Orleans mentality, freeloading and mooching from the system. These people are not trying to find work or help themselves, yet, FEMA is helping them the most. It's truly sad!

Lastly, it is really ironic that even when devastation has hit, people are still selfish and heartless as ever. I read a story in the paper about a woman who lives in Metairie Estates (an area of town where the median home price is 700,000), who was complaining inside of her FEMA trailer that, she wasn't receiving enough help to rebuild her home. On the opposite side of that article was another article about a person who lived in Gentilly (an area of New Orleans where the median home price is 86,000), who had not received a FEMA trailer or any help from FEMA with her bills and rebuilding, but was thankful that she was alive. Keep in mind that Metairie Estates got minimal damage -on a comparative scale- as any other place. By the numbers, Metairie Estates got about 2 feet of water in their homes- if they got that much- but, Gentilly was totally submerged in about 5 to 8 feet of water. As Frank Davis of WWL News would say, "That's naturally New Orleans."